Our last sunset paints the Edinburgh Castle golden making for a great ending to the last ten days in Ireland and Scotland.
While in Scotland
We see snow at Loch Ness. It hails during our Glenfiddich tasting. There’s at least some rain everywhere else. But we also get our share of sunshine, and the fleeting ephemeral nature of it makes it that much more special. Here are the a list of the places in Scotland that we visited while constantly being teased by the clouds.
Lodgings:
Cherrytree Villa Guesthouse, East Mayfield 9, Edinburgh
Inch Hotel, Fort Augustus*
Highlander Inn, Craigellachie*
Food:
The Holyrood 9A, 9A Holyrood Road, Edinburgh*
The Tea Rooms, Edinburgh Castle
The Elephant House, 21 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
The Piemaker, 38 South Bridge, Edinburgh*
Clachaig Inn, Glencoe, Argyll**
Mitchells, St. Andrews, Fife
Artisan Roast, 57 Broughton Street, Edinburgh**
Drinks:
Kilderkin, 65-67 Canongate, Edinburgh**
The Old Bell, 233-235 Causewayside, Edinburgh
Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, Banffshire*
Fiddichside Inn, Craigellachie, Banffshire**
Highlander Inn, Craigellachie**
The Macallan Distilleries, Craigellachie*
Tomintoul Distillery, Ballindalloch, Banffshire**
Conan Doyle, 71 York Place, Edinburgh
BrewDog, 143 Cowgate, Edinburgh*
Activities:
Royal Mile, High Street, Edinburgh
Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire
Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glenfinnan, Highland
Loch Ness, Inverness-shire**
Urquhart Castle, Dumnadrochit, Inverness*
St. Andrews Cathedral
The Old Course, St. Andrews
Scottish Coffee
From mashtuns to worts to washbacks finally to distillers, we learn how malted barley, water and yeast are processed to become moonshine. Little flavor is added at this stage other than peatiness, while most of the taste comes from the maturation process. Maturation happens in wonderfully stacked casks, and the process which coopers use to create the watertight oak casks without anything other than natural wood and several metal hoops is a trade that takes decades to master. Master coopers practice their crafts for forty years and teach the art through an apprenticing system to new coopers. The distilleries we visit are beautiful, whether they are polished ones of Glenfiddich and Macallan or the more authentic kind like Tomintoul. After many years in the casks, the moonshine from before becomes Scotch.
Joe Brandi
Joe Brandi is Speyside. As the proprietor of Craigellachie’s famous Fiddichside Inn for the last fifty years and having lived in the region his entire life, Joe embodies everything great about this part of the world. His bar sits in a room no bigger than 200 square feet with a warming fireplace and a constant stream of locals sharing their stories of old. When asked what’s changed in Craigellachie over the years, Joe mentions only the disappearance of the railroad stop. Naturally, we ask when that happened, and he responds in 1968. In other words, not a lot has changed. Prior to tending to Fiddichside, Joe spent some of his youth working as a generalist at the Macallan Distillery and afterwards as a cooper making the beautiful oak casks in which the local Scotch matured. His shaky hands pouring semi-measured drinks, the pictures lining the walls of his family, and the rainbow of scotches from golden to reddish to dark wood, all create a memory of Speyside we will not soon forget.
Band of Bikers
I took a bit of a likin’ to a two-wheeled, four-seated bicycle surrounded by four spandex-wearin’ men and their posse of supporters. As per usual, the rain was falling, the clouds were looming, and the roads were narrow, but that didn’t stop these brave gentlemen on their mission to make a difference. The four were all Scottish veterans each riding for their own veteran-related cause, and they called themselves the Band of Bikers. In conquering their 800 miles in 8 days, the three front riders would rotate positions, while the caboose rider would stay put and manage the gears through the hilly and often treacherous terrain.
Part of my attraction to this group might have been my upcoming Bike & Build journey of 4000 miles over several months covering the entire continental United States, all the while raising money and awareness for affordable housing. If you feel tempted to support me in my pedaling for affordable housing, you can do so here. Thanks!
Sound the Bagpipes
Rolling hills, little cottages, and greenness,
The sheep, the cows, and a fair bit of rain,
We start in Edinburgh, go to Loch Ness
See a monster from the road’s fast lane.
Castles in Edinburgh and in Urquhart,
A night’s stay in a Fort Augustus B&B,
With only a little sun, a work of art
Even if it’s all a tad bit windy.
And then there’s the haggis, the meat pie,
The Scottish breakfast, and the chips,
Not great, but not bad, I won’t deny
With which we all quickly came to grips.
JK Rowling’s favorite coffee shop,
Her inspirational cemetery just next door.
At the train to Hogwarts, we make a stop
As we drive our cherry red Peugeot.
Hag ·gis: a traditional pudding made of the heart, liver, etc., of a sheep or calf, minced with suet and oatmeal, seasoned, and boiled in the stomach of the animal.
Spotted in Ireland
Throughout this trip, Nick has diligently “checked us in” via the application Foursquare, thus making it easy to retrace our steps and see where we’ve eaten, drank, lodged, as well as what sites we’ve seen. The asterisks that can be found at the end of locations indicate my favorite places, and the more asterisks the better. Although we were only in Ireland for a short time, I feel this list speaks to our commitment to see the country.
Food:
Caulfield’s Hotel, 18-19 Dorset Street, Dublin
Mugs Café, Castle Street, Dalkey
The Queens, 12 Castle Street, Dalkey*
Malone’s Fish & Chips, Dame Street, Dublin
Kyteler’s Inn Restaurant, Kilkenny
Market Lane, Cork**
Café Mocha, Kenmare, Kerry
The Quays, Galway
Kai Café + Restaurant, Galway**
Leo Burdock, 2 Werburgh Street, Dublin*
Drinks:
The Workman’s Club, 9-10 Wellington Quay, Dublin
The Temple Bar, 47-48 Temple Bar, Dublin*
The Palace Bar, 21 Fleet Street, Dublin
The Stag’s Head, 1 Dame Court, Dublin*
An Bodhran, Cork*
An Brog, Cork
The Kings Head, Galway
Taaffes, Galway
The Crane Bar, Galway**
Gravity Bar (at Guinness Storehouse)
The Brazen Head, 20 Bridge Street, Dublin*
W.J. Kavanagh, 4-5 Dorset Street, Dublin
Activities:
Killiney Beach & Killiney Hill Park
Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny
Blarney Castle, Blarney, Cork*
Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Kerry
Staigue Fort, Sneem, Kerry
The Burren, Clare
Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Clare**
Kilmainham Gaol, 2 Inchicore Road, Dublin**
Guinness Storehouse, St. James’ Gate, Dublin
Lodgings:
Imogen’s Lair via airbnb, Dublin
Ambassador Hotel, Cork
Prague House, Galway**
A wee bit of learnin’
Today, the tour of the Kilmainham Gaol, the former Dublin prison, enlightened us about the last couple centuries of Irish history. The prison, which was built at the end of the 18th century, housed many an Irishman, especially through the troublin’ times of the potato famine. Also, it wasn’t always a pretty site, as it became the site of many public hangings. Through hearing about the history of Kilmainham Gaol, we also learned of the Irish struggle for independence from the United Kingdom starting mostly in 1916 and the controversial treaty that was signed in 1922 that began a very messy Irish civil war. Ireland hasn’t exactly had an easy history, and the bumps and bruises worn by this prison can tell much of it.
The other part of our educational day happens at the Guinness Storehouse. We learn of all the ingredients that go into this fine beer: barley, hops, water, and of course the propriety Guinness yeast. The barley is milled and then mixed with hot water and mashed. The grain is filtered out, the hops and barley is added, all of which is followed by the whole concoction being boiled. Arthur’s yeast is added to ferment, everything is allowed to mature for a while, and finally the beer is then packaged, shipped, and drunken. “Guinness is good for you.” ~Guinness’ slogan
VW Caddy
In only a short time, we cover a fair territory in our rented VW Caddy, from Dublin to Cork to Galway and back. The roads are beautiful even if a bit narrow and with cars on the wrong side. We pass countrysides filled with farm animals, forests in the Ring of Kerry, and rocky rolling hills in the Barren. We sing along to the great tunes of our youth (the 90’s), laugh to comedy tracks, and otherwise just give each other a hard time. Susie announces each animal, Nick checks us in, Chris captures the moment on CMOS, Megan guides us, and Gabe and I alternate between driving and navigating. As far as teams go, this one ain’t bad.
Cloudy with a chance of rain
As it turns out, the luck of the Irish doesn’t always extend to the realm of weather. Our first day in Dublin and Dalkey may have been more an anomaly; however, being day one, we didn’t fully understand the magically delicious weather we had. Day two starts still sunny, but by the end of the day when we arrive in Cork, our luck had run out. And by the end of day three, the heavens open up as we walk home the two blocks to our lovely B&B in Galway. Our faces are pelted with small water pellets and enough wind to make it look like we had a healthy sunburn.
Nonetheless, rain cannot stop us. We will visit the sites, explore the town of Cork, tour the Kilkenny Castle, and drive around the Ring of Kerry all the while stopping in small towns along the way to find delectable bites of stew, fish ‘n chips, and pork served in every which way.
