Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival - more

The Whisky Festival although mainly about visiting distilleries, nosing and tasting whisky with many different foods such as chocolate, smoked salmon and cake, it was also about good food, music, walking and wildlife. I was lucky enough to attend an evening at the Clockhouse in Tomintoul where we ate a delicious meal, prepared by experienced chefs, learnt about and drank Tomintoul whisky and listened to many and varied songs by Robin Laing also on the subject of whisky. Visiting Aberlour the following afternoon, there were free samples of Walkers shortbread which is made in Aberlour. The next day it was time for a 5 mile walk from the Railway station in Dufftown along the side of the river Fiddich on the Dufftown spur of the Speyside Way to the River Spey and then for a delicious light lunch at the Pantry in Aberlour. We saw a huge range of wildflowers, herbs, trees and birds while enjoying spring sunshine. There was also time for a "wee dram" to help us on the journey.

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival

The Spirit of Speyside was a fantastic weekend with fantastic weather, great distillery tours, plenty of whisky tastings coupled with ceilidhs, food and photography. I accompanied one of the tours starting with the Ben Rinnes distillery which is not normally open to the public. We were met by Scott one of the distillery operators who gave us an excellent tour. It was nice to be taken round by someone who works on the distilling side rather than as a tour guide. The bus tour with 15 people on it seemed a really good size to tour the distillery. They are looking very happy at the start of the tour and it is interesting to see a wide range of ages and from many countries including Sweden, Denmark, Scotland and England.

River Spey near Rothes - Glen Grant Distillery

On a trip to Elgin to buy paint for the guttering and downpipes at Blufolds cottages, I could not resist the early morning light and stopped to take a photo of the Thomas Telford bridge at Craigellachie and lots of photos at the bend in the river Spey where you can see Rothes in the distance. Rothes has the Glen Grant distillery and garden. Glen Grant whisky is the top seller in Italy. I was lucky to find a fishing boat and a fisherman on the river as well. After all the excitement of the morning it was good to stand outside painting for the rest of the day. The weather over the last 2 weeks has been exceptional with all the blossom and leaves coming very early to the trees.