Edinburgh to Oban - Aug 5, 2019

Today we begin a 5 day Highlands tour that will give us a taste of the north of Scotland.

Sitting in the bus waiting to leave we could see the lady holding her flyers and watching for passersby. Don't know what event she was promoting, but she was dressed to attract attention.

The Kelpies in Falkirk, are the largest equine sculptures in the world. I wish we could have seen the entire horse but it looks like most of the sculpture is underground.

It is hard to show just how huge they are.

They are 90 meters tall, that's over 270 feet. The exterior is stainless steel. And in case you are wondering, Kelpies are mythical shape shifting creatures.

Sometimes you see things you just have to photograph. These two were about as cute as could be

Our first distillery tour and whisky tasting.

Our guide thanked the US for the requirement that Bourbon can only be aged in new barrels. The buy the barrels very cheaply, use them three times, refresh them and get one more use out of them.

The Still Room. Their process is to do double distilling.

The reason the end of the barrel is painted white is cover up  the markings the bourbon producer put on them. 

One of the best tour guides we have ever had. He took his time, talked loudly and slowing and never rushed the group. At the tasting Linda took a couple of sips of hers and let me have the rest. I knew there was a reason other than her beauty and brains that I married her.

One of my second great grandmothers was a Donaldson. Donaldson's are of the clan Donald, as are the MacDonald's. In that notch above Linda's head, member's the Campbell clan hunted down and massacred members of the MacDonald's. I always knew there had to be some reason I hated Campbell's soups.

Our guide Gillian told us all the rain in Scotland does two things. It makes whisky and it makes Scotland green.

Think Monty Python and The Holy Grail. It's Castle Aaargh.

This and the previous photo be Linda.

I think my suitcase is about to gain weight and we are only in week one of a six week trip.

Our abode for the night. Think a french hotel room made even smaller.

However, the bar more than made up for the room. A pint of local cask ale for me and Eden Mill gin and elderflower Fever Tree tonic for Linda. Life is good.

While I went up to the room to work on the blog, Linda had some Scottish comfort food. Lobster Mac n cheese. Very Happy Linda.