Scotland, Day 14: Speyside Falconry, Aberlour Distillery, GlenAllachie Distillery, Lunch at the Gather’n Cafe, Coffee Stop at Cafe Calluna (Pitlochry), Driving to Edinburgh

A big travel day for us, leaving Speyside and trekking to Edinburgh for our last city and stay, before heading home.

A last look. I really hate to leave to be leaving Islay Bank House and wish we could stay longer.

On our travel day, we started things off with a stop at Speyside Falconry.

Showing off some new feather growth.

Driving and stopping to photograph random fields. I tried to control myself, because if I had my way I’d be stopping every 5 minutes and we’d never make it home.

Not that that would be a problem.

Outside Aberlour, which was also undergoing some significant renovations.

There wasn’t any public access into the distillery itself, but there was a small shop at the entrance we could peruse.

We took some smaller backgrounds to get to our next step, GlenAllachie.

We wandered around a bit, and found ourselves at the new visitor center/bar area.

It took some restraint, but I just took a photo and left these tasting drams alone.

This was a really nice space, and wasn’t here the last time we visited.

A bit sad that we didn’t have time to linger today, and could only stop in briefly.

We got a few samples, and ended up buying two bottles of a recently bottled 19 year (aged in an Oloroso Sherry Puncheon).

Signing our names into the log book. This bottle from Cask #1422 was very recently filled (about a month ago)… so we felt very lucky to be so early to grab one. Two, even!

Look at us – our names, right next to Billy Walker’s entry.

As a callback to the last time we trekked from Speyside to Edinburgh, we stopped in at the Gathern’ Cafe for a quick lunch.

A bit later on, we did a quick rest stop at Pitlochry – which seemed quaint. Might be a nice place to visit in the future.

We stopped in at Cafe Calluna for some coffee.

In Edinburgh – checking out the space after hauling all our bags upstairs.

Ordering delivery through Just Eat Takeaway. Even when I’m on vacation, I’m sorta at work.

Fun to try things out as a diner, in another country.

Liz, proactively packing up some of the many bottles we’ve acquired on our trip so far.

We specifically each traveled with two suitcases: one with all our clothes/toiletries, tucked into a larger, empty suitcase. On returning home, we’ll have four suitcases. And no small amount of whisky in tow.

After settling in at our apartment, I moved the car over to the car park at St. James Quarter.

It wasn’t a terribly long walk. And I have to say – many of the car parks in Edinburgh were nicer than some of the apartments I’ve rented. Clean, well-lit, super nice.

I did the math a while back. One option was for us to return the car here, and train it back to Glasgow to the airport. All told, it ended up being cheaper (and slightly more convenient) for us to just pay for lnog-term parking.

Not expecting to do a lot of driving the next few days, so we’ll see. For now, we’re expecting to stay in Edinburgh for the remainder of our time in Scotland.

Related:
Scotland, Day 13: Tasting at Glendronach, Dinner at The Mash Tun
Scotland, Day 12: Drams at Strathisla, Tasting at Gordon & MacPhail, Beers at Against the Grain, Dinner at the Drouthy Cobbler
Scotland, Day 11: Tasting at Glen Garioch Distillery, Newburgh Seal Beach, Dinner at Islay House
Scotland, Day 10: Travel to Speyside – Visiting the Highland Coos at Drumbuie Farm, Duffus Castle, Arrival at Islay Bank House, Dinner at Toot’s
Scotland, Day 9: The Old Man of Storr, Lealt Falls, Constables Coffee Truck, Shilasdair Yarn, Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls, Lunch at the Hungry Gull, Dinner at Three Chimneys
Scotland, Day 8: Handspinner Having Fun, the Old Pier, Tasting at Torabhaig Distillery, Walking Along the Carbost Waterfront, Dinner at Old Inn
Scotland, Day 7: Ferry to Isle of Raasay, Encountering Dolphins, Raasay Distillery, Driving and Sheepspotting, Dinner at Sprig
Scotland, Day 6: Fairy Glen, Rha Falls, Quiraing Trail, the Gold Cave, An Corran Beach
Scotland, Day 5: Fort William, Ben Nevis, Lunch at Cluanie Inn, Chocolates of Glenshiel, Eilean Donan Castle, Arriving in Portree (Isle of Skye), Bosville Hotel
Scotland, Day 4: Breakfast at Moss, the Meeting of Three Waters, the Wee Midgie Honesty Box, Home and Hot Tub
Scotland, Day 3: Acrophobia Along the Hidden Valley Trail, Lunch at Kingshouse Hotel, Driving Glen Etive Road
Scotland, Day 2: Breakfast at Cafe Wander, Good Spirits Company, Falls of Falloch, Shopping at Green Welly, Settling in at Glencoe House
Scotland, Day 1: Driving to Glasgow, Suite Upgrade at Native, Dinner at Margo
Chicago to Scotland: Travel Day