Highlands and Islands

We started our tour of the Scottish Highlands and Islands yesterday (Monday).  We are on a small coach (16 passenger) along with a couple from Australia, a couple from Vancouver B.C., a girl from China, and a family from Delhi, India and our driver Allen.  We left Glasgow yesterday and drove up through the lands of the Duke of Athol (very beautiful), visited the town of Dunkeld (Scotland's capital when MacBeth was King), the Hermitage (a national park), Pittlochry (charming town), the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, through the capital of the Highlands - Inverness - before settling for the night in the "wee" town of Drumndroichet (pronounced "drum-dra-kit") for the night.  Population 800 not far from Loch Ness (Lake Ness) and its economy dependent upon tourists tramping the area hoping to catch of view of "Nessie", the Lochness Monster.

First, a little about the food here in Scotland.  There have been a lot of "pies" in Ireland and Scotland, but we were very excited to find that Scotland offers fish pies since we don't eat meat.  We had a delicious Haddock and Leek pie for lunch yesterday - fresh chunks of haddock in a buttery cream sauce with a bit of leek for seasoning, topped with mashed potatoes - very yummy.  Last night we dined on a fresh Salmon fillet served over a bowl of "cuillen" - also a creamy fish stew, this one made with haddock, but usually made with "skink", another local fish.

Beer is getting better here in the Highlands - we had Nessie Monster Mash, a heavy sweet stout, Punk IPA (actually tastes similar to New Belgium Ranger), a red ale, and Fraoch Heather Ale.

The scenery has been gorgeous.....