After overnight in Edinburgh, we took the train to Aberdeen to catch the overnight ferry to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. After watching all 8 seasons of “Shetland” on Britbox, we had to see what Lerwick really looks like. Well …. exactly like it does on the show!
We had a tiny cabin on the ferry, complete with a little shower. The crossing was nice and smooth until 2 AM when it became very rolling. Not much sleep to be had for the rest of the night.
We rented a car in Lerwick where the lady told us it’s covered for all damage except the door. If the wind blows the door off, we have to pay! What does this tell you about the weather??
We stayed in a nice little B&B in Lerwick and drove around the island for 2 days. There’s only one numbered highway which runs the length of Shetland. October is definitely the off season! Restaurants and museums were closed and we answered “Why are you here?” several times. It is a gorgeous island even if I wouldn’t want to live there with all the wind.
Jimmy Perez’s house in “Shetland”.
This is the police station on “Shetland”.
Mark had to find a cake fridge that we saw on “Shetland”.
The road crosses the airport runway. We were scolded for stopping to take a picture.
Jarlshof Archeology site at the end of the road.
The Atlantic Ocean from the Mavis Grind.
The North Sea from the Mavis Grind. This is the only place you can see both bodies of water from one spot.
We finally found some Shetland ponies.
Sheep roam wherever they want – fields, roads, sides of roads.
Lerwick Brewery tasting room is run by an American from San Diego.
After 4 days in Lerwick, we took the overnight ferry back to Aberdeen to begin the next adventure.
After 3 days in Edinburgh – more laundry – we joined our second whiskey tasting tour. The tour group had 11 people in it – 4 Canadians (2 women and one couple), 1 Chinese (Richard), 2 Swiss/Macedonians (Vlad and Maja), us , 2 German guys (Policeman and food inspector from Hamburg) with David as the tour guide. This tour was 4 days long.
The sun came out the next day after Storm Tracy roared away!
The Kelpies in Scotland. Nice rest stop, too.One of many sticky toffee puddng desserts we tried for our “research” project. Some were moist, some were dry, some too sweet, some just right. You can taste A LOT of this in 3 weeks in Scotland.Standing stones.
The rain started at the Kelpie rest stop, falling harder the further west we drove. By the time we reached the standing stones, it was a downpour. Mark and I passed on trudging across flooded fields to look at the stones up close! We finally made it to the west coast and took the ferry from Kennacraig to Islay.
Day #2 – The guide did not want us to complain that we didn’t get our money’s worth. First stop was a walk up the street to Bowmore Distillery for a tour and tasting with a “breakfast dram” at 9:30 AM. Stopped at the Whisky Vault for a tasting and then to the Islay Woolen Mill for a 15 minute stop. Number 3 tasting was at Kilchoman Distillery, delayed by about 15 minutes as we waited for a funeral procession from the distillery to the cemetery. The actual service was held in the malting room since this is “Silent Season” – no production. At least 175 cars drove past us, including Search and Rescue people. The dead guy worked on the farm that the distillery is on AND he liked whisky! After lunch, we stopped at Bruinladdaich for a short stop. Stop 5 for the day was Brunnahabhain but Mark and Susan shared one tasting. We liked this one. Everyone had bottles for “Drivers’ drams”. They are little bottles that the tasting fills up. We could drink it at night. Most places gave us at least 3 different whiskies to taste. You can understand how we accumulated so many! Last tasting of the days was at Ardenhoe, another new distillery. 4:45 for a tasting.
We stayed in a little cottage up the street from this distillery.
Kilchoman Distillery. We had to wait for a funeral procession of at least 175 cars to leave here.
Bunnahabhain Distilllery
Try saying this name!
# 6 distillery for the day on Islay
Bowmore Distillery. We got to keep the little tasting glasses at each stop. We had so many by the end that we gave half of them to Mark’s cousin in Cambridge along with about 10 drivers drams.
Day 3 – We had a 9:15 start to head across the peat bogs to Port Ellen and all the distilleries there. First stop was Ardbeg Distillery. Ardbeg had the brilliant idea of making poster tubes to hold the drivers drams. Jennifer, our tour guide for the visit, gave us an extra!
Ardbeg kettles
Mark owns a tiny plot of Laphroaig land. His plot was underwater so no visit for us. A visit to Laphroaig
Laphroaig Distillery was the tour after lunch. Mark joined Friends of Laphroaig before we left CO so he now has a certificate with the location of his 1 sq. foot of land. Got a bottle with a stamp on the box. They did this to stop a water dispute with Lagavulin.
Lagavulin was the last stop for a tasting. The entire group was burned out from tasting and just wanted to go back to our rooms and get dinner. We had a yummy dinner at Bowmore Hotel with its huge whiskey collection ehich we did NOT sample.
Mark at Lagavulin Distillery. Yes, it was cold in the wind.
I’m trying not to blow away by this tiny castle ruin.
We saw Ronnie’s name on 2 of the plaques on the mills. He’s one of the 3 millwrights left in the UK.
He is one of the last 2 millwrights in the UK who work on the grain mills for all of the distilleries.
Day #4 – Off to Port Ellen to wait for the ferry. Because of Storm Amy last week we’d been bumped to the late ferry (12:15 PM) but David managed to get us on the earlier ferry at 10. The waiting area looked like mass chaos with cars and truck everywhere. Vehicles were packed in and we watched a loader give a driver directions on how to park the car in the last little bit of room on the ferry. We were last on, making us last off when we arrived at Kennacraig.
The vehicles are jammed on the ferry. There was quite a backup caused by delays due to Storm Amy cancelling ferry operations for a day.
We took a Rabbie’s Speyside tour from Edinburg. 15 of us on the tour – 7 Germans from around Stuttgart, Gary and Sara from Kent, David and Matthew (Father and son), Lorett from Isreal, and us.
Lindore Abbey was the first distillery we visited – no tour, just a tasting, a friendly dog, and a good toilet
We love mussels! We ate mussels at least 8 times on this trip. Some were better than others but none were bad.
Day 2 started with 9 AM pickup after breakfast at Ravenscourt B&B in Grantown-on-Spey.
Day 2 – Stop #1 -First stop was at Cardhu – 4 whiskies from the cask. Cardhu makes Johnny Walker and is owned by Diageo.
Mark volunteered to draw some whiskey from the barrel for the group’s bespoke tasting.
Four different whiskies to taste.
We had an interesting visit to the Cooperage. Four year apprenticeship, we watched them them testing the repairs they’d done to the barrels. The used barrels are shipped intact from the US bourbon distilleries and then repaired; Some distilleries have the barrels taken apart in the US and reassembled in Scotland. Coopers are paid by the piece.
Visit to the Copperage.
Our last visit was to Speyburn Distillery. The tour went all over the distillery with a retired whiskey maker with a very strong accent. I could have used subtitles for him and the Germans in the group couldn’t understand him at all.
Day 2 – Tasting #3 – Speyburn Distillery
On Day 3 we wandered our way back to Edinburg, keeping our eyes on Storm Amy that had a direct aim on Scotland. Our first stop was Dalwhinnie Distillery with very white buildings, also owned at Diageo. Tasting had whiskey with chocolates to accompany them with an older guide. Whiskey was OK but chocolate was better.
Day 3 – Dalwhinnie Distillery, also owned by Diageo.
Dalwhinnie whiskies
Storm Amy’s rain really started after lunch. We all voted for NO WALK because we didn’t want to get that wet. Adam stopped in Dunkeld at the oldest church still having services. Mark and I walked back to the bus in the parking lot through the tiny town, used the public toilet for 50p each at a manned office in the parking lot. I assume they get lots of visitors in better weather. Does he really collect enough money to pay his salary?? The toilets were clean, though.
The tour threw in a few historical stops including the Dunkeld church.
Adam drove back to Edinburgh in the wind. The old Firth bridge was closed due to wind. A few events have already been cancelled. Gary and Sara on our tour had a train to catch if it wasn’t cancelled due to the storm.
We just spent about 3 weeks in London, Cambridge, Fort Augustus, Oxford, and Inverness with most of the time in Fort Augustus. It just happens to sit at the southern end of Loch Ness and we were on the search for Nessie every time we went out walking. Finally, on a cold sunny day we decided to take the Loch Ness cruise and who did we see??
Maybe this is Nessie hiding under the water!
Nessie, herself! Isn’t she cute?? She was just floating next to the boat checking us all out.
A visit to the Highlands isn’t complete without a wee dram of whisky. Another sunny day took us driving south the Fort William for a tour of Ben Nevis Distillery.
We shared 4 wee tastings. I like the whiskies that taste more like caramel than the smoky ones.
The distillery sits beneath Ben Nevis Mountain, the highest mountain in the UK.
These distillery buildings were overlooked by Ben Nevis.
We were cold but the temps never didn’t fall below freezing during the day. That would make us way warmer than our east coast friends. And the Gulfstream keeps snow away from the lower altitudes, most of the time. We had a bit of snow a few nights.
Happy New Year! We bundled up for champagne and fireworks at midnight!
The grounds were barely covered one morning with snow – wet snow at that!
Snowing at night
Sunrise with snow. This was about 8:30 AM. Morning came late this far north and night came early – about 3:4- PM
We woke up this morning to discover blue sky in Scotland! After 13 days in the U.K., can you tell we get really excited about blue sky?? We had no other plans and have a rental car for Mark to drive on the left, so we hopped in the car and drove 33 miles to Fort William to check out the scenery. We saw some pheasants along the road and lots of closed B&B’s and hotels.
Loch Ness in the sun!
Fort Augustus village and the canal the runs through the middle. We want to see the locks in operation but there’s not much boat traffic in December!
A view of the Highlands mountains with a bit of snow. Notice how green the grass is. We’re betting it never turns brown.
With a population of about 11,000, Fort William is the 2nd largest city in the Highlands. The drive was beautiful and few of the mountains have snow on the top.
Boxing Day (December 26) is a holiday in the UK – no postal service or banks open. Not many shops were open either and some of the pubs and coffee shops were actually closed when we wandered down High Street. Thank heavens Tesco was open since we need some toilet paper and cheese and crackers. The little store in Fort Augustus didn’t have toilet paper this morning!
BBC had an article about people not shopping at the Boxing Day Sales today. Since not many stores are open, what do they expect?? Clearly, after-Christmas sales are not a big deal here, at least on the 26th. Maybe tomorrow!
