In September of 2009, my two sisters and Stephen and I went to Scotland for two weeks. I didn't have a lot of opportunity to get something from people's wallets - only 3 entries.
We did the
Balvenie whisky distillery tour, one of the
Speyside whiskies.
Balvenie is not found in bars very much around Toronto, but it sure is good! Most distilleries in
Speyside that offer tours charge you about 10 pounds and give you a one hour tour, part of which can be a video. The
Glenfiddich tour, for instance, had about 30 people on it.
Balvenie, on the other hand, allows only 8 people at most and gives you a much more detailed tour that lasts 3 hours, and concludes with
nosings and tastings of five of their varieties (10 year, 12 year, 15 year, 21 year and 30 year). They charge 25 pounds for their tour, but the generous ounce of 30-year whisky is probably worth about 10 or 15 pounds on its own, and you don't often get a chance to drink such fine scotch. A bottle of 30 year is about 300 pounds (about $600 Canadian).
This entry is from the German couple who were on the tour with us. He is working in
Inverness and his wife visits now and then.
Balvenie is her favourite Scotch so he was treating her to a tour on this visit. She didn't speak very much English, but he was a really nice, funny guy.
This next entry is from our tour guide. As he notes, I asked the German couple and our tour guide (Rob, a retired
Balvenie employee) after we had done the tasting! We are pretty sure that Rob does the tours so that he can get to drink the 30-year whisky. He said it's his favourite of all of them, but he can't afford to buy it. Crafty.
This last entry from Scotland I will post in two images. This comes from Mr. Galloway who greeted us as we pulled up to the
Linlithgow Union Canal Society docks to tie up our canal boat and take a stroll around the town. We ended up spending more than an hour talking to him. He was very proud and knowledgeable about the canals and the history of the boats and the business of the canal. He didn't have a wallet, so he gave me one of the brochures from the Union Canal Society. Mel Gray, who has since passed away, worked very hard to make the Union Canal Society what it is today, and to preserve a lot of the history, and also to build a little education centre for visiting school groups.
There is a reference in his entry about the "centre of the universe" which has a bit of a story to it. When we were tying up the boat, he welcomed us to the "centre of the universe", which we found funny since Toronto is the centre of the universe (tongue planed firmly in cheek). He asked us where we were headed and when we replied that we were going to Edinburgh and back, he suggested we just stay in Linlithgow, and take the train into Edinburgh for a visit and back. There's plenty to do and see in Linlithgow, no need to go on to Edinburgh by canal, he said. Turns out, I think we would all agree that he was right!
For anyone planning a trip to Scotland, we highly recommend renting a canal boat. They have converted the old narrow boats that used to carry coal, into house boats that are very comfortable and indestructible. Linlithgow is a place that we should have spent more time in.
