Aberlour Hotel

... drove all over the Caringorm Mountains today and I found some beautiful poisonous mushrooms which I have added photo's of.

Tomorrow we move on to Isle of Sky, supposedly one of the most beautiful places in Scotland. It will be a long drive but we should see many great things. Our driver is spoiling us and has been wonderful and it just could not have been a better trip for us. The lodgings have been luxurious and the food great.

... and of course the gift shop! I am finding many presents to bring home-just hope the suitcase will hold it and those TShirts I'm getting rid of help the weight. Glad I brought the little pod case that Karen loaned me and am sure we will use it.

Saw some lovely views of which I am attaching some photo's. It rained during the night and in some locations ...

... having the vision a head of time!

We passed through Blairgowery a town where my Great Great and Great Great Great Grandfathers were born. We stopped at many churches and were unsuccessfully in finding out further info, however we were invited in by some locals and treated royally, offered tea and asked to take a seat. Quite nice. In the process we ...

Rothes is the little Scottish village where the Glen Grant Whiskey Distillery is located. It is part of the Speyside Whisky Trail, where the largest concentration of Scotch whisky distilleries is located in Scotland. This large valley is popular among distillers because this is where most of the barley is grown for the distillation process.

The distillery has a nice garden and a gift shop.

... didn't need new pad so took them back for a refund.
With no luck getting our brakes fixed in Aberdeen, Matt unclamped the brake line & hoped it wouldn't seize again.

We drove around the esplanade through heaps of little fishing villages and through heaps of green rolling hills (the brakes were working fine - must have just been a bit rusty since the car had not moved for a while) . It was about 10pm and the ...

... of duty/customs issues but the whisky store can.
After our distillery tour we went and got settled in at Fernbank. Karen, the owner is hilarious! She is so funny! We had some tea with her and chatted for a while. Then we headed down to Dufftown city centre and walked around. We grabbed a beer and a really weird bar. Super tiny, but they had McEwans. And I had my 2nd scottish delicacy that I had promised myself I would ...

... up to Kilravock Castle. When Dave came we had given him a welcome to Scotland pack which had a wee bottle of Dalwhinnie whiskey so we decided to stop in Dalwhinnie to have some dinner. While we were sitting down for dinner in this pub (charging Dave's endless amount of camera batteries) a train went past. That was it Dave wanted to get a pick of a train from the pub. But try as he did after about 4 trains had gone past he still didn't have the pic that he wanted ...

... from his Dad when he has enjoyed a drink! The next few days were spent hanging out with the family, walking the dog and exploring the northern reaches of Scotland including old castles and beautiful beaches. The weather was good - warm and sunny which was a nice surprise as we had feared the worst. In the evening's, Simon showed us his electronic toys which were all hooked up to each other and the internet in some kind of ...

... all the whiskey Casks are repaired or made depending on the distillery's requirements this is still done 90% by hand an each cooper takes an average of 35 casks a day to repair. We then headed to the coast wow what a day the day started out overcast but by the end of it it was hot an sunny the coastal area was great we visited Baxters the famous game food canning people and then onto some old fishing villages the north sea was beautiful and blue cold as ...

... bakery for 46 years inheriting it from his father John Donald who was married to the daughter of McKay. I ask him her name and he said granny. So we will work on that. he gave us a bit of information that there were too many Mckay children to live in the 2 room house and that they actually came from Sundend Scotland ( one fishing village over) and that some of the children were sent to live in Port Soy with various aunts...who had the room to take them in. We were treated to a ...