July 22 – Perthshire

AberfeldySleep-in today we slept late. The shop in Glengoulandie doesn’t open until 9am and we wanted to have a shower. When we had showered we packed the car and drove to Aberfeldy to continue on to Pitlochry and a few distilleries (Blair Athol and Edradour).

Our first stop was in Aberfeldy at their Distillery, our first real visit to a distillery. Lennarth bought a bottle of Aberfeldy and Patrik bought a pack containing three small bottles from Aberfeldy. We then drove to Blair Atholl distillery and looked in their shop. Lennarth bought a Blair Atholl and a Dailuaine. When we were ready we went into Pitlochry for lunch and bought some food. Patrik followed advice from Lennarth and bought some local beer to try in the evening.

Patrik alone at the bar in Edradour DistilleryAfter Pitlochry we drove to Edradour, this was really a tourist trap.. Big busses, small roads, but the distillery was fine. Patrik tried a 13 year old Edradour Sherry Cask in their bar. There was also a purchase of the same in the shop and a dram glass. When the shopping was done we headed north towards Blair Castle. Terese and Patrik went in while Gun and Lennarth went into the castle gardens. Terese found it exciting to go in a genuine castle and experience the atmosphere. Blair CastleIt was also great to get the chance to see and touch the furniture and other things from 15th century and onwards. When Blair Castle was done we drove to Ardverikie Estate, alias Glenbougle House from the tv series “Monarch of the Glenâ€?, on the way we stopped at Dalwhinne distillery even though we knew it was closed, just to have been there. We met a Swedish couple who had recently been at the distillery we were on our way to. They said we have an incredible journey in front of us.

LagganAfter Dalwhinne it was the winding roads in the Scottish highlands that was ahead of us. When we came closer to Laggan we started to wonder if we would find Ardverikie Estate, so we stopped and asked in a shop in Laggan. We got directions from a very helpful shop owner but before we could get the directions (which were complicated) he had to drive a relative an errand and left us and a local person alone in the shop, he came back within 5 minutes. We were informed that we would have to go 5km to reach the house , but we could take photos from the other side of the loch. It was the latter alternative we took. We stopped at a parking place exactly opposite the house but with a lot of trees in the way, so we climbed down to the lakeside to take some photos. After taking photos we continued towards Invermoriston, which lies on the west coast of Loch Ness, where Lennarth had earlier in the day telephoned the camping site to see if they had available pitches. When we reached the Loch Ness Caravan and Camping site it seems all the pitches were taken but the kind manager got us a caravan pitch with electricity at the same price as two tent pitches. The first pitch he showed us was gravel, which would have been ok, but then he found a pitch with grass which was much better. It sloped a little but we slept soundly.