Time to Tee off at St Andrews
From World Tour 2008 in St. Andrews, United Kingdom on Oct 15 '08
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This morning we left Granton-on Spey and were heading off towards Edinburgh. A 90min drive first brought us to Atholl and Blair Castle. Mike had said that this was the most impressive castle that we would see. We turned in the gate and drove down an avenue of Linden Lime trees. There was strictly no photos to be taken inside. This castle was home to the line of Earl of Atholl and we were told a history of the lineage. One of the Earls decided that the property needed more trees, and because it was so vast, utilised a cannon to disperse 2000 tree seed pods. Even though this was an eccentric idea, it worked and the estate is now full of trees.
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We were shown through the many rooms in the house, with their sculpted plaster ceilings and antique furniture pieces and fading tapestries. Downstairs in the main dining room there must have been at least 100 deer antlers mounted on the walls - in a dark wood panelled room - making it an imposing sight.
It's never to early for a bit of whiskey..
Once the tour was finished we headed out to take photos of the outside of the castle and up to the deer enclosure. The large male stag that was guarding his flock of doe's was none to happy about the two doe's near the fence as we approached, and started to make an insistant move towards us and starting lowing. The doe's promptly moved away, heeding his warning. We were also hoping to see some of the long haired horned cows that are indigenous to Scotland, but there were none to been seen.
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After this we headed off towards Moulin and the Edradour Whiskey Distillery. This privately owned still only produces 3 barrels of whiskey a day, compared to the 50+ average of the larger distileries in the area. We were given a guided tour of the operation, by a lady that looked 100yr old! We were taken through the mixing vats and into the condensing room. Absolutely no phones, smoking and children allowed here - the air was thick with the smell of alchohol - I'm sure if you stayed in here too long you'd get a hangover! We were then taken to a small hut where we were given a small sample of either their 10yr old whiskey or their creme liquor. I had the creme and Joe tried the whiskey. The whiskey would put hairs on your chest. We watched a short film on the history of the distillery. After this there was the obligatory stop in the shop where a few of the other travellers purchased bottles to take home. Our guide was explaining the difference between the bottles, and it came out that the whiskey that we were given to taste is what the locals use for cooking with! They drink the smoother 20+yr old drops - but this is too expensive to give out for free to us tourists.
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After this we were taken down into the town and dropped at the Moulin Hotel to have lunch. There was no room inside, and we had to seat ourselves at the tables out the front of the hotel. It was lucky it was a fine day, but sitting in the shade was still very cool. Joe enjoyed the special lamb burger and I tried the fish-n-chips, and later wished I hadn't as it was sooo greasy and tasteless. Mike said we all should visit the old graveyard across the road behind the church, as it contained old Mason and Templar knight graves. Mike did an impromptu tour of some of the graves, showing us a couple of the Templar graves, with their flat tomb stones, and the eroded pictures of knights holding a sword.
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It was then back on the bus and we headed towards Aberdeen and St Andrews. We were driven on a circuit of the town and given a brief history. We passed the airforce base and hoped to see some of the newer fighters on the runway, but these were all hidden away. We did see some way off in the distance but Mike could not discern what model they were. We were dropped off in front of the famous St Andrews golf course. Mike gave instructions for getting a photo on the old stone bridge on the 18th hole, so Joe and I headed off to here first.
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After this we walked a circuit of this old town, past the ruins of St Andrews church, passed the university, the ruins of the Black friars abbey, and the many souvenier shops. We only had a 1hr stop here and found that this time disappeared quickly and before we knew it had to be back on the bus to head off to Edinburgh.
As we headed into Scotland's capital, Mike pointed out the Fife Steel rail bridge, the first of its kind in the world. It looked was very impressive as we drove parallel to it. We were arriving in town in the middle of rush hour, but luckily everyone was leaving the city. After checking into our central hotel, Joe and I went across the road to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Two of our fellow travellers, brother and sister Kirwin and Mary-anne from Ottowa in Canada chose the same place for dinner, so we sat next to them and had a nice easy meal and a chat about our travels. We thought about finding a pub or something to go to afterwards for a drink and listen to some music, but both decided that it had been a long day and piked out and went back to the hotel.
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