That second one is a tough one, huh?
The red berries are red currants from Ian and Catherine's garden.
Tom has been doing the haggis and black pudding stuff.....with every breakfast and nearly every dinner. I can't even look at it. The first is organs and the second is blood....gag! Both are mixed with a lot of oats and are delicious sources of fiber and protein.
One last look at our favourite view before leaving....sigh....
On the road again.....
The Highlands of Scotland are just plain beautiful
These pink/purple wild flowers are all along the road. They are called Foxgloves.
Taking a picture of Tom taking a picture
He does magic with the panorama shots
We stumble on to this dam built for hydroelectricity for an aluminium plant.
We think this is Ben Nevis the highest point in Scotland at about 4400 ft.
We went WAY our of our way....and on some single lane roads....to get to this distillery.
Tom said it was on the Conde Nast top 5 best Scottish distilleries....so far, not very impressive.
A nice tasting area.
A different marketing approach....let's sell you some dark chocolate to go with that scotch.
We tasted....I'm still not impressed. According to Tom, the Dalwhinnie 15 year old is slightly smoky with balanced flavour
Searching for our new home....the only address we have is Grant Road.
After walking about two blocks, we found it....
You can't tell much from this picture...but the paint is peeling, no one there, quite a disappointment. Kathy goes into overdrive, trying to find somewhere else. Was prepared to leave the $$$$ in the door, but did not want to stay. We go to get something to eat while defining the search. This is the only option within blocks...order a beer....Tom goes to order some food. They don't serve food!!! AT ALL. He goes next door to a bakery and returns with a meat pie.....This whole town is awful....depressing, dirty, empty.....find one other option, but it is 25 miles away....it is already 4 pm....we decide to just stay....it's only one night.
It could be worse.....I guess....it's only one night....
Well, we ARE in the midst of the Whisky Tour, so we try to get to one more before they close.
We make it in time to taste but not tour. OK, we were not interested in the tour anyway.
On the taste chart, Cragganmore is similar to Oban, the first one we tasted. It has a little more flavour. Nice finish, too.
Warehouses for all those aging oaken barrels of whisky.
Some former aging rooms that are just empty historic places now.
On the way, we pass THIS one!!!!
VERY impressive. Guess the Chivas Brothers were quite successful. Chivas is now part of Pernod Ricard, a French company.
All of these pictures below are part of the Chivas property.....a massive expanse of real estate.
The common room of our "new" nest....note the radio in the window. We are going to blog a bit before dinner.....dinner???? where in the world are we gonna find food in this deserted town?
The radio is questionable, but this curio is priceless
Enter our hostess, Isla, wondering if we would like some tea and cake. No, thanks, we are enjoying a bit of scotch we just bought. We ask her suggestion for dinner....she makes us a reservation.....and then returns and offers us a wee dram of her Dad's favourite....Tormintoul.
It's delicious, better than what we had purchased. Like the triangle glass, too!
We watched some of the Commonwealth Games while enjoying the Tomintoul and then off to dinner at the, apparently, only place in town.
The meal was OK. No picture, nothing special....it has been raining for past two hours which adds dreariness to a dreary town.....
But there is always a rainbow!!!!!
