Today we'd be driving from Pitlochry to Fort William. It was yet another cold morning (3C) with some cloud and some blue sky and no rain. Breakfast was at the B&B at 8:30am.
We checked out of the B&B at 10am. Initially we wanted to go around the other side of the river to see the fish ladder near the dam but we got lost and gave up. The fish ladder is a system that allows fish to swim upstream from below the dam to the level above the dam.
Instead we went to the Blair Atholl Distillery which is close to Pitlochry. We got there just in time for the 10:30 tour. Luckily there was only one other couple on our tour. The tour buses arrived just as were finishing our tour. We picked the right time.
The entire tour took an hour. It started with a step by step journey through the various stages of manufacture.
Our guide gave us an excellent explanation of each stage as we moved from one room to the next. Some rooms were quite hot because of the processing and we had to remove our jackets. Our guide also told us not to touch certain hot surfaces.
Apparently they supply almost all their whisky to be blended with other well known brands. Only a small percentage is bottled under the Blair Athol name.
At the end of the tour, we went upstairs above the shop for a whisky tasting. This was about a third of the total tour. I didn't participate in the tasting because I was driving and so he gave me a driver's pack so I could try the various whiskies later.
The shop sells lots of different whiskies and is very nicely presented but we didn't buy anything because it would be too hard to get it home. Nevertheless the tour was well worthwhile.
Next we drove to the Pitlochry dam. Unfortunately, the visitors centre is closed on a Monday but we were still able to walk across the dam and take photos.
Upstream, the water was still and had nice reflections of the trees and hills. Downstream had gushing water and nice scenery in the distance. At the other end of the dam wall, we saw the fish ladder.
It seems that this dam was part of a wider project to provide hydro electricity to the area.
Further on, we drove into the Blair Castle property. It was a very pretty setting - a long entrance driveway lined with trees with numerous family groups going for a walk in the sunshine - mostly with dogs.
Just before the castle, there is a booth where you need to pay an entrance fee. We've seen lots of castles recently and so we just turned around and went back to the main road.
The next destination was Bruar because Suzy had been told to go to the House of Bruar which sells ladies clothes.
To get there we travelled along narrow country roads with green paddocks and herds of sheep. Around here, many of the sheepo have black faces.
Bruar is obviously very popular and perhaps we got there at the busiest time (lunch time) because it was very hard to find a parking spot.
At the House of Bruar, they have comfortable lounge chairs in front of an open fire for the husbands as their wives shop. They even provide a wide range of newspapers to read. It turned out that Suzy managed to resist the temptation to buy anything there but she did buy herself a cashmere jumper after lunch at the cashmere shop.
Next we walked through the food hall and then the cafe. For lunch we went to the pie shop and found a table in the outside area where we enjoyed the view and the sunshine. There was a cool breeze and the temperature was only 8C.
This town is close to a town called Perth and it seems that the local council area is also called Perth.
It seems that there weren't any more shopping centres to visit and so we set off towards Fort William which was more than 50km away.
For most of the journey, we were driving on narrow windy rural roads. In the distance, we could see small patches of snow on the top of some of the taller hills. The blue sky had clouded over and the clouds made the snow covered hill tops even more interesting.
We didn't see any rain but at times the road was wet. This made navigating the narrow windy road harder. Buses and semi-trailers coming the other way didn't help either.
Along the way, we drove along the edge of various lochs. At one stage, we stopped at a parking area near a dam that was built as part of the hydro project.
When we were within 10km of Fort William, our satnav stopped working and so Suzy turned to good old reliable Google Maps to guide us there.
We reached our B&B, Rosewood Cottage, at about 3:45pm. After we drove down into the gravel driveway, we were met by our host, Evelyn, who helped us get into the building. We had trouble getting the key out of the key box.
The cottage consists of a living room, kitchen, laundry, bedroom and bathroom. Although we are only staying for two nights, it is nicely equipped for a longer stay.
It's in a nice location up the hill from the town and so has a nice view of the water and beyond from the driveway and from the kitchen window,
The sitting room has a lounge, two comfy chairs and a side table, a circular table with two chairs, sideboard, TV, heaters and carpet.
The kitchen has a dishwasher, fridge, oven, cooktop, kettle, toaster, cutlery, crockery, etc. The laundry has a washing machine but no dryer, iron, ironing board, drying rack.
The bedroom has a queen size bed. The bathroom has a walk-in shower. There is no safe. The wifi speed is about 35Mb/s down and only about 4 up. There are plenty of power points.
We put on a couple of loads of washing and then used the drying rack in front of the heater in the sitting room.
For dinner, we went down a pathway Suzy found to the lake level. Evelyn had suggested two places for dinner - The Tavern and The Garrison West. We booked at the latter for tomorrow night and had dinner at the Tavern tonight.
After dinner, we went to Tesco Express to buy supplies for breakfast for the next two mornings. Rather than walk back up the hill with our groceries, we caught a taxi. We were back at our B&B at about 8:15pm,
This was my opportunity to taste the whiskies from the distillery this morning (the driver's pack).
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