So, about my day trip to the Highlands... WARNING: Nerdy history facts to follow! To begin with, there were 30 of us JSAs on a bus belonging to Haggis Adventures (no haggis-eating required). Our bus driver/tour guide was a Glaswegian named Tony (apparently he is half-Italian). We left St. Andrews and drove over a massive bridge to Dundee and then on to Perth. We ended up at the Hermitage, which is near the town of Dunkeld.
The scenery of the woods and waterfall was absolutely beautiful. The trees in that forest are almost entirely non-native because nearly all of the native Scottish forests were destroyed during the Industrial Revolution. One of the dukes that lived in the area then recruited botanists to go around the world and collect seeds that could be used to regrow the forests. One of these botanists was David Douglas, for which the Douglas Fir is named. After our trek into the woods at the Hermitage, we pressed onward to a town called Aberfeldy, where we saw the Black Watch Memorial.
Also known as the "Highland Watch," this regiment was commissioned in 1667 by Charles II to secure peace in the Highlands through clan chiefs and their men. After our stop at Aberfeldy, we went on to Kenmore, home of the oldest inn in Scotland, and to one of the ancient dwellings known as crannogs.
After Kenmore, we drove to the oldest distillery in Scotland, the Glenturret, established in 1775.
The tour was great - we learned all about the whiskey distilling process and about the differences between the various types of whiskey. Glenturret single malt whiskey is one of the components of Famous Grouse blended whiskey. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of inside the distillery because they are afraid that someone will use their flash and blow the place up! We went to Crieff (hometown of Ewan McGregor; his parents still live there) to grab some fish and chips for dinner. Our last stop before heading home was Ardoc, the location of an ancient Roman fort. There's not much there now, but you can still see the rows of trenches they built to try and tire out the Picts (as the ancient Scots were then known, because of their tattoos/body paint) before they could attack.
That's it for the history lesson... Hope this was informative and not too boring. I will put some of the scenic and not historical pictures up in another post as well - it was a beautiful day!
The scenery of the woods and waterfall was absolutely beautiful. The trees in that forest are almost entirely non-native because nearly all of the native Scottish forests were destroyed during the Industrial Revolution. One of the dukes that lived in the area then recruited botanists to go around the world and collect seeds that could be used to regrow the forests. One of these botanists was David Douglas, for which the Douglas Fir is named. After our trek into the woods at the Hermitage, we pressed onward to a town called Aberfeldy, where we saw the Black Watch Memorial. 
Also known as the "Highland Watch," this regiment was commissioned in 1667 by Charles II to secure peace in the Highlands through clan chiefs and their men. After our stop at Aberfeldy, we went on to Kenmore, home of the oldest inn in Scotland, and to one of the ancient dwellings known as crannogs. 
After Kenmore, we drove to the oldest distillery in Scotland, the Glenturret, established in 1775. 
The tour was great - we learned all about the whiskey distilling process and about the differences between the various types of whiskey. Glenturret single malt whiskey is one of the components of Famous Grouse blended whiskey. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of inside the distillery because they are afraid that someone will use their flash and blow the place up! We went to Crieff (hometown of Ewan McGregor; his parents still live there) to grab some fish and chips for dinner. Our last stop before heading home was Ardoc, the location of an ancient Roman fort. There's not much there now, but you can still see the rows of trenches they built to try and tire out the Picts (as the ancient Scots were then known, because of their tattoos/body paint) before they could attack. 
That's it for the history lesson... Hope this was informative and not too boring. I will put some of the scenic and not historical pictures up in another post as well - it was a beautiful day!
it looks lovely there! i'm glad you didn't explode the whiskey distillery :)
ReplyDeleteps. post again soon.