Haggis 'n' kilts, arrrrrr! (Part 1)

After watching Highlander, Outlander, Braveheart-lander, and Skyfall-lander, we decided our next destination had to be... Scotland! So for Spring Break, I packed up my waterproof gear and headed back across the pond to meet the Cambridge Troops.

An early morning train ride from Cambridge took us to Edinburgh. It's a gorgeous trip up, with rolling green fields and flocks of sheep dotting the landscape. First thing we see from the cab ride to the rental car?  A kilted bagpiper, naturally!!

Drove right past Birnham Woods!

We immediately drove out of the big city and up into the Scottish Highlands. For no particular reason, we decided to spend the week in a tiny town called Dalwhinnie - famous for its distillery. It's also on the edge of Cairngorm National Park, and since there is basically NOTHING in Dalwhinnie, we used it as a jumping off place for our expeditions.

Boyband Pose, after our fish 'n' chips lunch in Pitlochry

On our way up, we stopped in a small village called Pitlochry, where we found the best fish and chips I've ever had. Excellent with mushy peas and gravy!!

Also stopped in Pitlochry for groceries, and loved that we saw a brawny, full-sleeve tattooed guy wearing a kilt (and t-shirt) coming out of the shop. So yes, kilts are still worn in daily life! And meanwhile, I'm in my long, down jacket with hat, scarf, and gloves.

I'd never have survived Outlander...


On Monday, we drove into the Cairngorms. There are about a million hikes around there, so we started by going up Glenmore Mountain to see the reindeer herd. Although reindeer had been hunted to extinction in Scotland about 800 years ago, they were reintroduced in the 1950s and now roam freely in the Cairngorms. The herd is technically privately owned, and we could go up and feed and pet them.

Feeding the reindeer

Getting water samples

While up on the mountain, I decided to take advantage of the Foldscope that I'd brought. After examining the water sample that I took up on Glenmore Mountain, all I gotta say is, ".... ew."

We took the funicular up to the Top Station. From there we could see across the Cairngorm National Park. The sad thing was that normally in early April there should be plenty of snow, but this year is was relatively warm*.

* if by warm you mean windy and freezing...

The view from the top of Glenmore Mountain, across the Gairngorms

Back down the mountain, we decided to take a hike around Loch Morlich. It's a smaller lake, and a nice easy path around it. We even spent some time doing a few geocaches!

Dinner was spent picnicking by the lake, and that evening we had our first try (of many failed attempts) at building a fire.

 

The next day, we drove up to Culloden to visit the battlefield site that ended the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. This was a fascinating look at Scottish history - when Bonny Prince Charlie and the Scottish Jacobites (the side of the House of Stuart, Scottish clansmen, and the Catholics) were soundly defeated by the Duke of Cumberland and the British loyalists (House of Hanover, Protestants). Something like 2,000 Jacobites were killed, compared to around 50 of the British, during the battle that lasted around half an hour. After the war, tartans, kilts, and clans were all banned.

The battlefield at Culloden

The memorial cairn

Mass grave memorial, Clan Fraser

From Culloden, we drove to Tomatin to visit one of the famed Highland Distilleries. Scotch whisky is pretty heavily regulated in Scotland, with a bunch of rules and regulations that I didn't totally get. But basically, you take some malted (germinated) barley and roast it, ferment it, distill it, and age it. Roasting barley means you need a fire, so some distilleries burn peat (giving the whisky a smoky flavor). You also have to age the whisky, and the barrels that distilleries use are generally oak barrels that have been used for other alcohols (wine, bourbon, sherry, etc), giving them distinct flavors.

The casks at Tomatin

Stills for distilling 

We did a whisky tasting at Tomatin (a 12-year single malt scotch, aged in bourbon and sherry casks)... as a non-drinker, it was like liquid fire that disappeared before I had a chance to swallow. Can't say I liked it, but I also can't say I hated it. What I did learn was that adding water to whisky causes a chemical reaction that breaks apart some whatever molecules and releases more flavor. Or whatever. But you can't add too much water or it will dilute your alcohol (a bad thing, or so I hear), so you only add about two or three DROPS in each dram. So no, you aren't supposed to have whisky on the rocks... way too much water!

With a few more hours of sunlight left, we decided to find a small hike. We ended up in Glencharnoch Woods, in Carrbridge. We hiked through Ellan Woods, (forests and bogs) and even did a bit of geocaching. We ended the day at the actual bridge of Carrbridge - an old packhorse bridge built in 1717.