Hi Ho Highlands

Here we go up to the Highlands of Scotland! John and myself with my parents in tow drove into the highlands from Edinburgh. We spent 3 days and 2 nights exploring the breathtaking countryside. We found castles, beaches, oceans, beer, sheeps, hairy coos, and even ol’ Nessy herself!

 

We stopped for lunch somewhere near Aberdeen and snuck a peak at the powerful North Sea.

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

We tried to find the easternmost point of mainland Scotland. It’s on the map and everything, but turns out it’s just a working port. I don’t think we were supposed to be here…

We went to the lighthouse museum in Fraserburgh… did I say lighthouse museum? I meant funhouse of mirrors!

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

This is Duff House, a.k.a. where Macbeth killed everyone, or something like that.

 

We stayed in this tiny town near Inverness. Our place was above the local pub which had the best food!

Seriously the best turkey roast ever.

 

This is the HIGHLANDER CASTLE! HIGHLANDER IS REAL.

Some people call it the Eilean Donan Castle.

I call it the most photogenic castle.

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

We went to Loch Ness and Nessie is super easy to find. Not sure what the fuss is.

More importantly, we found the Loch Ness brewery. Tasty brew with lovely owners who opened shop after they closed for us sad thirsty Canadians.

 

We saw a few castles around the countryside, but decided to stop into this lovely spot: the Brodie Castle. We went on a lovely tour and learned lots of fun tidbits about castle life. One fun tidbit is that they make staircases wonky on purpose so attackers couldn’t climb the stairs easy… I thought they were just bad at stair design because old timey!

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

My Dad forget his meds this day, he started acting out.

The Brodie family specialize in Daffodils.

We ran into every weather while driving around. Snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun, and prob more.

AND of course we went to a distillery! We chose the Aberfeldy distillery which is part Dewars. Dewars is a big Scotch whiskey company which we normally steer away from, but we fell in love with Aberfeldy after purchasing a bottle at a duty free solely because they put a squirrel on their logo. We were disappointed to find out they’ve updated their logo and it no longer has any fun woodland creatures.

John got to fill his own bottle of cask strength whiskey!

Along the way we even got to stop for some Highland Chocolate!

This was our haul from the weekend. We found lots of tasty beers, whiskey, cider, and choco to bring home and enjoy for the rest of our time in Edinburgh. Whoop! Best kind of souvenirs!

Coming up next: Birmingham!

~B~