Sorry it’s taking so long to write, it’s been a busy time and I haven’t been feeling myself lately. I’ll try and keep you up to date with my travels over the next couple of weeks�.

Day 4: Inverness – Whisky trail – Castle trail – Stonehaven
Monday we left Inverness and started heading east. Once we hit Elgin we turned south joining the Whisky Trail. We stopped at Glenfiddich one of the biggest distilleries (certainly the biggest visitors centre!) and embarked on THE TOUR! It was actually a very interesting hour long tour where we shown the entire whisky making process through to bottling and shipping, which in fact on the day we visited, was scheduled for Canada (different labels; different alcohol by volume).

Interesting fact #1: Did you know that Balvenie is also produced by Glenfiddich!

The tour ended with a shot of 10 year old Glenfiddich, which was actually a very large shot, more like a tumbler full. Or, if your like me and don’t particularly savour the taste of whisky at 12 noon, they also offered tumblers full of the new liqueur which is made with Glenfiddich and honey which was really rather good! (only available in the UK)

We had a Marks and Spencers picnic on the lawn after our tour with various wraps, salads and cookies, finished off with a litre of Italian red. Very pleasant.

We continued our journey south through the Grampian mountains which were absolutely stunning. We were headed for Balmoral Castle the Queen’s holiday house, which is open to tourists between April and July, before the queen’s scheduled summer holiday in August and September.
Unfortunately we didn’t arrive until about 4pm which meant we didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the magnificent grounds, but we made the most of what time we had. Actually there was only a small furnished gallery to visit with paintings and photos of the rest of the castle and family members, some vehicles, art exhibitions and plenty of gardens.

Interesting fact #2: The royal vegetable gardens in the grounds provide all the herbs and vegetables eaten by the royal family on their summer holidays! Cool isn’t it?

After our speedy visit of Balmoral, back on the road through Balllater, Banchory east again to Stonehaven. About 5 miles out of Stonehaven we started heading into an incredible fog that completely surrounded us. The temperature dropped about 8 degrees C and we arrived in Stonehaven and couldn’t see the ocean or the harbour! A bit of a shame considering it is normally so pretty, but nevertheless it certainly gave off a real Scottish atmosphere!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast on the harbour, and kept our fingers crossed that the following morning the fog would have dissipated so we could see the view! It did, and we had the most wonderful view to wake up to.

Day 5: Stonehaven – St Andrews – Glasgow
Tuesday morning, Michelle and Xtine did the walk from the old harbour in Stonehaven around to Dunnator Castle which is a very impressive 12th century castle on a most magnificent site.
The views are spectacular both on the walk and even from the castle itself. The day was only so-so, with rain threatening all morning. After leaving the castle, we headed south to Montrose which is a small market town and seaside resort between the North sea to its east and the Montrose Basin to the west. We stopped for a walk in the rain around the town, and then tea and carrot cake at the local inn, before continuing our journey to St Andrews.
Before arriving in St Andrews, the constant drizzle became torrential rain, and our first priority was somewhere to stop for lunch close enough to park too, so we didn’t get drenched on the way into the restaurant! We ended up at a lovely restaurant for a late lunch called The Doll’s House.

Afterwards Michelle and Xtine walked the Old Course (the oldest golf course in the world) while I got some retail therapy! We visited St Andrews cathedral, a pub or two, the remains of another castle, and then with all that, 5 days of being tourists, we were ready to come home.

Back to Glasgow.

A lovely trip, but it sure is nice to be home.