Holiday with the Bridgers - Day 3 – Hairy Coos, More Whisky, Wool, Water, More Water and an Abbey

One of mom’s top must see things for the trip was a hairy coo (highland cow).  I hear you saying “Why would she want to see a cow?  Can’t she see those at home every day?”  And I say “Yes, she can see cows, but not hairy coos!”  Highland cattle have long, shaggy hair that makes them exceptionally cute – when it comes to cows.  When we were on the Speyside Whisky Trip we came across some hairy coos at the Cardhu Distillery.  So of course I knew that we would have to bring mom to see them.  And the distillery is a part of the Classic Malts Whisky Passport – bonus! 

So we started our day with a drive along the River Spey to see the hairy coos.  Steve later said that drive was one of his favourite parts of the trip.  Steve is a fly fisherman and the River Spey is excellent for catching salmon.  (I don’t know anything about all the ins and outs of fly fishing, but I agree that the drive was beautiful.)  We stopped a couple of times along to short trek to take pictures.  Once not on the river but instead to capture some pheasants in a field. 

When we got to the distillery and saw the coos, mom was super excited.  The cows are very tame and come right up to the fence to let you pet them.  They’ll also eat right out of your hand which is fun, even though it’s a little slimy.  After a few minutes with the coos, we headed to the distillery for our tour and tasting.  The whisky that we got to taste was the Cardhu Special Cask Reserve.  It was very good.  So good that Steve bought a bottle to take home with him.  Cardhu mainly exports to Spain so his could be one of the only bottles of this specific bottling in the US.  Pretty cool.

After our tasting, we drove down the road a few minutes to the Knockandoo Wool Mill.  There’s not much there but it was nice to walk around for a bit.

By the time we finished up at the mill we decided it was time for lunch.  Our next official stop was Spey Bay in hopes of seeing a few dolphins.  But we decided to stop at Glen Grant Distillery to visit the gardens and have a picnic.  We went to the gardens on the fall whisky trip and they are splendid.  We got lucky and just finished our lunch before it started to rain.  We decided to push through and walk the paths a bit before leaving.  They have built a bridge over the stream that runs to the distillery and it is really beautiful.  Definitely worth getting a little bit wet. 

And then it decided to hail on us!  Mom and Steve definitely got to experience all spectrums of Scottish weather.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any dolphins in the bay but it was beautiful nonetheless.  And Luther had quite a fun time swimming in the pools. 

I loved the way the waves sounded on the rocks so much that I decided it was worth sharing.

We chose to follow the coastal trail as we headed back to our cabin.  It wound through small towns along the coast – one of which was Kinloss.  There we found an abbey ruin and kirkyard.  It was a very interesting kirkyard with a mix of old and new.  I’ve added a few pictures below.

The moss has grown into the letters.

And that was the end of day three.  Once again – completely successful.

Love you & miss you,

Aubs, Luke & Luther

Holiday with the Bridgers - Day 2 – Monsters, Castles & Whisky

While we were traveling on Sunday I asked Steve what he wanted to do most while he was in Scotland.  His answer – Loch Ness.  And who wouldn’t want to try to get a glimpse of Nessie while they’re here?  So on Monday morning we headed to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.  Luke and I visited here last fall (see post here) but like pretty much anything else, you see something different every time.

Pretty much every time we got in the car I would tell mom and Steve to let us know if they saw something that they wanted to take a picture of and we’d pull over.  Believe me – this happens all the time and it part of the reason it takes forever to get anywhere around here.  We decided to pull off at a layby that had stairs down to Loch Ness.  Luke and Steve took some great pictures.  It was really windy that day so the water was really rough.  You could see white caps all across the loch and waves were rolling onto shore.  Unfortunately Nessie was being shy and we didn't get to see her.

After our short break, we finished the drive to Urquhart Castle.  We had to leave Luther in the car again but he likes to pretend he’s driving and therefore doesn’t mind so much.  At the visitor centre you can choose to watch a short film about the history of the castle.  While it was a little bit cheesy, it was neat to learn more about the castle.  And at the end they lift the screen and open the curtains so that you can see the castle.  It was pretty dramatic – especially because the sun just happened to be out in full force at the moment the curtains opened. 

The castle was a lot of fun and mom and Steve took lots of pictures.  They also got to experience the amazing shifts in Scottish weather. 

On the drive to the castle, we had seen a small waterfall and garden so we decided that this would be our next stop.  It just on the side of the road and the garden fee goes to charity.  There were some beautiful flowers as you’ll see below.  I love spring here because everything is so green and lush. 

Then we decided to take mom and Steve to their first whisky distillery.  I had them become a Friend of the Classic Malts before they flew so that we could go on a couple of the free tours.  Since we were over that way, we headed to Glen Ord Distillery.  Our tour was nice because it was just us so we could take our time and got to have a bit more personal experience.  I had introduced Steve to whisky when I was home in November and this was a good opportunity for him to get to try some different ones. 

And after a full day of adventures, we headed back to the cabin for dinner.  Overall, perfect day two.

Love you & miss you,

Aubs, Luke & Luther

Holiday with the Bridgers - Day 1 - Deer, Golf, Ruins and Haggis

We finally had our first visitors to Scotland come in a couple of weeks ago.  My mom and her husband Steve came and stayed for a week.  We had a great trip and got to take them to see many of our favourite things about Scotland. 

To kick off the holiday, we headed to St. Andrews for the day.  On the way we decided to stop off at the Scottish Deer Centre.  It’s not real big but they have 30 types of deer, wolves, otters, a lynx, birds and more.  You could buy deer food on the way in and they knew when you were coming. 

While neither Luke or Steve are avid golfers, both enjoy the sport and were excited to see where it all began – the Old Course.  The Old Course is closed on Sundays and they allow visitors to walk it.  Even Luther was allowed to join but he had to stay on leash.  St. Andrews is right on the coast and so is the course.  It is not over manicured like courses in the US but it was beautiful all the same.  Battling the elements seems much more difficult than some of the things they come up with at home.

We started at the clubhouse and the 18^th hole.  Can I just tell you how happy the boys were?  They were like little kids.

After a nice walk we headed to a pub for a pint.  Luther obviously went with us and I think one of mom’s favourite stories to tell is that he got his water and biscuit before she did.  Still loving how much he is welcome here.

Before heading north to our cabin we stopped by the St. Andrews Cathedral and the St. Andrews Castle.  Both are run by Historic Scotland.  Unfortunately they were closed by the time we made it there but we were able to take pictures from the road.

Then we hopped in the car and headed north to Aviemore where we rented a cabin for three nights.  For dinner we stopped at the Moulin Inn in Pitlochry.  Mom decided that she needed to be able to say that she had tried haggis and so she ordered the fried haggis balls appetiser.  While really tasty, I’m not sure that you can truly say you’ve had haggis until you go for the traditional Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.  Oh well – it was good anyway.

And that was day one.

Love you & miss you,

Aubs, Luke & Luther