When I left off, we had separated from Linda and Steven. We were on our way to Dufftown, while Linda and Steven moved on closer to Falkirk, where we would catch up with them the next day.

The reason we detoured to Dufftown was I had scheduled us a tour of The Balvenie Distillery. There are so many options for distillery tours in Ireland and Scotland, but Bill chose The Balvenie because he used to work for William Grant & Sons, the owners of the brand. We had actually hoped to meet their Master Distiller, David Stewart. I reached out to try and arrange that, but unfortunately he was unavailable. Bill had worked with him during his tenure at William Grant, but they never had the opportunity to meet in person. While it was disappointing, we were both still excited to tour the facility, which has the reputation of being one of the best.

We arrived late afternoon and got parked in a trailhead parking area that I found on Park4Night, walking distance to where the tour would begin in the morning. We had some dinner and watched some TV before going to bed.

The tour began at the Visitor Center at 10am, so we were up and out the door by 9:30am. Our tour guide James had a full group of 8. I had originally tried to reserve for the 4 of us, but there were only 2 spots open, and that was several months in advance! They are very strict about the 8 person limit, and they don’t hold tours every day, so we ended up feeling very happy to have taken the tour at all!

Bill and I have taken many distillery tours over the years (remember the Bourbon Trail?), and that’s aside from the fact that Bill worked in the distilled spirits industry for almost 20 years. He is VERY familiar with the distilling process – so he knows when the tour guides don’t actually know the processes and are just repeating what they learned off a flash card. We had that happen a couple of times in KY. The tour of The Balvenie was hands-down the best we’ve been on – and that is saying a lot coming from Bill! James really knew his stuff and passed down an incredible amount of information to us. I’d be lying if I said I understood and retained all of it, but Bill absolutely loved it! I was so happy we got to experience it!

The tour ended with us getting the opportunity to dip a spirit thief into open barrels to get a sample, then decide if we wanted to fill our own 200ml bottle. Bill and I both chose to fill ours with the 17 year old that was aged in a sherry cask. Neither of us are huge Scotch (which in Scotland is simply called whisky) but this stuff was yummy! The coolest part was it wasn’t for sale at all except from the tour! We were not allowed to take pictures during this part of the tour.

At the very end of the tour, we were able to taste other varieties of their whisky’s. Some I liked, some I did not. Either way, it was a great tour, the best distillery tour we’ve done.

After a quick lunch, we entered GPS coordinates for the parking area near The Helix Park in Falkirk into GoogleMaps. Our 170’ish mile drive took about 3 1/2 hours; most of it was on dual carriageway roads. Steven and Linda were waiting for us, since they had a shorter drive they arrived first.

We had passed The Kelpies while on the highway and were excited to see them up close! They were magnificent! I love horses and these sculptures were amazing! The following is taken from the Visit Scotland website:

“The Helix Park is The Home of The Kelpies – the largest equine sculptures in the world. Located between Falkirk and Grangemouth, it was created as a space for the communities in the Falkirk area to come together. The Kelpies go a step further in bringing together not only from different parts of Scotland and the UK, but from all over the world.

Standing at 100ft tall and weighing more than 300 tonnes each, the magical Kelpies are a man-made wonder and a feat of engineering. The works of art, created by artist Andy Scott, have become iconic on the landscape after being modelled on real-life icons of times gone by — Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron. The Kelpies represent the lineage of the heavy horse of Scottish industry and economy, pulling the wagons, ploughs, barges and coalships that shaped the geographical layout of Falkirk.

The Kelpies’ name reflects the mythological transforming beasts that possess the strength and endurance of 100 horses; a quality that’s analogous with the transformational change of the area’s landscapes, endurance of its inland waterways and the strength of its communities.”

From artuk.org:

“In Scottish folklore, a kelpie is a dangerous shape-shifting water creature that can appear on land as a horse. The kelpie appears to their human victims as a grey or white horse, entices them to ride on their back, then carries them down to a watery grave”

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As beautiful as they were during the day, at night they were even more amazing! They were lit on the inside and changed color as you watched.

The following day, we went to see another engineering feat – The Falkirk Wheel. From Visit Scotland.com:

“The Falkirk Wheel is the world’s first and only rotating boat lift, designed and built to connect the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal which allows coast to coast navigation across central Scotland.

The magnificent structure stands 115ft tall and requires only the power of eight domestic kettles to sail boats through the air and transfer them between the two canals. The Falkirk Wheel has not only been described as a feat of engineering but as a work of art and is now an iconic Scottish landmark attracting over 500,000 visitors a year”

The four of us decided to take the 60 minute boat ride, which included riding up and then back down the Falkirk Wheel. It takes about 6 minutes to complete a trip to bring boats up or down.

Our final campground was where we headed next. We arrived at Mortonhall mid-afternoon, in plenty of time for a proper happy hour! We met up with Bob and Aleja, who were blog readers of Steven and Linda. We had a very enjoyable evening, complete with a progressive whisky tasting.

For our first day in Edinburgh, Linda booked us on a “free” walking tour. Steven stayed home to wait for their daughter to arrive from the States. I put free in quotes, because at the end, while you don’t have to pay, they ask you to give whatever you thought the tour was worth. I am going to go ahead and assume most of the time these tour guides make more money this way than they would charging a set fee. We loved our tour and we got a really nice overview of Old Town Edinburgh.

The following day, Bill and my last full day in Scotland, we had scheduled tour of Edinburgh Castle. We, once again, caught the bus into the city, and then walked to the start of the self-guided tour. The castle is HUGE and there is obviously a lot of history within the walls. And – the VIEWS!

After the tour, we walked back toward the Royal Mile and Grassmarket with shopping on the agenda! Steven, Linda, and Tara, knowing they would have another couple of days to see Edinburgh, decided to stop in at one of the pubs to rest their weary feet and enjoy a drink while Bill and I finished up getting last minute things. Tara, feeling the effects of jet lag, decided to head back to Mortonhall instead of joining us for our special last day dinner at Howie’s on Victoria Street.

That night, Bill and I packed up all our things. We were both quiet and feeling sad about leaving. Our time “across the pond” had passed very quickly.

The following morning, there were lots of hugs and a few tears as we said “see you later” to our friends. Bill dumped our grey tank and cassette before we headed back to JustGo to return the motorhome that had been our home for the past 5 weeks.

It took about half an hour to finish up at JustGo and about 10 minutes for the taxi they called to come “collect” us for our ride to the airport. We checked in 2 bags. Lines at security weren’t very long and we were sitting at the gate in plenty of time before our flight. We took turns walking around to stretch our legs so we didn’t have to drag our carry-on bags with us.

Our flight was uneventful – just like you want a flight to be – and we landed right on time at IAD (Washington Dulles). After picking up our bags off the carousel, we caught the shuttle to get our car. Once all our bags were on board, we had a 3 hour drive home. To say we were exhausted when we arrived would be an understatement.

I’ve decided to do one more post, after this one, about our trip. In it I will include costs and other info that will be helpful if any one is considering a trip like ours. Be on the lookout!

Previous Post: North Coast 500

Next Up: Final Summary Ireland/Scotland

Bill’s Lingo Lesson

Dismantlers = junk yard

Trolley = shopping cart

Traffic calming = slowing traffic

Blind Summit = limited visibility

No Set Down = no parking

Skullery = room where dishes are washed

Give Way = yield

Layby = pull out along side of the road

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