Chronicle for 11 May 2012

We had an Interesting conversation this morning with our fellow guests in the breakfast room. They were telling us about their kids careers, their travels due to his work, how they spent several years working and living in various parts of Africa, including within the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro. They finished the conversation by telling us he 'had to work tomorrow'. It was then that we discovered that he was a minister. I hadn't thought of priests and ministers regarding what they did as work in the the same way that we do. So many questions and not enough time to ask them.

We left Dulnain Bridge (near Granton-on-Spey) and headed south west towards Spean Bridge. Initially we travelled via the main roads admiring what we could of the snow capped peaks through the rain. This really is a beautiful part of the world.

Once we reached Spean bridge we started heading in a more north easterly direction alongside Loch Lochy until we reached Fort Augustus. We stopped here for a while to stretch our legs as the sun had decided to make an appearance, but also to admire the stepped locks leading up to Loch Ness. As you can imagine the 'Nessie' trinkets abound here, but we were more interested in the locks which raise and lower the boats a total of 13 metres before sending them out through a swing bridge (road bridge) and into Loch Ness.

From Fort Augustus we took the scenic route along the right hand side of Lock Ness admiring the view along the way, until we reached the Pub at Foyers, which lies at the head of the path that leads down to the Falls of Foyers. We had been led to believe that this was a very steep climb ('not mountaineering but very steep') and was a good 15 minute walk, well it was neither. We also read accounts of the likes of Wordsworth who waxed lyrical about the sight of these falls. Although impressive they don't warrant the hype. Although to be fair it may have lost a lot of its power due to the Hydro take off. It was a nice walk down a stepped path to an impressive waterfall. It is however an interesting spot where there can be found Silka Deer, Roe Deer, Pine Martens, Otters, and Red Squirrels.

We continued on to the head of Loch Ness to Dores which is the home of the Dores Inn, it is also the home of a little caravan in the inn carpark which has a sign on it saying 'Nessie-Serry Independent Research'. This is the home of a dedicated Nessie hunter. Aside from that this is a great vantage point to look down the length of the loch.

We soon arrived at our destination Inverness and checked into our B&B at a record early time of 4:30pm. Neil would be impressed. He told us before leaving NZ for Europe that we should always be checked in before 4pm. We have never yet managed to do that. He also told us that the mediterranean was dead (re: fish) we proved that wrong too. However he did give us a lot of very useful information as well.

Back to our accommodation, lovely hosts (again), lovely room, and a shower!

After checking in we went for a walk along the river before finding dinner. Once again we were impressed with the level of service within the service industry (nothing is too difficult) up here and wonder why it is so different south of the border where the attitude generally seems to be, if I make eye contact with you then I will have to serve you, which means I will have to do some work (heaven forbid!).

For now, it it back to our bed, a nice soft bed! Why do we get the best places at the places that we have booked for the shortest length of stay.

Chronicle for 10 May 2012

We woke today to rain which lasted all day in varying degrees of intensity, but before we headed out there we commenced our day with a bath. It does seem a little odd starting our day this way but we find that that is the only washing apparatus available in many of the places that we stay in the UK. Not something that we have got used to yet. Walking in to inspect the rooms it all looks very quaint having a separate private bathroom down the hall with a large old style bath taking centre stage in the middle of the room, but 'quaint' doesn't quite cover the reality.

Over breakfast we weren't treated to the company of the red squirrels this morning, they must be trying to keep out of the rain as well.

Due to the rain we decided that today should be an indoor day. What better way to enjoy the indoors than by sampling the countries finest whiskies. During the course of the day we drove around the area calling in at a couple of distilleries along the way. The first was the Glenfarclas distillery where we did a tour. We are quite glad that we chose to do a tour there as it is one of the few family run distilleries and a lot of the process is still done in a fairly manual manner which was good to see.

The other distillery that we stopped at for a tasting was Macullans. A nice whisky that we have drunk from time to time over the last few years so it was nice to see where it is made. We also got to see the house whose image appears on all of their labels.

From here it was on to Dufftown, supposedly the centre of malt whisky country and certainly the centre of the Speyside whisky region. We paid a visit to the Whisky Shop which sports a stock of hundreds of single malt whiskies, and offers tastings of most of them.

From here we returned back home to Dulnain Bridge. Finishing the day by sneaking Indian takeaways into our room to consume. Although there is a very good restaurant service offered downstairs, the price is a little outside our budget, or at least there are other things that we would rather spend that money on.

Tonight we will spend our last night on this extremely hard bed, and hoping the hot bath in the morning will soak those pains away before heading towards Inverness. Until then we will get wafted to sleep by the aromas of leftover curries.

Chronicle for 9 May 2012

We had breakfast this morning whilst watching the red squirrels in the garden. There are a number of squirrel boxes set up in the trees and the squirrels were doing the circuit via the circulatory route involving sprinting up the trees, scampering amongst the branches, leaping across the voids and just managing to hang on before descending down to recommence their feasting at the next box of nuts.

Our first destination today was the Highland Wildlife Park which is associated with the Edinburgh Zoo, however the wildlife park is one of these drive through affairs and it covers a fairly large acreage. It has areas devoted to a number of animals such as a small herd of Bison, a group of Przewalski's Horses, Elk, Musk Ox, Reindeer, to name just a few. Then we progressed through the walking part of the park which included animals such as the Amur Tiger (the two females are currently courting favours with the newly imported male), Artic Fox, Scottish Wildcat, European Wolves, etc. They specialise here in endangered cold climate animals which considering where we are makes sense. However it does seem a little odd to see a couple of Polar Bears lolling around in a grass paddock.

During our second circuit in the car the Bison decided to stand in the middle of the road and refused to budge. There isn't a lot you can do when several tonnes of grumpy muscle decides to block your path, except just wait for them to move aside in their own good time.

We spent quite a bit more time at the park than we had anticipated but it was well worth the visit, with many of the animals displaying their springtime young.

After doing a bit of a scenic route through the back ways and byways we made our way to the Dalwhinnie Distillery and had a brief tasting. As with everyone that we have encountered up here, the staff were more than helpful, and we walked away with not a bottle of Dalwhinnie but another recommendation, and a sampling passport each for many of the other distilleries in the region.

Back on the road we took the long road home having a picnic dinner by the Loch looking across the water to the snow capped munroes. It was snowing earlier today with the snow sitting at about 700m (we have been told). Half way though our dinner, the lovely evening turned into Scotch Mist and the tops of the mountains disappeared from sight. We took the opportunity to drive up the mountain road to the base of the funicular that takes you further up the mountain. It was closed for the day but we were able to look down on where we had just been enjoying our dinner. The end of another great day in the highlands.

Chronicle for 8 May 2012

We had a leisurely start this morning, starting the day by heading into Perth. After parking our car and having a short wander through the town we we faced by the local parking wardens. The parking fares are very cheap, but being 6 minutes late we were almost nabbed with a £1000 fine! We managed to scrape away with that ... just ... and headed out of town very promptly.

Whilst in Perth we went into a small art gallery run by a guy who was severely outnumbered by woman around a table which we found out was an artist circle. Very entertaining. It was debatable who was running the show.

Heading north we found ourselves travelling through countryside very reminiscent of New Zealand. Large areas of farmland surrounded by high hills and mountains of a greater scale than we have seen anywhere in the UK until now. Some parts reminded us of Central Otago, other parts Tongariro, and others could be anywhere in the central farming districts. We were now within the boundaries of the Cairngorms National Park. What continues to surprise us is that working farms, private land and farmland are included as part of the National Parks.

As the land became steeper, the vegetation became sparser to be replaced largely with heather and the ski lifts became more prolific, we found ourselves heading towards Balmoral Castle. The summer residence of the Queen (she spends 10 weeks per year here) is situated in a most impressive landscape. In fact, that is what had the greatest effect upon us throughout the visit. This place really is stunning. We learnt that the only month of the year that gardeners can guarantee that there  will not be a frost is in August. However despite the odds against them they must produce produce for the table during her visit. It is interesting to see the back drop and subjects that we have seen so many times in the royal portraiture over the years. And for the record, the ballroom at Balmoral isn't nearly as big as what the photos would have you believe.

After leaving Balmoral headed through more of the National Park landscape via single lane roads, either winding and climbing or descending at equally alarming rates. We even managed to see a grouse that we disturbed fluttering off into the heather.

We arrived at our destination of Dulnain Bridge, not far from Granton-on-Spey, at another old manor house. We decided not to have dinner in house as it seemed rather posh and definitely out of our price range. Instead we headed into town and enjoyed a delicious venison casserole served by an overworked Hungarian woman.