Scotland..."the land of fighters, lovers, drinkers and inventors"

...in that order.
That was proclaimed by Graeme, the tour operator today. He was a hoot!  We went north to Perthshire, and Blair Atholl castle, which has been the home of the Duke of Atholl since 1279. While there I met quite a lovely peacock (see the pictures...he was beautiful).  We stopped at Pitlochry, this really cute village with shops for lunch. Then it was off to Blair Atholl Distillery.  I learned a lot today about Scotch Whisky. Difference between Scotch and Irish Whisky is that single malt scotch is distilled twice, Irish Whiskey is distilled three times.  This Blair Atholl single malt is one the main whiskey's used in the Johnny Walker blended. By itself...it wasn't bad.  I should keep doing research to make sure though!


Scottish weather is something crazy. Today it was beautiful for about 40 minutes, then clouds and some light rain. Enroute to Edinburgh, the sky's opened up ad it was torrential rain again. Then as I neared the end of my journey, soaking wet, the sun came out again.  Graeme told us we could expect all four seasons in one day, and boy was he close!  Besides that, it was a nice day today!


Tomorrow...head to Glasgow to see the Glasgow Cathedral and the Mitchell Library. Then continue west to Loch Lomond Britain's largest surface area of fresh water, for a boat cruise. Then lunch in the village of Aberfoyle . Ad then a visit to the scenic Trossachs. Last stop is the picturesque Stirling Castle.