Sorting through your parents things can be depressing and since this was really hard as you have to deal with a lot of emotions, so I decided to take a day off. The day started with an unusual thing in the sky, yes a full sun and a big blue sky. I headed off to a place called Blairgowrie, a town that has it’s signs in Gaelic and English as this was the gateway to the Eastern Highlands where blokes wear kilts and the sheep are afraid! I headed up to a place where I used to play tennis as a boy and headed on a road that was marked on the map as no greater than four meters wide, this road took me up to where they have a windfarm of about 20 windmills, I must say they’re quite silent. The views from there were spectacular and the road equally did not disappoint, although it was dotted with wandering sheep, where’s the kilt when you need it! I headed on and I found and old iron bridge that had some spectacular water running below it, again a road I had not travelled in all my time here, quite amazing. Aberfeldy soon loomed and it was here again I headed off the beaten track, as my aim was to take the b roads whenever I could, as the main roads are really congested. Before too long I was in familiar territory heading back to the laird where a nice glass of Glenlivit was waiting for my arrival. The day went well, I had the sunroof open and my iPhone blaring like I was a teenager, a perfect day to clear your head from the stresses that haunt me, whilst I toil at this latest challenge.
Jumping back in time now to last Sunday, yes I know I’ve just lost the American audience as they can’t handle time travel, fairly evident by the shows that they cancel that feature this. Anyway Sunday was Fathers day and I decided to take the Laird to Meikleour hotel for a spot of lunch, now some of you will find this familiar, and if you do pat yourself on the back and pour yourself a large whisky. This indeed is the site of a world famous hedge dating back to 1745 and is roughly 5 decent white pointers high and 100 long, apparently it gets cut with the fire brigade every 10 years. Anyway we headed indoors to this very rustic hotel which was used way back then as a coachmans stop, as passengers heading to the north would use this as resting point. The waitress was rather attentive and apologized to me for winking at her as she said she had something in her eye, likely story. As usual I tried the Scampi which was delightful, very juicy and light with a hint of sweetness, all done in a very light batter. The laird consumed real ale, something of a treat for him as he doesn’t get out as often as he should, a hangover form his cancer days but we are making progress. Our time drew near and the bill came which was not as much as I thought as the food and service were superb, a bargain was had. Outside I saw the familiar tail of a scent hound and I was in luck as a chap had brought his beagle down to the hotel, the dog sprinted towards me and it reminded me of my very own, very playful and full of mischief. The chap was with his wife and they asked me if they lost a lot of hair as this one at 10 months was shedding like nobodies business, I told them that it was like that every day! He also had started to chew which I told them would last two years then they grow out of it. It was really nice to see the dog as it filled a hole that I had at the time. We left and headed back to Easter Burnbane House where a nice glenlivit was waiting to be sampled.
Just a quick post as there is no service as I am in the highlands of Perthshire. I’ve arrived at a Turkish restaurant where the menu is thick with lamb and koftas of all sorts. However I am having scampi or what I hope is scampi as these days it can be monkfish so I will tell you soon. Bit of a hunger building up as i was sampling some rather fine whisky that the laird insisted I have as I think he is trying to ween me off red wine. No doubt he thinks it’s a nasty habit I’ve acquired during my time in the colonies! Well a rather large plate of monkfish arrived and so far I have only had real scampi at miekelour hotel which was fantastic it’s a bit like eating a scallop, it should be succulent and just a bit sweet. Anyway I’m now trying the coffee and it is very nice and smooth, well the Turks are famous for it I suppose. There is an odd thing I have noticed that a few of them are staring at me must be the Australian T shirt, Gallipoli an all that. Well that’s all from the Northern front.
I then headed to Aberfeldy which has a rather nice distillery, which unfortunately I couldn’t call in as I was the pilot. However I have talked ” the Laird” to make a call during the week so we will get to sample the smokey amber nectar of a long distilled malt. I then headed down to Dunkeld where in the 1700’s, General George Wade was dispatched to quell the Jacobite rebellion by building military highways. As you can see the roads barely stand up to today’s traffic.
