To the North (again)

Another travel day, this time from Glasgow to Dornie, near Lochalsh. We chose a new route so that we didn’t overlap with our trip down from Skye to Glasgow the other day.

We headed out via Stirling and Perth, with the aim to be at Dalwhinnie for lunch. Dalwhinnie is a town where Kirsty’s Dad spent a lot of time fishing the river and hanging out at the local pub. It was also a stopping off point on family holidays on their way to Avernish (near Dornie).

Enroute, we dropped into the cutest little village of Dunkeld for coffee and cake. We had been through here before, but in winter when the roads were just about closed. A lovely interlude on the Tay river, which was in spate (“running a banker”).

At Dalwhinnie there is a distillery….maybe why Doc spent so much time in this area. So, it would have been rude not to drop by. Like so many these days, the distillery is owned by a large corporation that has many brands under its umbella. This time it was Diageo who was the owner. It was a little disappointing to see that all their brands were for sale at Dalwhinnie, but there were some malts exclusive to Dalwhinnie. We bought one of these which as a limited edition only for sale at the distillery.

The next stop was at Roy Bridge, near Spean Bridge, heading west from Dalwhinnie. I had arranged to meet a man called Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy made the new exhaust system for my Jag E-Type. A bespoke design. I was keen to see the castle he lived in, given the cost of the exhaust system.

He was very obliging, loved a chat and had great stories to tell. We were with him for the best part of 2 hours, and very little was spent talking about cars. As luck would have it, today was the first day in about a year that the Jag was fired up, and it started. Nick, our restorer, sent a video of it which I was able to show to Jimmy, with his pipes burbling away. His only comment was: “Wait ’till you hear it in real life”.

Then onto Dornie, with a spectacular drive through the Highlands and around Lochs to arrive at the iconic Eilean Donan Castle just outside Dornie. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we found our B & B. It was right next door to the B & B we stayed at in 1986 !!

Dinner was at the local Dornie Pub restaurant, which was excellent. Then home to our wee room with views of the Castle from out “Juliet” balcony. The rain is tipping it down and the wind is howling. Just perfect.