More Castles and Whiskey...

In the tourist guides, they have marked what they call the Castle trail. On this there are around 20 castles, each 10-20 miles from other. Today I decided to follow this trail, covering as many castles as I could. Some of these were just ruins. First on the list was Balvenie castle which was just down the road from the Glenfiddich distillery. It was closed at that time.

my car..

the barley fields which produce the awesome malt whiskey..

Deviating a little from the Castle Trail, I visited the Strathisla distillery in Keith.

This is the oldest distillery in the Highlands. It is owned by Chivas Brothers who also own brands like Chival Regal, 100 Pipers, Aberlour, Glenlivet and Royal Salute.

The Strathisla single malt is the main ingredient of the Chivas Regal blend or its heart as they call it.

The tour cost 5 pounds, which later I felt was a waste as the content was same as the one in Glenfiddich. If you buy Chivas Regal 12yo from here, they can give you a back label with a personalized message written on it. Next I went to Huntly Castle.


the road to the castle..

the gate of the castle seemed impressive..

the actual castle was this..

Next destination was Duff House in Banff. This town was situated on the sea..


after some searching, getting lost and the finding the way, i reached..


I went inside and looked around. there was also a movie running on the history of the family.. the gift shop..

Next on the tour was the Delgatie Castle..

the guards on the entrance..

there were these fat little ponies grazing in the meadows around..


the autumn colors..

then to the Fyvie Castle. the way to the castle was lined with these red trees..

i knocked many times but got no answer. there was no one around. the castle..

the closed gates..

peeche ka raasta.. but this was also locked..

the flowers almost looked as if made of plastic..

the crest of the family who own this..

the garden again..



there was also a big lake there with ducks and swans..

it starting to get dark now. i quickly reached the next stop, Tolquhon Castle. But this i found was closed from Monday-Friday in winters. Kya yaar!!!

It was almost dark now. the last castle on the itinerary was Crathes Castle. Dint get out, just clicked a few pics..



After a long drive through forests and lonely roads, I reached place called Ballater around 9pm. There I tried to find a place to stay. There were many B&B’s but they all had double rooms and they were charging the same even if one person stayed there. Finally a lady agreed to reduce the rent from 45 pounds to 35pounds. I was trying to get her to reduce this further to 30 but she wont agree. Since this was the best deal I was getting, so I decided to stay here. Later when I was telling her how I had travelled 800miles in 5 days and how much cold it was there as compared to Delhi, she said I could have the room for 30pounds.

Total distance in the day: 161mi


< previous page
# back to main page
> next page