Carmelite House Hotel Banff

... Edinburgh soon though..

Anyway, day trip to Ellon, which is just half an hour out of town. Yay! Friend from uni lives here so went round, watched movies etc etc. Nothing too interesting, but it was nice to be away from the dorm for a bit! Leaving for holidays in a few weeks so things will finally get just a little more interesting. Until then, back to the books I go..

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.

... to the "Duff House" to take a photo and backing back down the driveway really quickly, it was getting late & we pulled up on this soccer field by the water & hid behind the soccer hall and parked their for the night, it was even a better view than the caravan park across the road - and it was free!
We are having trouble downloading our photos onto the external harddrive so hopefully some photos will appear shortly.

... around a bit. We tracked down some wooly coos and got some closeups. And we went to Glen Fiddich! I was really excited about this one. A friend had told me about Monkey Shoulder. I got the chance to try it in Edinburgh and then finally understood why he was so insane about it. Its awesome! Its smooth and tastes of honey; not your typical put hair on your chest and make you breath fire kind of scotch. Which by the way ...

Stopped at the main part of town to get some 'chips' before the work function. I also was a tourist for a few minutes and took some pictures of the market cross and an interesting fountain. Then it was off to the lighthouse museum for the photo recognition.

... with friends and loved ones like business relationships : you know? calling them now and again to say hello, going out for a drink, 'doing lunch'.....this isn't the way to live your life. Finally, I didn't really admit to my own errors. Someone else was always to blame ..... or to be blamed. I could take good advice but I didn't always acknowledge social criticism, I became distant and selfish as far as my work / life balance was concerned. I acknowledge ...

I made it to Inverurie, where I'd be staying with my friends' Tanya & Alex for the night. Just in the door and my Dublin flatmate called me - we'd been broken into. Luckily, all they got was her SatNav system, which was broken anyway, so as soon as the filthy thieves switch the thing on, it's going to start smoking! Who believes in karma? Ha ha ha! Don't think they'll be back, and hopefully the word is now on the ...

... Rotary Club meeting, and the dinner and presentation went well. Afterwards we headed over to Alistair's house for some tea and shortbread. Boy does his wife make outstanding homemade shortbread. She promised to give me the recipe, and I can't wait to make it for my children upon my return home. We then headed to our hosts to pack as we are moving on to our last stop, Inverness.

... up with Paul and Rachel as they were getting ready to tour Kinnaird Head Lighthouse. It was fascinating to see the regimented life the staff manning the lighthouse faced. The gearing on the lighthouse was amazing. Using one hand I could move the 3 ton light with very little force. We then were able to tour the local heritage center and get more history concerning the impact that the fishing industry has had on Fraserburgh over the years. Later that evening ...

... the girls spent the evening dancing and afterwards headed back to the Elgin chalet for some singing and listening to George fiddling. Apparently they were out kind of late as they were pretty tired the next morning. After the final conference sessions we were given a ride to Aberdeen to be picked up by the Fraserburgh (Fraserboro) Rotary Club. Along the way we stopped for lunch in the highest ...