We landed in Inverness. The car was rented in Irene's name because we knew that she would become the designated driver after Ed had sampled a few Scotch Whiskeys, which was basically the reason for this trip.
Irene made it very clear to Ed to remind her to stay on the left side of the road, especially when going around corners, it was far to easy to slip into the right hand side of the road mentality. Scotland loves its roundabouts which, of course, go to clockwise (opposite from Canada). Although one is to stay in the inside lane if exiting further along, no one seemed to adhere to this rule; but sometimes they did, but not always. Confusing. The three lane roundabouts were even more nerve wracking. It was also a bit tricky shifting with the left hand, but we fixed that by Irene pushing the clutch and telling Ed to shift up or down. Eventually, Irene got the hang of it herself.
The roads are very narrow and very winding. There were roads, in the days to come, where they were single lane and as winding as a drunken snake. When meeting another car, one had to come to a stop, often driving into some bushes to make room. Needless to say, Irene did not speed, but it did not seem to hinder the locals from driving like madmen. It was a little disconcerting to see a sign on these roads that says the road will narrow and get winding!! How the hell was it possible to get narrower and more twisting than it already is!? But they did.... Other unnerving signs were those signs that said “Weak Bridge” when approaching a very old and narrow bridge, with a blind curve at the other end. Ed was having fits from Irene driving too near the left side and often having the tires slip off the pavement. In all fairness, Irene was having fits from trying to give room to the oncoming traffic and having the tires slip off the pavement on roads with sheer drop-offs, too near fences and boulders and trees edging close to the roadway. We survived. This is probably one of those adventures that we will talk and laugh about to our friends.
Dufftown
We got lost finding Dufftown. The road maps only give the main roads, but there are dozens of little trails not shown. We stopped to ask a fellow directions. He was more than accommodating. He asked if we were planning on seeing some distilleries. We told him that was the reason for our trip. He said we must go to Aberlour, as it was the best whiskey, in his opinion. But then he quickly added that he works there. We were to discover that nearly everyone in the area is employed by one distillery or other. The jobs range from making and smoking the barrels for the whiskey to be stored in to grinding the mash to selling it in pubs and whiskey shops. Whiskey was what kept the area employed. As a result, everyone knew a lot about whiskey.
By the time we got into Dufftown we were tired and very hungry. We decided to stop at the first eating establishment we found, The Stuart Arms. Irene ordered haggis. It was delicious! It reminded her of the blood sausage Mom used to make, without the casing. It was served with neeps (mashed Turnips) and potatoes. She put a bit of Ed's peppercorn gravy over the potatoes. It was perfect!
After lunch we went into the Whiskey Museum, seeing as we had parked right in front of it. It was a very interesting place, with an old gentleman that was more than happy to answer any questions we had. There were samples of peat, used to dry the malted barley; as well as the unique shovels to cut the peat. Although peat is not used as much as it once was, the old gent said he knew the business end of that shovel from the time he was a wee lad. There were flasks and “pigs” or “dogs” which were used to sneak whiskey out of the distilleries by the workers. We read every plaque and sign in the small museum and took a few photos as well. We left a modest donation, as this was a free museum.
We had reserved a room in the Morven Inn in Dufftown, which promotes itself as the Malt Whiskey Capital of the World. No one has challenged the claim. The Inn was centrally located to everything!
Directly across the street from the Inn was the Clock Tower. It was originally the jail, then the Burgh Chambers and now houses the information center. James Macpherson was sentenced to be hanged, but when the Sheriff heard that a man was riding in from a nearby town with a reprieve, he had the clock moved forward by 15 minutes to ensure the execution took place. When it housed the Burgh Chambers, an illicit still was in operation in the basement. There were many illegal stills in the area, and the excise men were always on the look out. Sometimes the brewers would surrender a small still to keep the excise man happy and throw him off the trail of a larger, more profitable still. They never found this one, as they chalked the smell of brewing whiskey up to the number of distilleries near by.
The clock Tower has a plaque commemorating George Stephen, a banker and financier who in 1881 organized the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. He was born in Dufftown on 5 June 1829.
The Whiskey Shop, a 2 minute walk away, was unique. They had hundreds of different kinds of whiskeys. How was one to know which one was a good one or not. Well, they solved that problem buy letting you sample a small dram. Ed told the lady that he liked the Glenlivet 25 year, but since he could buy that anywhere, what did they have that would be unique to that area. She recommended a few, gave him a sample of each and he selected three bottles to be shipped to Len's, in London, for a very modest price.
The Stuart Arms, mentioned earlier was also a 2 minute walk away, and on the next block from the Whiskey Shop.
It was a beautiful evening and we toured the small town, walking up and down the streets and taking in the beauty of it. We marveled at the stone houses and fences, the lovely gardens and scenery beyond the town. There was an old house tucked in behind some bushes. It had a Steven King / horror movie look to it.
Irene wanted to get a closer look at an old church, St. Mary's. As she approached, the grounds keeper asked if she needed help. She said she was only wanting to look closer at the old church. He was obviously very proud of this church, as he unlocked the front door and gave a tour of the interior along with a bit of history of the church itself. Way back when the Protestants ran the country, Catholics had to go into hiding. Then in 1825 people began to see the err in their ways (according to the grounds keeper) so they reclaimed their Catholic roots and built this church. It was starting to be in rough shape, so the locals completely refurbished it, with the grand re-opening only weeks before. No wonder he was so proud to show it off!
We carried on down a small path,
through a field and through a forest to Balvenie Castle, Gaelic for Village of Monks, suggesting there was a monastery established here before the castle was built.
The walk was incredibly beautiful, and at times confusing. One guide post had the arrows pointing in completely opposite directions.
We had to walk along a pasture that held highland cattle. Ed's brother is fascinated with highland cattle so we had to take some pictures for him.
The castle itself was disappointing. Granted, we got there too late to tour the inside, but from the outside it did not appear to be very inviting. There was scaffolding and green tarps on one end, which did nothing to enhance the illusion of a grand castle.
Further along the trail we came to the Glenfiddich distillery. It was also closed for the day. We walked down the road back into Dufftown.
The hosts at our guest house were Rene and Glo. A lovely couple who went out of their way to make us comfortable. Rene was very knowledgeable in whiskeys and gave Ed a whole education on nosing, tasting and sampling whiskey.
Around the corner, and about a 4 minute walk from our Inn was the Royal Oak Inn. Pearl was a wealth of knowledge about whiskey and had us sample a 50 year old Arberlour. It was very strong tasting and very potent. We didn't really like it. We mentioned that we were going to Perth to watch the highland games on Sunday (this was Friday). Her husband told us about some highland games that were taking place the next day in Tarland.
More Dufftown
The evening of the 10th, the weather proved considerably nicer so we took a 2 mile walk past the Old Mortlach church,dating back to the 700's,
along the creek beside the Pittyvaich Distillery, through the forest to see the Giant's Chair and the Giant's Cradle – rock features carved out by the water of the River Dullan. The main attractions were not as impressive as the beauty of the scenery to get there.
