Would you like your cereal with milk, ale, or stout?
After another nice Scottish breakfast served in the bar, we took a short walk to the Aberlour distillery. Given that we had places to be down the road we did not take the tour, but did find a good bottle to bring home, helped by our extensive research the previous evening. The town was a nice little place, but without a lot going on other than the distillery and a long distance walking path passing through.
Our inn, and whisky research headquarters
They just looked SO Scottish
Great wood stacking job
Liked the doors
Classic scene
Buds
Aberlour distillery visitor center, Mike elbowing his way through the door
On the drive south we made a brief detour into Grant On Spey, a town Tami and Mike remember having lunch in on our last trip. However, since it was Sunday not much was open, so we did not stop. We should also mention that the area is known in whisky terms as the Speyside region (because the River Spey runs through it), one of the major designations for Scotch whisky, along with Highland, Lowland, Island, Islay, and Campbeltown whiskys.
The next stop, Aviemore, was where we found a pie shop, Mackinnons of Speyside, that claims they make “probably the best steak pies in the world”. Well, one can’t ignore a claim like that and the gruff chap running the shop was actually a real softy, so we bought the biggest pie he had for our dinner and shoot, we had to get some pork pies and scotch eggs for lunch, too.
Quite a claim, but not proven wrong by us
A man and a Scotch egg
With hand lunches to go, we wandered about a bit. Aviemore seems to be a major outdoor center. The outdoor clothing and gear shops were thick as flies at a picnic. Mike wanted a t-shirt from the local bike shop, Mike’s, but they did not have his size, sigh.
Properly nourished once again, we pressed on to Cairngorms National Park with a plan to hike around Lake Morlich. As we approached the park the skies darkened but we persevered and set out on our walk along the shore of the lake, entertained by lots of ducks and canoeists. With scatters of rain starting, we aborted the ambitious total circuit plan and ambled back to the car. What we hadn’t noticed on our walk out, though, was the plethora of mushrooms in the brush and woods around us. Once we started looking, they were EVERYWHERE! The variety was amazing and Tami took far too many pictures and did suggest just one whole blog page devoted to mushroom pictures, but Mike just harrumphed. As a concession Mike agreed to post the mushroom pictures at the END of today’s blog, otherwise readers might never get to the rest of the post.
There was a small group engaged in canoe sailing, not something we have seen before, but which did look like fun
Another look at the rigging
It was a quick drive into Inverness and to our cozy house for the next two days. It is a beautiful, newly remodeled house right next to the River Ness. After a stroll around town to orient ourselves, we settled in to a fine dinner of salad, grilled veggies, and probably the best steak pie in the world. Certainly the best we’ve ever had.
Back in Inverness!
This looks fun!
And as promised, shrooms:
