Today was an early day. We had breakfast at 7:00 before leaving on the tour bus at 7:45. We had a lot of driving ahead of us. First stop was St. Andrew's, the famous golf course. It was about over an hour drive from Edinburgh. On the way we across over a big bridge. Did you know: GOLF stands for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.
Once at St. Andrew's, we had a choice. Getting of at the golf museum and walk around or get off at the abbey ruins a few minutes up the coast by car. I got off at the Abbey, took some pictures of the ruins and then took a 20 minutes walk back down to the golf museum where we would be picked up.
At the beach of St. Andrew's, it was where the filmed the chariot scene from 'chariot of fire'. Also, to be able to play at St. Andrew's, you enter your name in a lottery draw and then they will draw your name for a tee off time in three or four years from when you enter. Apparently, lots of people want to play there.
After St. Andrew's, we headed towards the Highlands. The Highlands are very pretty with sheep everywhere. I didn't see a Highland cow yet. The land isn't good for planting anything as it is just rocks underneath a thin layer of soil, but it is good for keeping livestock. As we drove through the Highlands, we stopped at Spittal of Glenshee for a quick lunch of soup and sandwiches. Then we hopped back on the bus to head to The Glenlivet for a whiskey distillery tour. The bus ride took about two and a half hour due to a big diversion (detour) to get there. Once we got there, we headed to the gift shop where we waited to be divided into three groups to do the tour. The tour was interesting. We learn the ingredients of making whiskey, barley, spring water and yeast, the process to malt the barley, which they don't do at the distillery, and then the process. We saw the drum where they pour water in to extract the sugars of the barley, the barrels where the fermentation process takes place, the distillers (they distilled it twice) and the warehouse where they store the whiskey barrels. The company store/age their whiskey for about 12 to 25 years. Apparently, to become malt scotch whiskey, the whiskey has to be made in Scotland and be stored for at least up to three years.
After the tour, there was a tasting. There were three choices, a 12 year, a 16 year, and a 18 year. I didn't try any since I'm not a whiskey drinker at all.
After the distillery, we hopped back on the bus where we got a little history lesson about Scotland's history and then we watched part of 'Braveheart' in our way to Inverness by Loch Ness where our hotel would be. We drove by Loch Ness, and it is really big and seem to stretch on forever. Loch Ness is so big that it will fit all the water on all the lakes in Great Britain. Once we got to the hotel which really is a lodge, we would be having dinner at 19:30 which only gave us a half an hour to settle. The lodge is OK and a bit cold since it's been raining a little here. At least dinner was good. Our dinner lasted for two hours. Then since it was a long drive today, most people headed back to their room or in the lounge for free wifi.
Tomorrow's agenda: a lake cruise around Loch Ness and then another long drive up to the Isle of Skye.
You should have drank the whiskey anyway. The process must have been cool.
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