{"id":10219,"date":"1998-06-14T19:48:57","date_gmt":"1998-06-14T16:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/?p=10219"},"modified":"2016-09-04T15:17:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-04T12:17:57","slug":"in-which-i-discovery-whisky-and-uskeba-is-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/in-which-i-discovery-whisky-and-uskeba-is-born\/","title":{"rendered":"In Which I Discovery Whisky and Uskeba is Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

10:27 AM<\/p>\n

I\u2019m following the orange trail. I\u2019ve stopped at the Golf pond. You should see the ducks! I shared part of my lunch\u00a0with them!<\/p>\n

11:08 AM<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sitting on a carved piece of wood that has a plaque which says \u2018sit and enjoy the view\u2019. So I am. The whole of Perthshire is laid out before me. Everything is so painfully beautiful and green. I\u2019m following a road that Robert the Bruce marched across in 1306! Is it a wonder that I have \u2018Scots Wha Hae\u2019 running over and over in my mind! And to think that I couldn\u2019t get myself out of bed this morning! It was 9<\/u><\/em> when I finally dragged myself out. Well, I\u2019ll be on my way. I do<\/em> want to make it to the distillery today and I must do so before 4. Lots of time, you say? I\u2019m still at the beginning of this walk and it\u2019s like 9.5 klicks or something. I haven\u2019t felt so at peace since Colorado. Here\u2019s another place where I\u2019ll leave a chunk of my soul.<\/p>\n

time? I don\u2019t care! near noon<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just finished an incredible hike up<\/em>. The view here is so clear we can see straight through to the Glencoe mountains in the west. This place is called Craighower Hill. (The view out to Skye is \u2018the Road to the Isles\u2019, which can only be seen on a clear day, which are very<\/em> rare. There wasn\u2019t a cloud in the sky!!!)<\/p>\n

12:58<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m back on the bench! It\u2019s taken me 2 whole hours to get up and back. The road down was very<\/em> twisty. The people who design roads in this country must be a little loco! The view from Craighower was incredible<\/em>. I felt like I had the whole of Scotland at my feet. I used to find Canada rugged, well it isn\u2019t, it\u2019s untamed. Scotland has tamed its lands, while not foregoing an endearing ruggedness. \u2018How could people have survived here for so long, fought to keep the land?\u2019 (I took this paraphrase from the Lonely Planet guide to Great Britain) Oh! It\u2019s so<\/em> beautiful, better than in all my dreams! I walked through meadows of what I assume to be unbloomed heather. I\u2019ll be on my way now, I want to do the distillery walk and the distillery opens in an hour. I can\u2019t wait to taste the supposedly foul tasting brew. I\u2019m told that most people don\u2019t like \u2018water of life\u2019, so, since I\u2019m so unlike most people, I\u2019ll probably like it! Yeah right<\/em>! I\u2019m not expecting to enjoy it, but I look forward to finally<\/em> tasting some.<\/p>\n

\"map4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5:38 pm.<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019m in trouble. My initial reaction to whisky was the same as my initial reaction to beer: \u2018I don\u2019t like it, but I don\u2019t hate<\/em> it\u2019. One knows how I have come to acquire a palate for beer, to say the least!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done more than enough walking for today! I am so<\/u><\/em> stiff! I luxuriated in a scalding shower and put on totally fresh clothes, including jeans. I\u2019m spending 2 nights in Aviemore, so if I launder straight away when I arrive I should have pretty much 2 full days for my laundry to dry! (turns out Aviemore is one of a few hostels I encountered which has a \u2018drying room\u2019\u2014a room where the heat is turned way<\/em> up at night so that clothes may dry more quickly.) I\u2019m so pooped I can\u2019t envision going down the steep<\/em> hill outside leading up to the hostel in order to get dinner. I\u2019ll have to go up<\/em> it, after!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very ahead in my budget so if I manage to get my butt \u2018downtown\u2019 I think I\u2019ll have dinner in a restaurant. I should<\/em> be eating more. Maybe that\u2019s why I\u2019m not up to my usual speed.<\/p>\n

On my way back from Craighower, I stopped to feed the ducks (again). I got some to eat right out of my hand! One even clamped his beak down on my finger, but it didn\u2019t hurt. One of the birds had a lame foot. I was extra generous to it!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost 6 so I guess<\/em> I\u2019ll go in search of dinner. I think tomorrow will be a \u2018down\u2019 day. They are necessary, I think. Tuesday, I\u2019ll explore the area around Aviemore just like I did today in Pitlochry. Later.<\/p>\n

7:48 pm<\/p>\n

I returned from a yummy dinner of a veg. burger (hey, they\u2019re cheap and filling, and this one was<\/em> (and still is) the<\/u><\/em> best I\u2019ve ever eaten!) to find 2 guys in my room. Thanks to Edinburgh, I was hardly fazed. I nonchalantly headed down to the common room to discover that in my absence one of the \u2018hostesses\u2019 confronted the Aussie who was also staying tonight, claiming that she and I hadn\u2019t paid for tonight! Well, my roomie got that<\/em> sorted out. Anyhow, I found out that 6<\/em> guys had been put in the room and we had to move. It\u2019s no big deal, but it is<\/em> a hassle. I\u2019d just spread out some wet stuff (now all those guys know what my undies look like!) and after rummaging through my bag, I\u2019d left stuff strewn all over the bunk. Plus, I had to remake the bed. Oh well, it is better than sleeping w\/ the sheep! I hope I won\u2019t be hassled about \u2018not having paid\u2019 tomorrow!\u00a0I asked for directions to the \u2018small dining room\u2019. I was told to look for a door marked \u2018strictly private\u2019… and go in. Boy, I love the Scots!!!<\/p>\n

… (extremely tentative itinerary)<\/p>\n

Hell, I\u2019m never going home!<\/p>\n

Despite its beautiful name, it would appear that there isn\u2019t much in<\/em> Inverness. That doesn\u2019t matter, I guess, since I\u2019ll be using Inverness as a \u2018springboard\u2019 to the northern Highlands. I\u2019m even starting to think that I shouldn\u2019t \u2018rush\u2019 things with Haggis and just make a quick \u2018overnight\u2019 to Edinburgh to meet John and Linda (the authors of the \u2018MacBraveheart\u2019 homepage). I think Skye will take a long time to explore. It would appear that Eilean Donan (castle) is <\/em>worth the trip. Besides, Skye is part of the Hebrides! \u2018And we in dreams behold the Hebrides\u2019. (\u2018Canadian Boat Song\u2019) I have<\/em> to go!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 8:35 and I\u2019m just about ready for bed! I hiked almost non-stop and was up for 8 hours. I guess this is how I\u2019ll feel once I\u2019ve tackled Ben Nevis\u00a0! Actually, I have a ton of packing to do. Breakfast is from between 8 and 9 AM. And I have to be out of the room by 9:30. I\u2019m supposed to be out of the hostel by 10\u00a0:30, but I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be allowed to stay until the Haggis bus comes (there are 4 of us leaving, at least). I hope that the Aviemore hostel isn\u2019t on top of a hill.I\u2019m going to have to rethink my travel arrangements, I\u2019m losing a lot of time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I just discovered that Aviemore is in the Highlands!!! Yippee<\/u><\/em>!!! This is way<\/em> cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool<\/u><\/em>!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10:27 AM I\u2019m following the orange trail. I\u2019ve stopped at the Golf pond. You should see the ducks! I shared part of my lunch\u00a0with them! 11:08 AM I\u2019m sitting on a carved piece of wood that has a plaque which says \u2018sit and enjoy the view\u2019. So I am. The whole of Perthshire is laid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[656,636,652,18,3,56],"tags":[853,790,654],"class_list":["post-10219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviemore","category-europe","category-pitlochry","category-scotland","category-travel","category-uk","tag-accommodation","tag-breweriesdistilleries","tag-hiking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}