Greeted in the morning by another sunny day! We are having such luck with the weather.......although we imagine some clouds and showers will catch up with us at some point. After a very nice breakfast we spent some time touring the gardens at the hotel again. They are really quite beautiful and the vegetable and herb gardens are amazing.
Our route for the day was to drive from St. Andrews almost due north to Braemar. It was a distance of only 70 miles, but in took several hours.......and we seldom were able to go faster than 35 mph! The route looked fairly straight on Google Maps, but the reality was a crazy set of curves which went up and down over some very remote mountain roads. In many instances, there were signs saying that the road was only one lane wide and that cars may need to back up substantial distances to allow for passing. Fortunately we only confronted a few cars, maybe 5 or 6 during the craziest portion of the road (for about an hour). There was very little sign of human presence in much of this area.......not even farms. Much of the mid-section of the travel was above the tree line, so no trees. Quite beautiful and dramatic!
Before rising in elevation we went through a more moderate farmland with fields covered with some type of beautiful yellow plant. Andrea thinks it was rape.......but we were never sure. There was also a lot of gorse everywhere in the country......also yellow and very brilliant.
The other scheduled item for the day was a reserved tour of the Royal Lochnagar scotch distillery in Braemar. It was a 15 minute drive outside of the town center and literally next door to the Royal Castle at Balmoral. Our appointment was at 2:30 and we arrived at our hotel, The Fife Arms, at around 12:30. By the time we checked in (love this place!) it was almost time to jump in the car and head to the tour.......without lunch today! This worked out fine as we had a large breakfast.......but also because the woman who checked us in at the hotel told us that the local police were rigorous about watching private cars leave the distilleries in the area, and the punishments were severe. She said they offered a 'driver's dram' of the tasting samples. This was perfect for us! In any case, the tour was fascinating.
As a note, the 15 minute drive from the town to the distillery (and Balmoral) was an absolute experience along the River Dee. It was not a difficult road to negotiate, but the scenery was stunning. We crossed this path 5 times over the two days......so lots of pictures!
We will not try to describe this too much and let the photos speak for themselves.
Back at the hotel, we did a little exploring.......what a unique place! Lots of taxidermy! and an impressive art collection. We found out that the owners are a husband and wife from Switzerland who put a major investment into renovating the hotel and upgrading the restaurants (one formal, one more of a pub). We tried the pub one tonight, called the Flying stag!
Great fun on all accounts!
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