Scotland 2015 - Day 6 - August 21, 2015

Okay - remember the Fish 2 Go food cart last night?  Well - there was a sign posted at reception that on Friday morning, a truck would be coming 8:50 - 9:00 with fresh fish, eggs, and rolls.  Hmmmm -not exactly breakfast menu items, but maybe Scottish campers do fish and egg cowboy casserole for brunch.  We had to check it out and casually approched the reception area, map in hand....pretending to want to ask the warden a travel destination question.  Exactly on time, the truck arrived.

But no campers came, and we didn't step up to the fish bar either.  Back to our van for a breakfast of cold cereal with sliced bananas.

The main reason we came to this area was because of a recommendaton by our Scottish friend and mum enthusiast Robin McLeod.  This is malt whisky country and just a few miniutes down the road was

and behind that big buiding are all these empty casks that need to be repaired.  

An oak barrel will only be used once to store and age bourbon (for about ten years).  After that the barrels are returned to a distillery (yes, that would likely be in Scotland) where they will be reincarnated into barrels for whikey or malt whiskey (nope, don't know the difference).

A barrel maker is called a cooper.  To become a cooper you have to be in a four year apprenticeship program and then you'll be on your way to an average yearly income of $56,000.  Malcolm, stick to plumbing

The work on a piece rate.  Their fastest worker - a super cooper - can repair 28 per day.  The pace at which they're working is frantic, and the banging of their 4-5 pound hammers is nerve racking

Here's what I could do - paint the lid with grey paint

If we had kept our receipt we could have gone to the tasting room for a free sample, but Dad couldn't remember which pocket he had placed it in

Continuing west on the road to Damascus..I mean Columbridge, we came upon Websters Shortbread.   I had no clue what this was, but with the word shortbread on the building, Dad pulled into the visitors park.

Inside Dad said, "I recognize the packaging'" and we left with this

This photo is for Warren in recognition of his baking prowess

We didn't get far down the road until we came to another church/cemetery.  You know what Dad did.

I call this one a bird and a hot air balloon but the sign said it is a bird, a mirror, a comb, and a mirror cover (I say hot air balloon)

This time there was a source of information, rather than what two teenage boys, who we talked to at the fort, could remember.

In the year 297 a Roman commentator first referred to "wild natives" living beyond Hadrian's Wall as Picti, "the painted people",  Perhaps they decorated their bodies with tattoos.  This nickname seems to have stuck and by the time the Romans left Britain in 410, everyone knew these northern peoples as Picts.  Considered by some scholars to be exotic and "different" from their contemporary neighbors, modern archeological and histrical scholars have helped us to see the Picts as typical native inhabitants of post-Roman Britain with a distinctive art that flowered around 500-850

At the stones we talked to a mother/daughter traveling duo who also stopped to see the stones.  I gave them this blog address and maybe they'll follow.  "Hello British friends."

Ta-dah...we finally made it to the edge of the Cairngorms Natonal Park

And here is the Spey River, renowned as a great salmon fishing river.  No Warren, not for consideration

We visited the Osprey Centre at Loch Garten and learned more about ospreys than I knew was possible.

The resident 18-year old female, EJ, has already left on her winter trip to Africa, and Odin, her male mate was nowhere to be seen.  No more osprey details, google above name for more info.

Finally got to our caravan site at Loch Morlich (that sounds like a Harry Potter name) which actually seems just like the camping area at an Oregon state park.  We are in the Piney Woods rather than on the open golf course like area

Drove into Avienmore to resupply our breakfast and lunch goodies

Which one?

or 

Some random photos

Soccer dogs that do not have good field skills - off sides  and pushing, perhaps

A bridge that has not been modified and strenghened for earthquakes

For Malcolm.  This was my first ecologically correct toilet - in an outhouse no less.  The bucket on the right has those blue baby wet wipes - but don't put them in the toilet but in the bin next to the toilet.

And - in a tiny park in Nethy Bridge - "A Tidy Nethy Bridge Please".  We did put our lunch trash in the receptical

Haste Ye Back