Brad & Nils The Brave
Well, it's official. I've eaten Haggis.
I write from an internet cafe in Glasgow, as Nils and I wait for the final leg of our adventure: a 7 hour train home. On the voyage I intend to read this week's Economist, eat Pringles and plot my revenge on Warwick's accommodation office for managing to ensure that my apartment has remained internet-free for 7 weeks running.
On a brighter note, Scotland has been an absolute blast. After picking up a rental car from Prestwick airport we drove 5 hours across the Scottish Highlands to arrive in Speyside - Scotland's largest Malt Whiskey distillation region. The first night we spent at a cozy family-run B&B in Dufftown (which, according to the town sign is "The Malt Whiskey Capital"). Victoria and Mark, the proprietors, were extremely friendly, and welcomed us into their home with a cold beer and all the info we needed about the area.
After the old alarm clock went off at 7:15am the next day we made our first stop the Speyside Cooperage - where a team of 10 local coopers use their medieval craft to keep the whiskey cask population afloat. Bless their wee hearts. After ensuring that we didn't get into the whisky at an unreasonably early hour we headed to the Glenfiddich distillery at around 10:30am. The tour was short, but interesting. It provided a sample of the standard Glenfiddich 12 yr old, as well as a new Glenfiddich and Honey liquer. Both good, but nothing astounding. We saved that for the Aberlour distillery, where we headed next. There they spent a solid 2 and a half hours running through the history of Scottish Whiskey, Aberlour's distillation techniques, and finally, our favourite - a sampling of 5 of their products, including two single cask whiskeys, their 18 yr single malt and their expensive "original" blend. Full of aqua vita we headed to the local pub, where most of the town's tiny population appeared to be celebrating someone's birthday. After several drams of whiskey and sucking at billiards for a solid hour we called it a night.
The next day was somewhat less busy. Most of the distilleries were closed because it was Saturday (though we did manage to do the self-guided tour and whisky tasting at Dallas Dhu Distillery near Forres), so we made the ad hoc decision to use our hot pair of wheels (a Vauxhall) to head towards Loch Ness. Aye, a beautiful lake it was and certainly a great place for a cottage, though if I were them I'd make an effort to wrestle the steroids away from the "Nessie-crazed" tourist industry. That night we stayed at The Croft - a beautiful B&B in Elgin - and joined the locals for a few pints in the pubs, followed by a sketchy encounter with a "club" featuring Lionel Ritchie music. Knowing they could sense our fear, we backed out slowly to avoid attracting attention and then ran for the hills (or Highlands as the case may have been).
Though this is surely my longest post on here, it is by far not the most complete. Some of the best parts of Scotland were the small towns we visited, the beautiful mountain scapes, the abandoned castles and the friendly people. But we'll talk about those stories over a dram of whisky back in Canada. Cheers.
I write from an internet cafe in Glasgow, as Nils and I wait for the final leg of our adventure: a 7 hour train home. On the voyage I intend to read this week's Economist, eat Pringles and plot my revenge on Warwick's accommodation office for managing to ensure that my apartment has remained internet-free for 7 weeks running.
On a brighter note, Scotland has been an absolute blast. After picking up a rental car from Prestwick airport we drove 5 hours across the Scottish Highlands to arrive in Speyside - Scotland's largest Malt Whiskey distillation region. The first night we spent at a cozy family-run B&B in Dufftown (which, according to the town sign is "The Malt Whiskey Capital"). Victoria and Mark, the proprietors, were extremely friendly, and welcomed us into their home with a cold beer and all the info we needed about the area.
After the old alarm clock went off at 7:15am the next day we made our first stop the Speyside Cooperage - where a team of 10 local coopers use their medieval craft to keep the whiskey cask population afloat. Bless their wee hearts. After ensuring that we didn't get into the whisky at an unreasonably early hour we headed to the Glenfiddich distillery at around 10:30am. The tour was short, but interesting. It provided a sample of the standard Glenfiddich 12 yr old, as well as a new Glenfiddich and Honey liquer. Both good, but nothing astounding. We saved that for the Aberlour distillery, where we headed next. There they spent a solid 2 and a half hours running through the history of Scottish Whiskey, Aberlour's distillation techniques, and finally, our favourite - a sampling of 5 of their products, including two single cask whiskeys, their 18 yr single malt and their expensive "original" blend. Full of aqua vita we headed to the local pub, where most of the town's tiny population appeared to be celebrating someone's birthday. After several drams of whiskey and sucking at billiards for a solid hour we called it a night.
The next day was somewhat less busy. Most of the distilleries were closed because it was Saturday (though we did manage to do the self-guided tour and whisky tasting at Dallas Dhu Distillery near Forres), so we made the ad hoc decision to use our hot pair of wheels (a Vauxhall) to head towards Loch Ness. Aye, a beautiful lake it was and certainly a great place for a cottage, though if I were them I'd make an effort to wrestle the steroids away from the "Nessie-crazed" tourist industry. That night we stayed at The Croft - a beautiful B&B in Elgin - and joined the locals for a few pints in the pubs, followed by a sketchy encounter with a "club" featuring Lionel Ritchie music. Knowing they could sense our fear, we backed out slowly to avoid attracting attention and then ran for the hills (or Highlands as the case may have been).
Though this is surely my longest post on here, it is by far not the most complete. Some of the best parts of Scotland were the small towns we visited, the beautiful mountain scapes, the abandoned castles and the friendly people. But we'll talk about those stories over a dram of whisky back in Canada. Cheers.
posted by Brad Nicpon at
11/12/2006 10:25:00 AM
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