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Scottish Highlands and Blair Castle

We said farewell to Edinburgh this morning and it definitely felt like something was missing without Wendy and Fran in the group.  We were heading north, into the highlands.
 Our first stop was at Blair Castle.  It is a lovely, liveable castle.  We got to walk through the entire castle.  The rooms were all furnished and the walls were covered with old portraits.  Gorgeous antique cabinets displayed sets of china and various knickknacks.  The castle is in a beautiful mountainous setting, surrounded by lovely gardens.
We stopped in a quaint little village called Pitlochry.  We were sad to have only an hour for lunch because there were lots of shops that were calling us!!  A few of the gals managed to grab a bite to eat and squeeze in a bit of shopping!!  
After lunch we went a few miles down the road to the oldest Whiskey Distillery in Scotland, called Edradour Distillery. It was established in 1825 and they still use the old methods for producing scotch whiskey. They produce a very small amount and it is aged for 10-60 years.  We had a fantastic, kilt wearing guide. At first he appeared to be very serious but his commentary kept us in stitches.  I couldn’t hold my tongue and managed to give him a bit of a run for his money.  We got to sample some whiskey as well as a cream liquer.  It was a very enjoyable tour but we came away still not knowing what was under his kilt!!  However, a few bottles came out of the gift shop!!
The scenery today was spectacular.  After the Distillery we got into the highlands.  Aside from the beautiful green that we have seen everywhere, the leaves on the trees are turning to orange and red.  The ditches and side hills are covered with ferns that 
have turned a brilliant amber. The rolling hills are covered with heather, which is purple in the summer time but it has turned to brown now.

We arrived at our hotel in Port Augustus at 6 pm.  It is a very quaint little town situated at the south end of Loch Ness.  We are staying in a very charming hotel.  We split up into groups to go for dinner and everyone came back raving about the excellent food!




















































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