scotland part II

............and the adventure continues               

applecross

After our exciting ride in torridon we continued our travels through the beautiful wester ross region.   wester ross has some of the most dramatic mountains we traveled and biked through (as evidenced by our previously described torridon circuit).  we took the road around the north edge of the applecross penninsula.  our fellow campervan friends from glen nevis, john and sue, had mentioned how much they loved applecross so we made sure that we kept this on our list of places to explore.  although one of the first inhabited regions of scotland, it is a sparsely populated region (just how we like it).

clachan church  - site of monastic settlement AD 673

We stopped to walk through a walled garden that was originally started in the 17th century. 

Our destination on the applecross penninsula was the applecross inn.  we spent the rest of the day and evening here talking with the locals and enjoying the fire.  

we were missing our girls (thanks, alycia - we love you!!)

how do you like this one, mama?

we sampled the single malts that the locals recommended.  mike liked both the peat smoked island whiskys as well as the smooth highland whiskys.  i definately leaned towards the highland variety.

first taste of haggis - it was delicious!

here is a recipe if anyone is interested in making it.  although i would gladly have some right now - i probably won't be making it anytime soon.

Ingredients

• 1 sheep stomach
• 1 sheep liver
• 1 sheep heart
• 1 sheep tongue
• 1/2 pound suet, minced
• 3 medium onions, minced
• 1/2 pound dry oats, toasted
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried ground herbs

Directions

Rinse the stomach thoroughly and soak overnight in cold salted water.

Rinse the liver, heart, and tongue. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook these parts over medium heat for 2 hours. Remove and mince. Remove any gristle or skin and discard.
In a large bowl, combine the minced liver, heart, tongue, suet, onions, and toasted oats. Season with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. Moisten with some of the cooking water so the mixture binds. Remove the stomach from the cold salted water and fill 2/3 with the mixture. Sew or tie the stomach closed. Use a turning fork to pierce the stomach several times. This will prevent the haggis from bursting.
In a large pot of boiling water, gently place the filled stomach, being careful not to splash. Cook over high heat for 3 hours.
Serve with mashed potatoes, if you serve it at all.

lucy from london

archie from aberdeen - discussing route options to inverness.

after spending most of the day at the pub we explored the area around the village.  it was pretty late at this point but still lots of light.

the cuillin range on the isle of skye in the distance

we were delightfully surprised to run into john and sue at the applecross inn.  they suggested a great spot to park the vans.  so we met them for a night of great conversation, ginger beer, and whisky.

the next morning

we left applecross via the amazing bealach-na-ba pass.  the highest road in the uk.

on our way to inverness we went through the lovely glen shiel.  this is the main route to the islands and very busy with RV caravans.  it was a bit of a culture shock after spending most of our time in the remote corners of the highlands on singletrack roads.

obligatory shot of eilean donan castle

we zoomed past loch ness and all its nellie tourist traps to get to the black isle, just north of inverness.  we decided to try out some of the mtn bike centers which are wonderfully managed by the forestry commission.  we figured that since we hadn't had much luck on scotland's "wild trails" we'd try the developed ones. 

the trails had a great flow...but lacked distance and technical sections.  it was nice, however to ride the bikes instead of carry them.

tidal change on the moray firth

the weather improved as we headed east out of the mountains. 

mike cooked up some delicious diver scallops we had purchased from a lady who sells local, fresh scallops and salmon from her home.  they were wonderful.  the stornaway black pudding (ingredients listed as: hemoglobin and oats - i should've known better) was not our favorite.

our purpose for travelling east to the region of speyside was for the whisky!  we first went to the speyside cooperage.  here they recieve flattened bourbon barrels from the u.s (which can only be used once according to bourbon laws) and rebuild them to be used for scottish whisky.  they are some of the highest paid craftsmen in scotland.

the distillery we decided to visit was strathisla.  the oldest operational distillery in scotland.  its single malt is the main whisky used in the chivas regal blend.

one of the highlights of our trip was staying at a scottish castle!  the castle stuart.  it was built in 1625 by mary queen of scots' half brother - james stuart, the earl of moray.  overtime it was abandoned and rumored to be haunted.  it has since been restored by the stuart family.

our room was the repotedly haunted room.  we saw no ghosts.

fireplace and turrets!

the passageway to our bathroom

the dining room was gorgeous - we had a piper that let us know when it was time to eat.

we had a great time at dinner with frank and linda from durango, colorado.  we loved sharing our love of colorado with them.  linda was an olympic downhill skier in '60 and '64!

after dinner drinks in the lounge by the fire.

breakfast - being the late risers we ate alone!

view from the battlement to our three turret room

an amazing step back in time at the castle stuart

on our way heading back south we stopped at laggan wolftrax for some highly recommended riding.  we loved it!  some fun technical sections and elevated north shore boardwalks.

it was amazing how many miles we could cover being out of the highlands.  from our ride at laggan wolftrax we headed straight to the scottish borders and southern uplands.  we spent our last night in the campervan just outside of peebles - down the street from the traquair house and brewery.

traquair house - oldest inhabited house in scotland

last night in the campervan

we woke up early to get in a trip to the traquair house brewery before we had to get the bikes and van back to glasgow.

we tried out the maze, too

after a trip across the southern uplands we returned the bikes and our beloved van and caught the train into glasgow.  we stayed our last night in scotland at the piper's tryst hotel which is connected with the national piping center.

glasgow

we were sad to leave beautiful scotland - it was a place that we underestimated in many ways and fell in love with.  i think i could take every vacation here and never get bored.  our favorite places on the trip were glen etive, the ben nevis hike (on our one year anniversary!), the cuillin hills and quiraing (which stole my heart) on the isle of skye, isle of lewis and harris (which stole mike's heart), wester ross, and castle stuart (ha!  basically everywhere we went!).  there are many places we would still love to see:  orkney and shetland islands, isle of mull and iona, glen affric, more of the cairngorms, wester ross, and the outer hebrides.
we couldn't believe we still had two more weeks.  we were off to spend it drinking delicious belgian beer......here's a preview: