Aberdeen ⇒ Inverness.


After a rather stressful morning of crossing town THREE times to get all the documents in order to pick up our rental car, we were on the road around noon to start our drive up towards Inverness.


We stopped along the A96 in Keith to visit the Strathisla distillery. Now I am not overly intrigued of such places, but J had made a good choice (if it were up to him we'd have stopped at just about every distillery we crossed... which were PLENTY!) with Strathisla, as it is the oldest distillery still operating in Scotland and thus lacks that almost industrial feel you get from more modern complexes.

The tour was about £7.50pp and lasted for an hour, including a little whisky tasting at the end (or you can purchase a driver's set if you are behind the wheel.)


Once in the highland capital, we literally made it around the city center before the rain started pissing down. This brought us into conversation with an elderly local who tagged along on a little pub crawl. First stop was the Castle Tavern, then on to the Market Bar (regarded as a bit of a hidden gem of the city - a teeny tiny pub in all wooden decor) and finally to Hootananny in time for a live session of traditional Scottish music.  


When we rolled out of town the following day, the sun stood bright in the sky yet the chilly August air was indicating autumn's return. We drove along Loch Ness, onto Eilean Donan Castle and finally to Isle of Skye where we'd spend the next couple of days -- but that will be a post for another time.