Scotland
August 2022The usual approach to starting a new journal is with something like an editorial article or a kind of author’s observation regarding the purpose of the blog. And “The Malt Symphony” is not different. This article have only to add some additional impressions while they are fresh and colourful.
When I planned this journal, I didn`t have a clear idea about its main purpose. Whisky became my hobby over the last two years, so I buy whisky, collect whisky, taste whisky and started to write about whisky. ….. What next? The journey to Scotland had to produce an answer to this important question but as often happens, THE ANSWER leads to several new and more complicated questions. In order to stay positive, I will say that the visit to two relatively new distilleries, the trip through spectacular scenery of the Highlands and Skye and the time spent in meditation in several pubs helped me to find the general direction.
At this point, a long, detailed, and boring description of my thoughts and conclusions could follow. But I decided to remove it and to leave future articles to “speak” for themselves. In this article, I will share my modest experience in planning and executing a trip to Scotland. In particular, a trip to visit some distilleries and some of the best landscapes and landmarks of the Highlands and Skye. Although everything happened remarkably close to the initial plan, I learnt some important lessons on how to get out more out of a short visit to Scotland. So I offer the ……
Noticeably short and absolutely incomplete “travel guide” to Scotland.
With any project, planning is an essential prerequisite. These days, everyone can relatively easily plan a trip to almost any destination. Flights, overnight stays, restaurant reservations, car rental, route and distance calculations, museums, attractions, including distillery visits and tastings. All this can be organized and booked through respective platforms; quickly, easily, and reliably (except for flights with some of the big companies this summer). So, planning, planning, planning… but that’s not all.
Planning should not start with the details. The main targets of the trip have to put in focus. In my case, it was to collect all kinds of information about Scotland and its world-famous whisky. To communicate with lots of people, to visit some new and prospective distilleries and some old and well-established ones, to visit other attractions, restaurants, pubs, landmarks, and scenery. And last, but not least, to record all this in lot of photos and videoclips.
Photos:
You want to take photos of the magnificent nature of Scotland? Wonderful. And you plan to undertake this trip during the summer? At this point you should pause and reconsider. I will immediately agree that the summer is a nice and comfortable time to travel in Scotland. This is valid especially for those that hate the summer heat like me. But speaking of necessary conditions for perfect photography is a different issue. During the summer in Scotland, except for a limited number of sunny days, there are just three colours that prevail over the scenery. Grey (clouds and castles), white (country houses and sheep) and green (everything else). All photos I took are in this colour palette. Yet almost all my photos were successful.
I do not consider myself an expert, but next time I will go during the autumn. There are few more sunny days. The angle of sunlight is better from a photographer’s perspective. The trees and the grass are not only green. Orange, yellow, and red colours are very strong and saturated. The sunsets are gorgeous. You will make impressive photos.
Although of substantial importance, the light and the colours are not everything. A good photo needs the right composition and a “story”. To get the perfect mix of all the above you have to try hundreds of times from a lot of points of view and often in different parts of the day (or night). It frequently occurs that a sunrise is not the perfect time for a respective photo project, and you will need the sunset for better light and special effects. Consequently, you need a lot of time. When you plan your trip, make sure that you will have enough time at the places where you plan to take photos. 24 hours will be the least time to plan for each location. And this would be only in case the weather forecast for the respective dates is good/appropriate. Even though organized excursions have lots of advantages, as stipulated later, you will rarely have enough time for the perfect “shot” with them.
Driving:
Whatever you have ever been told, my experience shows unambiguously that driving a right-hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road/street is absolutely not a drama. Sometimes it may turn into a small comedy, and perhaps in a bit of action, but not a drama.
To get used to driving on the left side is quite simple. You just have to drive there aiming not to collide with the other cars 😊. Now seriously. Drivers with long experience instinctively understand that the driver`s position should be at the inner part of the street and not near the pavement. More attention has to be paid to roundabouts, where the other cars come from the right and you have to enter to the left. But with concentration and several hours’ driving, you will adjust.
Now for the two real challenges for the drivers that standardly use left-hand drive vehicles. In left-hand drive, the right side of the vehicle is distant from the driver`s perspective. With years of experience, your brain is trained to automatically calculate the distance necessary to pass by the objects on the right side of your car, and this happens instinctively. But when you move from a left-hand to a right-hand vehicle the situation changes quite substantially. Now you can easily pass by any object on the right of your car, and this is understandable – you are situated in the right side of the car. But what happens with objects that appear on the left? Most probably, the instinctive setting of your brain will not be present. You will have to train yourself with this new skill by carefully driving around everything on the left. The first time I had to drive in England, I successfully navigated all the roads but when I reached my destination – a small town – it became a bit scary. 90% of the time, the left side of the car was on the pavement. I was really grateful that there were no pedestrians on the streets. Now, after more than 1,500 miles experience, including 200 miles in London, Edinburgh and Birmingham, I drive pretty well – with almost no mistakes.
The other challenge, which actually creates less trouble, is the gear stick. The gearboxes of left-hand and right-hand drive vehicles are identical. And if you think for a second – “This is good”, stop and think again. Here we have again to take the driver`s trained brain into consideration. When the drivers of left-handed vehicles change from first gear to second, they pull the gear stick towards them. And when they change from fifth to sixth, they push the stick to the side. These movements of the driver`s right hand are also instinctive. This automation cannot be easily changed just because you start to change gears with your left hand. Well, you cannot start driving in gear 5 or 6, so anyway you will manage gears 1 and 2. But changing from 5 to 6, if you are not concentrating, can produce big trouble. At least a hundred times, I changed from fifth to second gear instead of sixth. As you may imagine, the engine and mechanics were not happy. Only my rapid reactions with the clutch prevented collapse of the gearbox.
In Scotland, the traffic on standard roads between towns and cities is quite intensive and normally all drivers try to maintain the maximum-allowed speed of 60 mph (96 kph). In general, this is not a problem at all. However, some roads, especially in the north, have a rather narrow lane width and follow the land surface quite literally. Sometimes the road climbs a little high, say ten feet up, and right after it enters a sharp turn. In these places, you feel like the road is trying to throw you onto the oncoming vehicles. In fact, you will soon get used to this, but if you get tired from attempts to avoid collision, just slow down to 50 or even to 45 mph. The drivers in the UK, and especially those in Scotland, are very polite and no one will start to push you. In general, at intersections with minor roads, there are no obligatory speed restrictions. Usually there is a warning saying “SLOW”, but it’s just advice. I find this approach quite appropriate.
On main roads and motorways, everything is well-regulated, and you will not have any problems. Driving is easy, but you still have to be careful with the traffic around big cities. While keeping the focus on your driving, you will be able, in some places, to steal a second or two to look around and to notice the magnificent landscapes. Most of you perhaps know that the speed limit on motorways in the UK is 70 mph (112 kmph).
In small towns, it’s fairly easy to find free public parking. For Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other big cities, it is advisable to plan your route and parking places in advance. You will find enough internet resources to help you.
The biggest problem I experienced this summer travelling by car in Scotland was the rental price. Even though I booked the car three months ahead, the price for a mini-SUV for two days was greater than what I paid for six days for a high-class nine-seater automatic van in 2019. Obviously, this summer we saw a great peak of individual and family trips of both British and foreign tourists.
If you need my advice, I recommend hiring an SUV or another vehicle with a high driving position. In addition, get an automatic transmission and finally a good navigation system that is capable of informing you when to leave the roundabout; before, and not after, you have passed it.
Restaurants:
Restaurants in the UK are like all the others around Europe. This statement is based on my experience in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh …. and Ruyton-XI-Towns (Shropshire SY4 1NE). The service in all Italian, French, Mexican, other international and typical English restaurants, and pubs in these places will meet the expectations of all Europeans.
Here I will only mention some interesting facts, let call them local features. Don`t take it too seriously, but I recommend considering these features when you travel in northern Scotland.
First, I have to admit that I forgot my universal rule applicable in any new circumstances: keep calm and do what others do.
# Feature No 1. When you go to a pub, please do not sit at the first available table waiting for someone to come and take your order. Instead, please go to the bar and place your order. The friendly personnel will be happy to serve you then. If you don`t want to go to the bar to give your order, it is assumed that you are not hungry or thirsty and maybe you are expecting someone else.
I learned this lesson in the third pub I entered, and this learning delay left me one evening on kebabs and bottled beer. If you stay one week on this regime, take care not to try this approach when you return to big cities.
# Feature No 2. In some restaurants, you are expected to present yourself to a kind member of the personnel on entry and to explicitly state your desire to have lunch or dinner. And this may apply not only in case of a queue, but generally. You are then taken to a place chosen by your host or, if applicable, by you.
While features 1 and 2 are more or less exotic ones ….
# Feature No 3 – Restaurant capacity in small tourist destinations can cause serious inconveniences, especially during the summer. I undertook a three-day tour from Edinburgh to the isle of Skye. Several hours after the coach headed north, and while our tour guide “took us” deep into the history of the places we passed by, the passengers asked if it would be better to have a reservation for dinner in the town where we were going to stay for two days. We were informed that this was not just better, but highly recommendable, as during the summer the tourists staying in the town far exceed its restaurants capacity. My attempts to make an on-line reservation crashed ingloriously and, at the next stop, I sourced provisions for 2 + dinners.
It turned out that the main options to have a dinner (for tourists) were the following: The “Foreseeing“ tourists had reserved their places long before the start of the trip. They enjoyed the comfort of having delicious food in (one of only five or six) cozy local restaurants. The “Patient“ and the “Optimistic” ones formed a queue in front of every restaurant, waiting their turn for a free table. It is a good approach for small companies, as the people are not wasting hours in restaurants (except in southern Europe, where I come from). The Chinese and Indian food kiosks were under siege by those who were in a hurry, to visit some place or to have dinner in their B&B places.
I joined the group of tourists that perceived the nice little town square as the perfect dinner setting. The menu of this improvised food hub was varied: pizza, sandwiches, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, and other variations of international cuisine. Park benches were turned into “luxury” restaurant tables. The bar consisted bottles of beer and wine, and everything else was just OK. I visited the same “restaurant” the next evening too and actually it was a good thing. Firstly, I spoke with some of the passengers from my coach. They were proud to announce that they succeeded in reserving a table in the best place in Portree for the evening. I was very pleased for them. But then the reality struck. They said that the table had to be occupied exactly at 8 pm and had to be cleared not later than 9:15. Well, that may sound acceptable for a swift meal between two important business meetings, but no one in Bulgaria would even consider the option of having dinner in a good restaurant in only an hour and a quarter. The second reason to feel happy was the fact that, while I took a tour around the restaurants that first evening, I found the location of the best bar in town. And wow, there was no need for reservations there and the spirit of the visitors was very high (I am not playing with the word). There were free tables both evenings and I managed to chat with a nice young French couple who were planning a trip to Bulgaria and also with a bartender from southern Europe, who desperately wanted to share his nostalgia.
Trips & excursions:
I do not usually prefer organized trips and excursions. Like many people, I do not like to follow someone else`s timetable, to conform with other passenger’s wishes and plans, and I often do not fully agree with the selection of route details and landmarks to be visited. But after long and thorough consideration of the plusses and minuses, the common sense in me prevailed. It was obvious that, while visiting Scotland for a second time, I would not be able to find, research, select and visit as many landmarks, viewpoints, historical sites, etc. as I had planned to.
So after the first two days of my trip, when I visited two quite interesting distilleries, on the third day, I jumped on a 16-seat coach for a three-day organized tour from Edinburgh to the isle of Skye. And, as it turned out later, it was a very good decision.
Initially, I was skeptical about the combination of a bus driver and tour guide in one person. But this ended when our guide started to speak. With a very few exceptions, he continued speaking all the time and he narrated, in detail, the most interesting facts from the history and mythology of every single place on the route. And not only this. I was impressed (and this is not so easy) by the way the information was presented. The stories ware served in an intriguing, exciting way and with lot of emotions, accompanied by folklore songs and music for the respective places or events. This approach was something new for me.
I have to add that the intensive tour guidance did not affect, in any respect, either the professional and completely safe coach-driving, or the schedule adherence.
The tour stops were well-selected. Lot of viewpoints and landscapes on the way north. One of the most beautiful castles in the Highlands – “Eilean Donan”, historical sites, small and picturesque towns, most of the places of interest in the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness. I already mentioned above that often the time for taking pictures was not enough, especially to open the tripod and to change more than one lenses but, as we say in Bulgaria, there is no such thing as “Full happiness”. But I am sure that if I had tried to visit all these places on my own, I wouldn`t have been able to go to even one third of them.
The price of the tour is less than you will pay for the travel and accommodation expenses. So, I encourage everyone to try. There are several internet sites that offers tours from lot of travel agencies in Scotland. The travel agencies themselves have ratings in popular travel sites. The chance of getting a badly-planned and badly-organized tour is pretty small, as the huge competition in this field leaves only the good companies on the market.
B&B:
During my trip to Scotland, I used several types of accommodation: from high-ranked hotels to different Booking and Airbnb houses and apartments. For all of them, I can say only good things. All the houses and apartments were renovated and very well-designed and furnished and clean. All of them offered a variety of choices for breakfast. In addition to the standard cereals, croissants, fruits, vegetables, yogurt and milk, the host often offers to prepare a hot snack of your choice, like bacon and eggs, or something else.
Nevertheless, it is due to regulation or due to the competition, but the quality of the places in Booking or Air B&B is completely comparable or even higher than the most of the 3-star hotels.
Note:
The above article describes my impressions and thoughts from my one-week trip to Scotland this summer (2022). During this trip, I gathered only good impressions from the country, nature and especially from the people. All variations between my expectations and the actual experience are described solely from their positive side, and without any criticism. It was a real pleasure to travel to Scotland and I am eager to do it again.
