As we approached The Glenlivet Distillery, we saw that a fold (herd) of Highland cattle (aka “Hairy Coos”) was approaching us. So we hung around to say “Hello”. This was a very domesticated group. They came right up to the fence, sniffed us and allowed petting. You don’t want to chase one down out in the country to try to pet it, or you can end up with a less than desirable experience.
I had only seen the ginger variety before, so I was intrigued by the fact that they also came in black, yellow, brindled and white. They were first introduced to Scotland in the Neolithic period and are considered one of the oldest cattle breeds on earth. They are definitely quite cute.
The Glenlivet is one of the first licensed distilleries in Scotland. They, and others, had been in existence since medieval times. But, in the 1820s, a law was passed requiring that Scotch Whiskey distilleries must be licensed to be legal. The owner of The Glenlivet, immediately applied for a license, upsetting the other distilleries. They had all hoped that the whole licensing issue would blow over eventually and they could all carry on illicitly as before.
This was our second time at this same distillery. So Mom sat out the distillery tour in the café. The mother of the other mother/daughter team on our tour also decided to sit out the distillery tour and joined Mom. I happen to like single malt Scotch, so I was willing to do the tour again to have the opportunity to sample the different varieties they produced at the end. I had tried the 12-year-old and the 18-year-old the first time. So I tried the 15-year-old French Oak Reserve this time. They didn’t offer either the 21-year-old or the 25-year-old on the tour. I had preferred the 18-year-old to the 12-year-old the previous trip. So I compared the 18-year-old to the 15-year-old French Oak Reserve. Although I favored the 15-year-old French Oak Reserve at the time, I have since become fond of the Founder’s Reserve. It is light with an orange fragrance and flavored with orange, pear and toffee apple. It goes really well with salmon.
We went on to Braemar where we originally were supposed to have a small tour of Balmoral Castle. They only let you into the ballroom, but it would still have been cool. However, Prince Charles had just married Camilla Parker Bowles and had decided to stop off at Balmoral Castle on the way to his own Scottish home. So we were unable to even see the castle as it is quite hidden from all roads in the vicinity. It would have been nice to have at least gotten some photos of the exterior. Instead, we visited Craithie Kirk, which is the church where the Royal Family worships when staying at Balmoral. The pastor welcomed us and gave us a brief history of the church. Queen Victoria’s servant, John Brown, is buried in the churchyard.
We ended up having lunch at an inn at a place called the Spittal of Glenshee (which I thought was a fun name) after a brief visit to Dundee. The inn looked like something from Norway, but the food was definitely Scottish. The RRS Discovery, which was the ship used by Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their expedition to the Antarctic, is docked in the harbor in Dundee.
After lunch we continued on to St Andrews, where we had more time than the previous trip. We could actually visit the castle this time. From the previous trip, we knew exactly where it was and how to get to it, so we didn’t have to waste any time trying to find it. But first, our tour director and driver had a little surprise for us. In a very narrow street, our driver maneuvered around until he could turn the full-sized coach down another very narrow street. Suddenly we emerged from between the buildings and drove across the Old Course between the 18th hole and the first hole. Golfers nearly dropped their clubs as they stared (and likely swore) at us as we went by. The video camera still being so new to me, I didn’t have the presence of mind to pull it out and film our journey. Something tells me that this is not an everyday occurrence – except possibly for that particular driver.
Once they let us out next to the Museum of Golf, we legged it down the road to the castle. Because of its strategic position and its tendency to be captured by the English, the Scots ultimately destroyed it themselves to keep it from falling into English hands again. Although in ruins, it contains a bottle dungeon (aka oubliette), which was carved out of the rock on which the castle stands. The castle was built on a rocky promontory overlooking a sandy beach and the North Sea in the 12th century.
After exploring the ruins, I wanted to zip down the road for a quick look at the cathedral ruins while Mom wanted to start back to where we were to meet the tour coach so she wouldn’t have to walk quite so fast – especially since she now used a cane. No problem. I could easily catch up to her and make it back in time. What we both forgot, however, was that I had all the money. When she got to the meeting point, she wanted to use the ladies WC. It was a pay toilet. I still feel guilty that my poor mother was reduced to begging for the change to use the facilities. After that incident, I made certain that, even when I was handling the money, she at least had a small amount of whatever the money was in that country. Fortunately one of our fellow travelers took pity on her and provided her with the necessary.
While in the USA, the currency is dollars and cents, in the UK it is pounds and pence. The pence have the nickname of “p”. I’ll bet you can guess where I’m going with this – she didn’t have a “p” to….
