The Jacobite Trail

After a great night's sleep (finally), our morning began with this fabulous breakfast

Marty's egg, baked beans, bacon and tomatoes

I thought it kind of looked like a face with tomatoes for eyes and the yolk for the mouth.

My pancakes.

Which, I thought looked just FABulous!!

Don't know about you, but I'd pick mine over Marty's any day!

After bidding a fond farewell to our gracious hosts, we decided to visit the Ruthven barracks which were only a mile away from our B&B

This horse in the red coat seemed to be quite curious as we parked the car and began walking towards the barracks.

A castle stood on this ground as early as the 1200's, but this structure was built by the British in an attempt to deter any uprisings from the Scots.  It was built in 1715 and designed to hold 120 infantry soldiers as well as their horses.  (Perhaps that creature in the red coat is an ancestor….who knows?)

Here you can see Marty standing in the door of the barracks.

Marty wanted a photo taken nest to the Bakery and Brewhouse, since he loves both.

and we took one last shot as we headed back to our car.

Touring the barracks caught our interest about the Jacobites, so we decided to modify our plans today and head towards Culloden where the final Jacobite battle took place.  The Jacobites who managed to survive, retreated to Ruthven for safe haven after the battle, although it was a set of ruins at that point, having been destroyed by Prince Charles' orders.  Only two months previously, the Jacobites had taken this defensive structure in battle from the Brits, and that was when Charles had it burned and why you see the ruins that are here today.

We arrived at Culloden, parked in the lot, which was next to the grazing field of some Highland Cows, so Marty shot this photo.

They were not the least bit interested in being photographed.  Quite disappointing for Marty.

Inside the visitor center, we were able to tour through the history of the Jacobite Rebellion from start to finish.  The Jacobites had succeeded in beating the English in every battle prior to this one at Culloden.

But having analyzed their mistakes, the Brits adjusted their battle plans and increased their ammunition for this battle.  The night before the battle, they were well rested.

On the other hand, the Jacobites had traveled through the night, through dense fog.  Many of them were still asleep when the battle began.  They were worn and tired and not prepared, and Charles was overly confident from his  100% battle record.

This final battle in 1746 resulted in 1500 Jacobites being brutally slaughtered by the Brits.  Inside the visitor center, there was a surround sound and video highlight of the battle which really brought to light just how horrid this event was.  Actually, it was quite graphic and I actually had to shut my eyes for some of it.  

We were able to walk outside to get an idea of what the battlefield was like.

The audio guides worked by GPS, so when we walked to a particular spot, the device automatically began giving the information pertaining to that spot.  How cool was that?

Along the Jacobite line, there stand markers that list the particular clansmen who died in that area.

There are also stone markers that are engraved with the names of clansmen who died as well.

No one really knows where the British soldiers who perished that day are buried in this field. 

On the grounds stand this house from the 1700''s. 

I knew somewhat of the history of Bonnie Prince Charlie, but this visitor center certainly explained a lot more than I had realized.  

A lot of time and effort went into planning this visitor center and it had a unique way of presenting the information.  As one walked through somewhat of a maze, info pertaining to the government's view on the uprising was along one wall while the Jacobite viewpoint was along the opposite wall.  It required a lot of weaving back and forth between the two sides in order to keep up on the story as it unfolded, but I found this to be a very clever way of presenting the story from both sides. 

One thing of note of which I had not been aware, was that after the battle of Culloden, it was ordered that there could be no surrender.  Every man who was considered to be a Jacobite was to be killed.  Many clansmen who were not even sympathizers were murdered.  The British went through the towns intent on killing every man who had been even remotely involved with the Jacobite cause.  There was to be no mercy.  

Just a few miles from Culloden is the city of Inverness.  We managed to get into the town without an issue, but once in it, we found that the road to our hotel was closed at the spot where we needed to turn.

After circling the same street twice, we decided to park and grab lunch at a delightful restaurant in town.  Then, we ventured off again, ready for the challenge. 

Marty ended up driving over one bridge, traveling a few blocks on the other side, then driving back over on another bridge, making a few sharp turns, and finally, we were at our hotel!

We are staying at the Glen Mohr which stands right along the river Ness.  The location is beautiful.

The hotel appears to be a long row of very old town houses, with a very modern interior.  It is really quite quaint.  The room is very large and even holds two chairs and a small sofa.

Funny, but I had paid extra for a river view room, and we had to laugh when we saw that we could, indeed, see the river if we stood up and looked out the window!  But the rest of the room certainly makes up for the price difference.   I hadn't paid much for the room as it was, because I had a free room booking through the hotels.com service that I use frequently. 

The skies began to clear so we took a walk into Inverness.

Along the way, we spotted Faith, Hope and Charity.

The visitor center had an interesting bench.

We climbed up to take a look at Inverness Castle where we could see this lovely view of St. Andrew's Cathedral across the river. 

The opposite direction featured the city of Inverness and the mountains in the distance.

Just lovely, don't you think?

We walked to the Victoria Market, built in the late 1800's.

And by the old hospital on Church Street.

We crossed the footbridge to the other side, then headed back along the River Ness.  Just about that time, the sun decided to shine on the castle.

You can see one of the footbridges here in the distance.

Marty took a photo of us on the bridge, with the castle in the distance.  Funny, but it looked much closer by the eye.

Back on the hotel side of the river there stands a celtic cross which is a memorial to the WWI soldiers who died in battle.

Back in our hotel….let me share some photos from the room.  This is looking out the back window, which isn't bad. Had we been one level lower, we would have looked onto another building.

This is the view from the front window.

And, here is Marty, relaxing on the sofa, where you can see our window view from the room!

When darkness fell, we were pleasantly surprised to walk outside and see that the trees lining the street were strung with tiny white lights that were sparkling, but our biggest surprise was the foot bridge which was lit up with neon colors. 

It was tough to get a good photo at night, but I think that will do.

Off to Loch Ness today…….I'll let you know if we see any monsters lurking about!

Whiskey & Chocolate?

Interesting combination, for sure, but today’s tour of the Dalwhinnie Distillery featured that unusual combination, and I am surprised to tell you that I liked it!

I am not a whiskey drinker, but this particular 15 year aged whiskey was light, with a wee bit of  a vanilla taste, and after placing a small bite of Highland Chocolate into my mouth, followed by a swig of the whiskey, I was amazed at just how good it tasted.

But, to be quite frank, if I need to have chocolate to make the whiskey enjoyable, I’d just as soon just eat the chocolate.  Just sayin.’

But let me back track a bit and tell you a bit about our morning.  We started our day with a lovely breakfast of porridge and fruit while catching up with Isobel, the proprietor, whom we’ve come to really enjoy. (and vica versa).  Then, we headed out on the M90 for the trip to Dalwhinnie.

Marty loves to make the drive with classical music playing on the radio, so that he can relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  Somewhere along our travels, the music stopped, and I had presumed that Marty had decided to turn off the radio.

We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, close to our destination, and concentrating on making sure that Marty made the correct turn when…..suddenly…..the radio began belting out the Hallelujah Chorus from Handle’s Messiah.

Not exactly something we had been expecting, and we both jumped while I asked Marty just what iin the world he was doing!

And, he responded by saying that he hadn't touched anything……the radio must have suddenly found an adequate station for transmission. 

As the Hallelujah’s were echoing through the car, I looked up, and standing in the near distance was our intended destination, the Dalwhinnie Distillery.

 I realized just how ridiculous this whole scenario was….it was like I was living a scene from a Chevy Chase movie when the moment of realization comes, and the movie watcher hears this famous song playing in the background.

We couldn’t have planned this set of events had we tried!  We certainly got quite a laugh out of the whole thing and decided that it must be destiny.

What other explanation could there be?

This particular distillery sits on a high mountain in the Cairngorms, and there is, literally, nothing to be seen for miles……except mountains.  It has stood on that spot since the  late 1800’s and has made Whiskey for most of the years since, save some years during World Wars and destruction from an onsite fire.

The extreme elevation results in a natural source of water from the melting ice that still caps some of the peaks from last winter..

Marty and I signed up for the tour and soon found ourselves among mashing bins and distillation columns, walking through the entire distillation facility and ending up in a warehouse that holds thousands of oak barrels filled with whiskey.

The tour was extremely interesting and I learned that this whiskey contains  only 3 ingredients:  barley, yeast and water.  It goes through a double distillation process to result in an alcohol content of about 56%.  The whiskey is aged, on site, for 15 years in oak barrels, previously used to age brandy in the United States.  Apparently there is some rule that US brandy casks can only be used once.  No worries there…the Scots are more than happy to use them to age their whisky. After 15 years, the end result is a light caramel colored whiskey with about a 43% alcohol content, as, over time, some of the alcohol evaporates out through the casks. 

At the end of the tour, we received a sample of the finished product, along with a melt-in-your-mouth piece of a special Highland chocolate. 

And I am now the owner of a beautiful glass, etched with the distillery’s name.

But, more importantly, I now have to my name a Whiskey Passport.  

I'll bet that you never saw that happening!  We were encouraged to sign up for this whiskey rewards program which offers free tours and tasting at most of the local distilleries.  

In my book, you just can't beat free. And, since I'm not really big on tasting Whiskey, this works out great for me, because I can still go on the tour with Marty (who wants to visit a couple of others in the area as they all have their unique flavor) and not worry about wasting the money.

Having completed the tour and tasting, we once again headed out on the windy road to Kingussie. (pronounced Ken  goose ee).  

Just on the outskirts is the Highland Folk Museum, an open air museum which holds original structures from as far back as the early 1700's.  When these treasures are located, the trust painstakingly moves them to the museum and reconstructs them in the original form.

There are several volunteers dressed in period who gave excellent presentations of what life would have been like in those days.  As you can well imagine, the interior is quite dark, with no windows to offer any light.  A fire was burning in the middle, and the smoke would make its way out through the thatch, thereby no windows.  Not only did 15 people live in one of these things, but their animals had their own special area inside as well!  

In addition to the early village, there were shops on display from the  mid 1930's for viewing.  One that I found particularly cute was this tailor's shop.  The building dates from 1895, but it is set up as it would have been in 1935.  I loved it. 

One point to make is that this area is known for its production of tweed.   The shop across the road from the Tailor featured all kinds of colors of tweed patterns on display.  

There was a lot to see, and we didn't actually get to see all of it.  But, it had been a free admittance and the weather was getting cold and rainy, so we didn't feel the least built guilty hopping in the car and heading to our B&B, the Arden House in Kengussie.

 Lovely place. Equally lovely hosts.

Upon checking in, after some delightful conversation, we were offered a dram of whiskey or sherry as a welcome.   And we both took them up on the offer.

Why not?

Beating Out Jet Lag

Well, it may come as no surprise for you to read that Marty and I are back in Scotland.  But this time, we are actually here to see the sights with no work involved…..or so he says.

If you recall, Marty’s job brought him to the Kingdom of Fife monthly and I was lucky enough to tag along with him several times.   Marty would head off to work, and I’d plan some exciting adventure for the day.  It didn’t take long for me to acclimate to this fair country and its friendly citizens and its weather. I’ll admit, I often felt a wee bit guilty that while Marty was dealing with crazy work issues, I was out gallivanting around this beautiful country and thoroughly enjoying it.

Not that Marty minded that. He enjoyed my company, and we would take some little side trips on weekends.

But he would frequently say that he wanted to come back and venture west, so with frequent flyer miles just waiting to be cashed in, I booked some flights and set up this trip.   With his feet on US soil only 72 hours, we headed back on a plane for a welcome respite from his hectic work schedule.

We arrived to absolutely beautiful weather,  checked into the Roods at Inverkeithing, one of our favorite B&B’s not far from the airport, and didn’t waste anytime venturing out to enjoy the sunshine.

.

Marty decided that he wanted to walk some of the Fife Coastal Trail, and, believe it or not, there was a section nearby that I had never trod.  So, we walked across the street and down the stairs to the train station (another lovely perk of the B&B….its location to the station), and boarded a train for Burntisland where we disembarked and began our walk towards Aberdour.

The term, Coastal Trail, is a bit misleading at times, as the path often wavers a bit from the coast.   In fact, we had to head into town from the train station which actually does stand along the Firth of Forth!

And, I'll admit that I did have to stop and ask someone to direct us to the trail, or Lord knows where we would have ended up, but he was more than happy to direct us.  Gotta love these friendly people, for sure!

We soon found ourselves hiking along a well maintained path with old stone walls bordering the sides. 

Obviously, the view of the coast was a bit limited, but it didn't take long before we could peek through the trees and admire the gorgeous vistas.

Not far along from here, Marty spotted these two lone seals, basking in the sun.

Mama seal must have heard us, because she turned her head and looked straight at me.

And I was lucky to have my 20X zoom lens to capture the moment!  How exciting was that?

Walking along afforded us some lovely views.

If you look close enough, you can see the Forth Train bridge in the distance.

sailboats in the harbor near Aberdour

And I zoomed in on Inchcolm Island which we had visited via ferry during one of our trips.

As you can see, it was an absolutely beautiful evening for a walk!

By this point, we had hiked quite a distance to our destination of Aberdour.

So, we headed into the charming village and enjoyed a delightful dinner at the Aberdour Hotel Restaurant before boarding the train back to Inverkeithing.

Believe me, after all of that walking, and little sleep on the plane, the comfy bed here was more than welcoming!

We'll be heading north today,  off to the Dalwhinnie Distillery.

Just the name itself sounds like fun…don't you agree?

No worries…..I'll be sure to keep you posted.  

Raise the Jolly Roger

With family still in town from the wedding, we decided that we would take advantage of the beautiful evening and spend one last hurrah taking in the Pirate's game.

So, after driving 4 1/2 hours, I found myself climbing the steps of PNC Park in search of our seats located in Section 307 Row Y.

As I made the trek up, staircase after staircase, I realized, as I was climbing the last set of steps, that we would be sitting at the very top of the stadium, in the last row.  I jokingly asked if the game was a sell out, since, at the time, the stadium was relatively empty, and it seemed to be ridiculous to be so high up, but within the hour, the stadium had filled up, and it was obvious that we were lucky to have been able to get even these seats.

It was great to be able to spend this time together, and a good time was had by all.

There was fun with Gramma G

 The much anticipated Pierogie Race:

Sauerkraut Pierogie won:

Girls dressed up in matching shirts:

Cheeseburgers and fries

And a little ketchup

And, as the sun began to set, our seats offered the perfect view of the city from one direction

and the point from the other

with the magnificent church lit up on Mount Washington

The views were certainly beautiful, but brothers were much more entertaining.

 They live on opposite sides of the country, but they showed up wearing nearly the same outfit, and, as you can see, looking very much alike despite an eight year age difference.

It certainly was a fun evening, 

and, to top it off…….the Pirates beat the Rockies.

So, as they say in Pittsburgh after a win, "Raise the Jolly Roger!!"