Sláinte!

Today Dietrich had hired a chauffeur from Moray Prestige Tours to take us to the Speyside Whiskey Festival and show us some sights around the River Spey. Our driver Mike made sure we were most comfortable in his landrover and turned out to be a great tour guide, showing us additional places of interest along the way (whatever we wanted twas no bother).  First he took us to this ancient bridge in Carrbridge. We also passed through a number of interesting old towns with crofts (houses) dating back a several hundred years. We went through the towns of Tomintoul, Auchnarrow, Tomnavolin, Aberlouer (were we saw the Walker shortbread factory), Rothes, and Craigellachie (pronounced Cra-gal-ag-hee). With all of the open space around the countryside, it was interesting how most of the houses were all jammed together. This is because, days long ago, the tenants had to rent the land from the laird.  If they wanted to have a vegetable garden they had to rent that land as well and if they couldn't afford it, there was no "yard" adjacent to the croft at all.

Our first distillery of the day was to visit The Glenlivet.

We took the traditional whiskey tasting tour, but it seems that our driver had pulled some strings and made arrangements with the reception desk fellow that Deek was "a Guardian". The fellow asked Deek if he had a key.  Key?  What Key?  We soon discovered what he meant.  Apparently the "Guardians" are some sort of secret Glenlivet society. Our tour guide then showed us a hidden door, (yes seriously, a real hidden door) which led upstairs to a private library decked out with the finest furniture like the inside of a castle. There we had a private tasting just for us, where they served us a special whiskey reserve (and don't we look dashing in our tweeds)?

Oh yes, I could get used to this lifestyle.

The next stop was to Ballindalloch Castle built in 1546. A lady laird lives there, Claire Nancy Russell the 6th Baronet of Ballindalloch. She is married to Oliver Russell, whom we actually saw. The family that owns this castle has close ties with the Royals of Britain and we saw numerous photographs of the Queen Mother, Prince Charles with Camilla, (one of Lady Di), William and Harry and other royals who frequent the castle.  Lady Russell also displayed her invitation to Prince William and Kate's wedding.  These pictures included a series of shots of Prince William placing the ring on Kate's finger.   (something that was not caught on the telly for the world to witness)  The castle was absolutely fabulous, and the gardens most impressive.

After the castle we were making our way to the Glenfiddich Distillery when our driver took us on a side venture to show us the Inveravon Stones. These are ancient Pictish stones which once stood on location. A church had been built on the site, and the stones moved into an enclosure.  They were difficult to make out, but the stones featured carvings of a half moon, a bird, and a type of horse or Pictish beast. 

Then it was on to Glenfiddich whose name means "valley of the deer".  We were to take no ordinary tour here either, as our driver had arranged for us to take the exclusive "Pioneer Tour".  This was a prepaid, limited entry and private 3 hour tour featuring a behind the scenes look at the distillery.   We had a private tasting of 6 different aged whiskeys and were allowed to draw a 400 ml bottle of rare 20 year old special reserve straight from the cask which was not to be sold on the open market (we got our pick of four choices which Deek selected the one nicknamed "The Animal" or "Beast"). On the tour with us were 4 guys from South Africa and 2 guys from Germany.  Our guide "Bert" was from Holland and was a real hoot.  At several points along the tour he popped open a fermentation tank and scooped out whiskey for all of us to drink and at one point we were all allowed to dip our fingers into a tank for a taste!   Aye!   I'm assuming the alcohol content was so high that there was no danger of bacteria or contamination.

The whiskey tasting.

If the wifi at the Scandinavian Village didn't stink like a crap sandwich (over one hour to upload a photo and then get a disconnect error!!!) then you'd get some more photos in today's blog, like the one of Deek, in his new red Wallace kilt that he got at "Kilts 'n Fiddles". Tomorrow we are checking out and heading to the Landmark Hotel in Dundee.  I can only hope that the wifi works there. Peace Out Clansmen!