Inverness & More Whisky*

Last weekend we hitched a ride with some new friends of ours and went up to Inverness. Our driver, Dieter, was running in the Inverness marathon so we tagged along for the ride. It was very kind of them to bring us along considering they have a small car and we were a group of 5 people. I don't think anyone was very comfortable! We left Saturday afternoon and drove up through beautiful highland scenery, such as this waterfall:

There were quite a few kayakers hiking up in this area too and we weren't sure if their aim was to go down this particular stream. I would hope not! Since it was cloudy, we don't have very many pictures of what we drove through but I have to say it was absolutely gorgeous. There was even a full rainbow for part of our drive.

We then got into Inverness in the late afternoon and split up with our friends for the evening. Nick and I stayed at this very cozy B&B very close to the city center. Our bedroom seemed like a luxury hotel compared to where we sleep right now. I'm looking forward to staying at more B&B's.

The next day, Nick, me, and Wouter (friend of Dieter's) went to Urquhart Castle which is on the banks of Loch Ness. It's another castle situated in a beautiful location (I think we'll be seeing many of those here in the UK). Unfortunately, we didn't catch a glimpse of Nessie. Nick is convinced she's out there.

We thought we had enough time to see the castle and then make it back to Inverness to meet up with Zhao (Dieter's wife) and cheer Dieter to the finish. However, Dieter finished 30 minutes earlier than he thought he would! So we missed them and instead cheered for some other participants while a big inflatable Nessie overlooked the finish line. On a side note, we asked Dieter what his goodie bag was for finishing the marathon. He said it contained a can of soup, a can of pickled garlic, and a can of pickled beets. They sure know how to congratulate you after running 26 miles!

On Monday we drove back to Dundee/Edinburgh going the long way through Aberdeen. Before Aberdeen, we stopped in Dufftown which is home to several whisky distilleries. (anyone else think "The Simpsons"?) We went to Glenfiddich which is one of the world's best selling single malts. Best part of it was that is was free! The tasting at the end gave a choice of a whisky liquor which was much easier for me to drink. I'm still not a fan of whisky.

Here is a link to more pictures. We're going to have a relaxing weekend in Dundee so we'll see what other posts I can come up with.

*CORRECTION: Apparently, spelling "whiskey" with an 'e' means it's Irish. I've corrected the above references to Scottish whisky. (Thanks Nick)