The Whisky Trail

There are many whysky trails in Scotland, just as there are many spellings for whiskey. Hundreds and hundreds of distilleries offer tours and tastings and even a dedicated aficionado can but scratch the surface. Not counting the smoke of the peat fires (not used in some brands), only three ingredients can be used to make a single malt: barley, water and yeast. The thousands of different versions of scotch get their flavour from the amount of smoke used and the type of wood and length of time involved in barrel aging.

Peter is a fan of peat-smoke flavoured drams so off we went for a few days of study in in the southwestern Hebrides, the heartland of this category of uisge (gaelic spelling). Ann planned a great journey which included several ferry crossings with stays in hotels and inns running the gamut from quaint and tidy to Victorian and castle-like.

We drove through the magical Lake District National Park. National parks are different here in that people can live within the park boundary and even own property, but one’s use of the property is subject to restrictions aplenty. At Ardrossen, we took our first ferry ride - to Isle of Arran. I looked forward to visiting the source of the Arran malt that my bro Tony introduced me to on a ‘recent’ birthday. Caledonian MacBrayne, the equivalent of BC Ferries, has routes all through the western isles. First impression was very good. The various sitting lounges, cafeteria and gift shop were all fine. The bar had a special - Arran 14 yr old doubles on for $7. Ann now became our designated driver.

As well as adding many new birds to the growing list and taking a few short hikes, we investigated the Arran distillery. Every distillery has a store/gift shop and we did our bit to keep them afloat.

Speaking of floating, there are 5 million people in Scotland and 20 million barrels of single malt resting in the warehouses. The tax that the government collects from this industry alone is greater than any other industry except North Sea oil.

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From the north end of Arran we took a small ferry to the Mull (peninsula) of Kintyre. We drove across this to the west side (twice because I left my famous black bag on the small ferry - sheesh) where we caught a bigger ferry to Port Askaig on Islay (EYE-lah). This being the mother lode of peaty-ness, Ann had wisely booked two nights.

Laphroaig (lah-FROYG) was voted best shop of the tour.   At Bowmore, Peter's favourite, we took the full tour and learned much about the process. This is one of the few distilling houses that still operate their own malting floor where they repeatedly turn the barley over between light soakings. After a few days, it’s barely sprouting (now called ‘malt barley‘) and it’s off to the drying floor where the peat fires beneath send the smoke drifting up until the malt acquires the required level of flavour. Peter and I tried our backs at pulling the multi-spatulate iron tool - a definite workout for the legs if you were doing this all day. They use a power turner nowadays, similar to those robot vaccuums we’ve seen in well-gadgeted homes in Calgary and White Rock J .

 

The rest of the day was spent in less intensive studies (read 'tastings') of Islay’s other distilleries including Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Caol Ila (cole-EE-lah), Bruichladdich (Brew-ick-LADdick) and Bunnahabhain (who knows?).

By the time we’d had lunch in the town’s ‘Cyber Café‘, a fund raising project to provide opportunities for youth, it was getting late and we only got to walk around the grounds of the the last two which were by this time of day, fortunately closed.

Every drop produced goes through the spirit safe which has a silver padlock that only excise tax officials can open.  From this point on in the production line, every 'point of access' (that's valves on pipes, barrel storehouses, tanker truck controls, all the various places in the bottling plant) has similarly controlled access.  At 5,000 pounds tax per barrel, no wonder. 

One of several plaques in the Bowmore shop.  It was great to see the story of my cousin Julian's hotel on display, even though the story is not a happy one.  They wouldn't let me into the cabinet to check the 40 year old stock for a replacement.

 

A nice dinner provided by the friendly landlady and staff, then off to a final night cap and packing for our next stop back on the mainland, the venerable Oban.

Brittany to Britain

June 17

The GPS once again helped Peter find the train station in Vannes, a small city loaded with round-abouts (traffic circles). France drives on the right, like us. For a person driving a right hand drive vehicle, and who is used to driving on the left side, he did a great job despite the GPS often saying ‘Turn right’ without warning.

Train travel is fairly inexpensive in France, and the TGV trains are fast and quiet. We bought a baguette sandwich and coffee at the station, and were good for the duration. The hard part was when we arrived in Nantes. Due to our lack of internet the previous week, we had no idea of the layout of the city or where we were going to stay. So, with our limited French, we found the info kiosk…a’qui….and got a tourist map of Nantes, a quick orientation, info re the bus ‘Navette a aeroport” for the next day, and off we went. Of course, it started to rain. Thinking… hmmm… here’s a hotel right at the station, we checked it out, only to find it cost 180 Euros ($250) per night - just a bit over budget. Luckily, the station is only 5 minutes from town, so off we trundled, suitcases in tow, until we found ourselves in front of a hotel. Hotels in France post their prices at the door. This one was 58 Euros/night. Alright… so it’s not the Ritz…. But it’s clean, has free WiFi, a comfy bed, and a room with a view…of the train station. We’re in.






Nantes is amazing. It is a very historic port town built on the Loire River. Home of Dukes and Duchesses who built fabulous homes, moated castles, cathedrals. And the town has many small pedestrian streets lined with cafes, shops and restaurants. We took the tram and crossed the river to see the ‘La Machine’ exhibit, which features, among many other contraptions, a mechanical elephant that must have been at least 30 feet tall; it can ‘walk’ around, and carries about 35 people in its saddle coach.

The city set has set up a bicycle use system, with many outdoor stations where you can pick up a bike and ride it, then drop it off at any one of 89 other stops. When ready to ride again, use your card to unlock the bike, (or more likely a different one because yours has been taken out by another rider), and head over to your next destination and find a nearby drop off station. If you limit your rides to 30 minutes or less, there’s no additional charge to the daily basic rate which you pay up front. Total cost for riding around all day in half hour or less stints is just one Euro ($1.40) per day. Such a great use of tax money, and we would have given it a whirl, but the system didn’t work with our bank card so we just had to walk.

June 18

Next morning, feeling like old hands, we trotted into town for café et croissants at a sidewalk café, and then a quick tour of Duchess Ann‘s 17^th century moated castle. At one time it provided the walled-in protection from the French King’s army, who constantly tried to annex Brittany.

Our plan to catch the Navette Aeroport bus…..Only 7 Euros each…….worked flawlessly. Each airport seems to have a different method of organizing check-in. Nante’s departure display tells you which ‘hall’ and wicket number you go to. OK. Our flight to Manchester was on a Dash 8. Seems fine from Victoria to Vancouver, but a bit trying on a 1 ½ hour flight. My ears took forever to recover.

We arrived at Manchester airport / train station - huge place, but Terminal 1 and 2 both have decent food, so the time went quickly as we waited for our train. We had booked train tickets online and found a special deal: 1^st class fare for the price of 2^nd class . Doesn’t mean much - seats are comfy and there’s tea/coffee and sandwiches. Better than standing and sitting on the floor, as many did. The scenery was fascinating. Every city was a different colour. All the houses and buildings are brick or stone, and varied from one town to the next by the colour of their local stone. … A church in every town. Sheep everywhere. Bridges of stone.. Not steel or wood.

Peter picked us up at the Oxenholme station, and we were treated to our first drive through the English lake district countryside. Roads are very narrow, lined with ubiquitous dry-stone (no mortar) fences. The fences also surround properties and divide fields, make enclosures and laneways. The fields are irregular and rolling, and most are filled with sheep. Farm buildings and houses, outbuildings and bridges are all stone, too, giving the place a sense of age, history and permanence.

Ulverston is a pretty little town, and Peter and Ann’s place is on a little street, Chittery Lane, that leads up into the hills….. Hoad Hill, to be exact. Their house is an updated and beautifully renovated 1920’s house, built on the grounds of an old school, so part of their property is still bordered by the original school’s big stone wall. To greet us was their dog Ceri, (Welsh for ‘love’), a border collie. The next two days we’ll spend seeing some local sites, including some abbey ruins,Hee-lund koos (highland cows), herdwick sheep and the factory where Peter's invention, a guidance tool for getting oil drilling rigs to drill around around corners is made.  His tools were used in drilling the relief wells for the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

A week in Brittany

Peter and Ann have rented a villa right on the water. It’s a beautiful house on an expansive property overlooking its own swimming pool with a bay full of moored boats beyond. It’s another thatch-roofed house, but on a different scale than the Danish in Troll Forest! Peter’s daughter Catherine and her boyfriend Lee are with them too, and it’s great to be here with them, finally. For years we’ve been saying that we’d like to visit Peter and Ann in England. It’s great to chat over good food, inexpensive good French wine, yummy cheeses, and fine whiskey. Who could ask for anything more?

Well…how about…... We might have asked for a bit better weather! This has got to be the rainiest, windiest June week in history. The cold that Susan felt coming on riding the Paris metro developed and kept her a bit under the weather for a couple of days. Since the pharmacie was closed, suffering in 'silence' was the only option.

Each day we drove out to see some of the local sights. And each night we took turns cooking in our very well appointed kitchen. Cat and Lee made beef Bourgogne and great potato salad, Peter barbecued steak and we baked lamb chops in mustard/rosemary and cracker crumbs, among other things. And of course, we shared our new-found Danish desert with them… baked figs in caramel over ice cream and melon.

Commerce is a bit relaxed around here. The tourist info office is only open 10-12:30 each day, and grocery stores and pharmacies and most other shops are not open on Sundays or fete days, which it was on Monday. Also, many places are closed 2 hours for lunch!

Baden is a sweet little town with curvy streets lined with stone walls and buildings, and a nice stone church. I loved the little stone houses with bright geraniums in window boxes, and gardens full of bush roses and hydrangeas. Unfortunately the rain prevented us from getting great photos.

The Golfe de Morbihan is an inland sea formed with hundreds of little islands scattered among the many inlets and bays. It formed during a period of global warming about 9000 years ago. Before that time the islands were mostly part of the mainland; sea level was 100 meters lower than today. Sailing is huge here and there are many small ferries one can take to the islands for a visit.

One afternoon we went to see the Alignements near Carnac and Le Menec. These are ancient (1000 years older then the Egyptian pyramids) stones, 3 to 30 feet high standing by the thousands in fields, all carefully lined up in rows. Not yet well understood, they seem to mark observances of astronomical cycles as well as figure in human burial customs. Underwater excavations have discovered evidence of human habitation going back 500,000 years. These 6,000 year old ‘standing stones’ are leftovers of a very old civilization but are certainly not old in terms of human occupation of this area. The continental shelf which includes Great Britain today also includes the western English Channel and Brittany. Breton language in use today is a type of Celtic related to that of Wales.

Mike rented a bike for a couple of days and he and Peter took turns taking this decrepit machine for rides. Ten out of 18 gear combinations worked; not too bad. Mike found an excellent coastal trail around the peninsula to Pointe de Blair and a enjoyed a bit of practice for the Hinton MS ride (minus the drizzle and mud). Luckily, he didn’t find out until his return that it was illegal to use this trail unless you are a ‘pieton’ (walker/hiker); also luckily he didn’t see a single other person. Riding the roads is OK; they are narrow but not busy. Baden is about 3 or 4 or 5 km from our villa, depending on how lost you get reading the tourist map.

June 16, 2011

Our last day at Le Dreven was more rain, but this time, really heavy. Nothing like a summer holiday in France. I uncovered the pool, but no takers today. Easy dinner (the ubiquitous roto-chicken from the supermarket) and pack up tonight, then the other four hop into Peter’s new Range Rover and head for the St. Malo ferry and the drive home to the Lake District. We’ll rejoin them there after a night on our own in historic Nantes and a flight to Manchester.