Oh Boy! A New Toy!

Brad found a great deal on a used G5 on ebay UK. The price was right and the seller has a good record. Can't wait to dive into OSX!

Better Late Than Never

We returned from a five-day jaunt to the central highlands of Scotland last Tuesday and I've only just found the time to update my blog. On Wednesday I had a ton of laundry to do, plus various errands to run. I went on two job interviews, one on Thursday, the other on Friday, both in Leeds. I actually drove to the Thursday interview -- it was in a northern suburb of Leeds, easily reached from Harrogate. The office of the Friday interview was located closer to the city center so I caught the train into Leeds and then a taxi to the office. Both interviews went well; we'll see what happens. Anyhow, now, through the magic of postdating, I will update my blog on our trip to Scotland. I'll record the events in manageable day-sized chunks so that I don't have a humongous single entry.

Home Again, Home Again

We got up early, even skipping breakfast at our B&B, to begin the drive home. We made one stop along the way at Jedburgh to grab some breakfast and tour the ruins of the 12th-century abbey there. As with many of the abbeys in Britain, Jedburgh Abbey was dismantled due to religious reform. The main section of the abbey still stands, looking like a bombed-out shell of a building, and it was interesting to wander through the ruins. I find abbey ruins to be so photogenic; I never tire of taking photos of them and indeed, by that time I had managed to fill my 64 MB digital photo cartridge.

Another Castle, Another Distillery

Though we were nearly castled-out, on Monday morning we decided to pay a visit to Blair Castle, just eight miles outside of Pitlochry. From the outside, Blair Castle is rather imposing -- a massive building painted stark white. Inside it resembled nothing less than a huge hunting lodge decorated with scads of deer antlers. There were antlers hanging on the walls, a chair made of antlers (it didn't look too comfortable), lamps made of antlers, antlers from a favorite stag called Tilt. I think of all the castles we visited, Blair was my favorite. It had a more cozy, warm feeling than Glamis or Scone. Blair was also filled with exquisite treasures, but these treasures seemed to be of a more eccentric nature -- such as a stuffed polar bear or games carved out of ivory by French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars.

After Blair Castle we headed to Aberfeldy whisky distillery. The distillery is owned by Dewar's who put on a five-star attraction called Dewar's World of Whisky. We learned the history of Dewar's through some clever interactive displays, went on a guided tour of the distillery and sampled a wee dram after our tour. We had a choice of12-year-old single malt Aberfeldy, 12-year-old Dewar's Special Reserve or Dewar's Blend. I chose the Aberfeldy and enjoyed it, but I think I still prefer Blair Athol single malt.

A Fairy Tale Castle and a Scrumptious Palace

Sunday was a day we had set aside to visit Glamis Castle and Scone Palace. Glamis (pronounced glahms) was about a half-hour drive (on twisty turny roads) from Pitlochry. It is often referred to as a fairy castle; with its round towers and turrets it looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale. Glamis is the legendary setting for some scenes in Macbeth and was the childhood home of the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who died in 2002). I just couldn't imagine growing up in a place like that. The castle is so huge I kept wondering if the Queen Mum (as a child) ever got lost in the corridors. My favorite things about the castle were the family photos propped up here and there in nearly every room. It was so much fun looking at them, I could have spent hours just poring over the photos. Previous to our visit I had only seen photos of the Queen Mum as a sweet elderly lady -- now I got to see that she was an enchantingly pretty young girl and woman.

After Glamis Castle we made our way further south almost into Perth for a visit to Scone Palace. Not as impressive as Glamis on the outside, Scone (pronounced skoon) Palace was just as interesting inside. A self-guided tour took us through 32 of the rooms adorned with exquisite furnishings and treasures. Just outside the palace is a small chapel called Moot Hill, the setting for the crowning of the real Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Charles II. On the grounds of the palace is a wonderful star-shaped maze made from 2,000 beech trees.

A Whisky Hike

Today we decided to take one of the many hikes mapped out by the tourist info center. This hike cleverly passed by two Pitlochry-based whisky distilleries. The first stop, then, was at Blair Athol distillery. Established in 1798, it is one of Scotland's oldest distilleries, now owned and operated by Bell's. We had arrived early, so we practically had a private tour; there was only one other gentleman (an American from California) on the tour with us. I had a bit of difficulty understanding our guide John owing to his thick Scottish accent. We learned the basic recipe for whisky-making, the difference between a single malt whisky and a blend and got to see all the equipment used in the process. Best of all, we had a free sample of some 12-year-old Scotch at the end of the tour with John instructing us in the art of whisky tasting. I was surprised at how much I liked the Blair Athol single malt. It was smooth and mellow. Even so, it was a bit early in the morning to be drinking alcohol and I found the next bit of our hike a challenge as we climbed through Black Spout Wood, named after a small waterfall. Next stop was Edradour Distillery, said to be Scotland's smallest distillery. Due to that distinction, Edradour draws busloads of tourists. We took the tour along with about 20 other people. We were told that the entire process is carried out by hand just as it was a 150 years ago. Edradour produces a ten-year-old single malt which I found to be a bit harsh compared to Blair Athol.

We completed our hike, had lunch in town and set out for a drive to Cairn Gorm, the tallest point of a mountain range referred to collectively as the Cairngorms. During winter people ski on Cairn Gorm and there is a mountain railway that will take you to the 4,084-foot summit. The roads on the way to Cairn Gorm were incredibly twisty with blind summits and curves. The scenery was splendid; the mountains have a raw rugged aspect that I found very appealing. When we finally got as far as you can drive up Cairn Gorm we discovered we had missed the last train to the summit. As a consolation we walked for a bit along a trail that has been laid out on the mountain. It was a wonderful trail skirting on a level course around the top of the mountain. It was windy and quite cold but the views were rewarding. We left Cairn Gorm and took a leisurely route back to Pitlochry. Along the way we passed a field where some highland cows were grazing. They are such curious creatures -- stocky and shaggy with wide menacing-looking horns, broad noses and bangs that cover their eyes. We stopped off at the Insh Marsh Nature Reserve and hiked a trail to a bird hide. There we saw lots of curlews and roe deer. We even saw a heron catch an eel and struggle with its slippery prey.

Driving North

It took us about six hours to drive from Harrogate to Pitlochry, about the same amount of time it takes us to get from our home in Maryland to Brad's parents' house in Ohio. We were lucky with the weather. Though we encountered rain on the drive up, we never felt a drop of rain once we arrived in Pitlochry (whose residents proudly proclaim they are located in the geographical center of Scotland). There were blue skies and sun but the days were mostly cool and breezy. When the sun emerged from the clouds it got downright warm.

Pitlochry is a pleasant little town full of grand stone houses that date to Victorian times. It was then, when the trains reached the central highlands, that Pitlochry began its life as a leisure travel destination. Folks traveled there to enjoy the scenery and the healthy country air. Queen Victoria visited the area in 1866. She was taken to a spot near the town of Killiecrankie. You can go to the same spot today -- it's called Queen's View -- and admire the same scene the Queen herself enjoyed more than a hundred years ago.

We spent the afternoon getting acquainted with Pitlochry, which did not take too long as the town is quite small and a bit sleepy. There are a handful of restaurants, one grocery store, several gift and specialty shops, two large hotels and quite a few picturesque B&Bs. The only Internet cafe in town was closed over the weekend and I never got a chance to check email or update my blog the whole time we were there. (pssst, I'm cheating -- this is a postdated entry.) Pitlochry does not have many attractions in its own right and many people (like us) use the town as a base for exploring the central Highlands. Pitlochry does have at least one odd tourist attraction -- a fish ladder, a series of graduated chambers near a dam through which salmon are allowed to bypass the dam and make their way from the River Tummel to man-made Loch Faskally. The side of one of the chambers is a wall of glass allowing visitors to view the salmon making their upstream journey. The water is extremely murky so it's really hard to see the fish. We did see a couple of them though who had ventured close to the glass wall. We could barely make out the tube they are supposed to swim through to advance up the ladder.

In the evening we strolled to the little village of Moulin, up the hill from Pitlochry. (The name Moulin actually has its origin in Scottish Gaelic and has nothing to do with the French word moulin that means mill.) Moulin has an impressive church surrounded by a graveyard boasting a crusader's grave. There is also a lovely early 18th-century inn with an outrageously expensive restaurant.