Speyside via Aberdeen

(Hi all. This blog entry is belated. I started to draft it at the time we travelled, then only managed to put photos in, then got too busy with our return home. I never actually wrote it up and posted it. So here is my posting, only 21 months late!)

We rented a car for the weekend, to head up to Speyside. This time our car was a Seat, the best car we've rented by far, it even had fold down trays in the back like sitting in a plane! I loved the trays and sat in the back most of the trip maximising their use.

We left Edinburgh early on Saturday, with cold and rain. We headed north over the Forth Road Bridge. We hoped to show Dad the view across Dundee passing through but it was all fogged in. So we passed straight through, and stopped at Arbroath for a look around. It was too early to buy a smokie to try, so we looked around the town briefly then carried on.

We followed the A92, for a quick and yet scenic drive, up to Aberdeen. We hadn't been here before, but had heard how grey it is. How true! The buildings are all grey, and the sky was grey for us too. It does lend unique character though. We stopped here for quite a while, Dad visited a bank and I made an impulse purchase of some new motorcycle gloves. We also found lunch at a local bakery.

We wanted to tour The Glenlivet distillery, so once leaving Aberdeen we took the most direct route there. It was a beautiful drive through green, rolling hills and the weather improved also. Oddly, passing through all of Aberdeenshire and Angus, we did not see any cattle. Where does Aberdeen Angus meat really come from, we wonder?

We reach the distillery just minutes before a tour departs. Good timing! Having done the tour of Glenfiddich, Helen and I cannot help but compare. The Glenlivet has a much more industrial, commercial feel. Lots of iron sheds, not much character. The tour explains how whisky is made in the usual manner, and the tastings are of course a must, but we came away thinking this tour is second best to Glenfiddich.


We decide to dial up Glenfiddich in the GPS, and it's not too far away, so we head there also. We arrive just minutes before their last tour of the day! Perfect. So we get to enjoy this tour again, and Dad gets to see tour both distilleries and compare. We are feeling very lucky.

From here it is a nice drive to Highlander Inn, in Craigellachie, where we are booked.


We have stayed in this town before, at a B&B, and enjoyed this bar, this time we wanted to stay here. Needless to say we weren't disappointed. I took Dad for a walk down to the river, then we settled into a table for the night to enjoy a hearty meal and some whisky tastings. What a nice, relaxing way to spend the night. It's a shame we cannot do this more often.