Off over hill and dale to Loch Ness!

So today was an early rise travel day. We were in the dining room about 8:15 and on the road by 9am. Off we went to the West to go to the Macduff marine aquarium. We drove the scenic route along the coast line with a detour at Fiddle Fort/Cullykhan bay turn out. Good view of the cliffs to the East with what was probably the "fort" out on a point. Haven't read what was there yet. We saw a couple of North shore tankers out in the bay. There was rain to the West of us and we could see low fog rolling a couple 100 ft above the ground as we went West. Not long before we ran into the storm they had been predicting for a oouple of days.

We arrived at the aquarium just before the 10am open time and spent an hour looking at the exhibits. We had recently been to the Seattle aquarium with Diane's niece, Lea, when we were in Seattle back in June, which we enjoyed emensely and this had been highly recommended by one of the gals in the hotel. This aquarium showcased the local fishes; such a small and sweet exhibit. Diane like the best the pool with the dogfish and rays or the big central deeper pool with all types of fish. The thornback rays in the shallow pool must have been used to being fed as one was always with eyes above water at the edge as if begging. In the bigger pool, there was a Plaice fish, flat, looking like a Dover sole or turbot, swimming laps around the pool. Funny creatures, flat, laying on the floor like a ray, swimming like flexible frizzbies. They even had salmon that run up the local rivers like we had in Michigan, with one who was in his last year. Another interesting oddity they had was what were called mermaid purses:2x6" enclosed features that held dogfish eggs, normally attached to the kelp in the bay.

Starting to rain as we left the aquarium, so we gave up on any more scenic drives along the coast and started for Dufftown, the home of several distilleries, including Genfiddich. Partway there, Diane decided that they should take a short detour to go to the Deskford church ruin from the 1500's. Church was very interesting, but it took us a while to actually find it. We found that the various types of GPS we have as stand alones, cell phones or on tablet can all give different directions. We only went a little out of our way before Diane challenged the GPS directions using the map. None of the GPS systems are bashful, however, about putting on us small 2 or one lane roads to go from here to there the most directly.

From there we were on to Dufftown and the Balvinie Castle. From the description, we thought that the castle might have been a bit bigger, but not the case. It was quite fortified and had many features of the tower castles we had seen in Ireland, but with more living space and a big wall around the central work space and well. We were really the only ones there visiting, so we spent most of our time talking to the gal behind the desk about her job and life. We decided against the big Glenfiddich tour. The Famous Grouse  tour was so much smaller and intimate than the bigger production tour at the local distilleries. We did, however, spend time finding the Macallan distiller, since it was a favorite whiskey for Peter. You really have to make reservations in advance for a tour here due to the popularity, but they will provide you with a wee dram to taste for free upon arrival if you did not reserve a tour. 

They had quite the showcase of whiskeys on display demonstraiting the variations over the years. What we sampled was the newer year blended single mault called "gold", which was quite nice. They said that they sell the largest percentage to US, followed by Taiwan and then duty free at about 10 million liters/year. Unfortuntely, they have decided to expand to meet demand and are building extensive, modern buildings in front of and pretty much surrounding the older distillery with the potential capacity, in two years when they open, to produce over 15 million leisurely produced liters/year with new tasting rooms and restauant. The claim is it will be very much more efficient and they will turn off the original distillery once they are on line with the new. Too bad, as we appreciated the older gendre instead of the new modern that is being built out of the mud.

From there, we decided it was time to book it to the B&B for the night, which was SW of Inverness since it was already after 3pm, instead of lingering longer in the area. Many more things to see in the area, but perhaps we will be back at the end of next week to savor. We punched Drumnadrocht, the name of the town on Loch Ness where the Urquhart Castle is, into the GPS. Diane thought we would travel down the River Spey to the North coast and didnt' pay too much attention maps, etc until we drove through an unexpected tourist town and realized we had been traversing to the SW from Dufftown instead of NW to come into Inverness from the SE instead of from the NE. 

Along the way, we marveled at several small herds of large donkeys, some white with spots, wondering why donkeys were needed in this area. Additionally, especially near Deskford and beyond, we started seeing large flocks of pheasants just filling fields and the roads. Things were like sheep in the road, not really worried about getting out of the road for the car. At first, we thought perhaps one of the famres had raised some to release for later enjoyment, However, after seeing many more, it was obvious this was not the case. One field on the way to Inverness must have had more than 50 in the same small field.

After travelning little traveled back roads most of the day, the venture into Inverness during rush hour was a bit of a challenge for Peter. But, we made it through town and were happy to arrive at the restaurant/B&B by 5:30. Our room is over the dishwashers at the Fiddler's Restaurant, about the only nice place in town to eat. This area seems to be on a walkers trail across Scotland as there were a number of folks with hinking boots and backpacks in town.

We went down to the cafe/bar at 6pm for a 1/2 pint before dinner awaiting our 6:30 dinner reservation. A small place, so they pretty much only take reservations. Peter had a steak and ale pie with mash and cooked red cabbage and Diane had lamb stew with 3 small pieces of grilled lamb on top. We sat next to a US couple from LA who were simularly rambling. When asked what their best part of the trip was so far, the response was: every day! Unlike us, they reserved rooms on Isle of Skye 6 months in advance and will be going there next with only a map, not GPS to guide them before they return next week to London to meet up with friends.

Internet worked in the cafe/bar, but we don't seem to have the correct password for the internet up in the room. Cellphone doesn't work down here in this ears, so we are pretty much offline at this point. I can write the blog for the day and Peter can read a book until he falls off to sleep after driving all day.Read more