Day 3 - Monday 27/04/15

My alarm went off at 8.30am which I snoozed for another half an hour. My other half had told me to put the window screens up, which keep heat in and cold out, which made quite a difference in the morning despite the snow outside. The engine soon warmed me into motion and I went to do my ablutions before leaving the campsite.

Whilst brushing my teeth a man came in and asked me if I was the owner of the van parked just outside. Owning up he then proceeded to tell me that I wasn't allowed in the campsite. I asked why and he said it's because my van had no windows in the back, which apparently means I can be gassed if I cook in there. This is a rule that the camping and caravan club have established in order to save lives. I thanked him for saving my life and left.

One of the few things that you have to do in Scotland is visit a whisky distillery. I noticed that one of my favourites, Glenlivet, was not far from where I was so I set off east to pay it a visit. The scenery was amazing. The road circulated the northern edge of the Cairngorms to my right, which were covered in fresh snow, and to my left wound a shallow but wide river that weaved through the valley.
After an hour the distillery appeared at the end of a country road. I had passed a few on the way as this area is known as the home of whisky with Aberlour and Glenfiddich just a few miles further on, so I knew what to expect. I went inside and checked in for a free tour. In my group were a couple of albino scandinavians and a french family who made it their mission to barge past me at every opportunity. The process was not too dissimilar to the beer brewery tours I had been on in the past and I learnt that Glenlivet actually starts off as a clear liquid but is given it's golden colour by the wooden casks that they are aged in (I don't know if this is the same for all whiskies though). They recently opened a 50 year old barrel and made only 100 bottles costing £18,000 each. The casks had lost 60% of their contents due to the fact that the casks breathe and let the whiskey escape over the years. At the end of the tour we were given the choice of 3 drams to take a swig from. We were only allowed one of the three which were a 15 year, an 18 year and new one that had no determinable age. I went for the 18, of course.

Tour done I decided to head up towards Inverness and then west across the highlands. At Inverness I noticed a sign which talked about dolphins so I pulled over to have a read. It pointed out that there were a few places you might be able to catch a glimpse of these elusive creatures along with the possibility of seeing some seals. I set the satnav and went to take a look. 45 minutes later I ended up at a spit to the north west which was much further away from the spot that I originally thought I was heading to. I didn't see any animals and instead was treated to a rather impressive view of 6 or 7 north sea oils rigs lined up in the centre of the estuary. One was being towed in from the sea and I watched for a while to marvel at it's enormity.

Looking at a map I decided that I should try and stop somewhere in the centre of the highlands. I discovered that there was a bunkhouse half way across the country which I thought would be a nice break from sleeping in the van. My arrival was welcomed with some rather dramatic scenery, similar to the southern island of New Zealand I thought. I parked up went inside to see if they had room. I don't know if you remember that fruit pastels advert, "Juice, loose, aboot this hoose", where the stereotype scottish guy was in a scottish country estate somewhere, dancing about like a loon? Well that was what I was greeted with (the estate, not the loon), complete with 8 stuffed stag heads, roll top leather arm chairs and wood panelling. I paid for a night and checked out my bunk in the portacabin outside.

Being lazy I decided to order food rather than cook so I went back to the main hotel. Since I arrived I had only seen 1 member of staff and a group of 5 chinese who were taken into the dining room to perform scottish dance. They left after half an hour so it was just me and the guy who checked me in. I got the impression it was a bit of a faulty towers outfit whereby the receptionist was also the cleaner, chef, barman and caretaker. He served me up my food and I then retired back to my cabin.

I was curious to see if anyone else was staying in the bunkhouse so I sneakily opened each door. It turned out that the whole place was empty and I had it completely to myself. I looked out the window to see if there were any cars in the car park and was astonished to be eye to eye with 4 stags. "No wonder there were so many heads in the foyer" I thought. There was no traffic and the evening air was completely still. Just me and these beautiful stags.

One thing that has amazed me about Scotland, no matter where I am I always seem to have fairly good 3G connection. Enough to update this blog at least. I even had it here in Achnasheen. So being and insatiable technophile, and Monday night, I logged on to Sky Go and watched Game of Thrones before retiring for the night. The modern world eh!