Day 7 - Barley Fields Forever

We enjoyed another nice breakfast at our inn at Pitlochry. There is a conservatory that has been re-purposed as the breakfast area. We both enjoyed the ham and mushroom omelet with all of the trimmings before we headed out for a walk about town. Our inn for last night.

We took the path down to the river and encountered a small hydroelectric plant. It was built in 1949 when surprisingly most homes in this area had yet to be electrified! I met one of the staff and found out that it is a 2 unit 5 MW Kaplan unit installation. Their big operating issue is salmon migration and had quite an interesting fish ladder that was built back when the plant was constructed.

We took a stroll down the main street of Pitlochry and it has some of the same tourist vibe as Niagara-on-the-Lake. It also has a festival theatre.

The main difference is the number of coffee and cake shops with outdoor seating and of course, the number of sweet shops and ice cream shops.

After our little walking tour, we hopped in the VW and took a short drive to "Queen's View" for a great panoramic view of Loch Tummel. We missed the early morning clear sky and sun but it still looked spectacular.

Back in the car and off to Stonehaven, our destination for today. The GPS took us on the fastest route which I would like to take issue with. We started out on the A9 which is a dual-lane carriageway (that's what they call an expressway here) but were quickly diverted to a lane and a half highway. Granted, the speed limit was 60 mph but I doubt that Lewis Hamilton could get the VW Golf anywhere near that speed on this road. This was the wider part of the highway but still difficult to pass a large slow moving lorry.

Hence, a little longer ride through some beautiful farming country. Fields and fields of golden barley and green fields of potatoes.

Before our final destination, we stopped at Dunnottar Castle, just on the outskirts of Stonehaven.

This is a castle ruin located on a rocky headland. This was the property of the Keiths from the 14th century to the Jacobite uprising of 1715. it is best known as the place where the Crown jewels of Scotland were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17h century.

We had a great personal tour from a guide and really enjoyed the history lesson. Here are some dramatic views of the ruins and the coastline.

After the castle tour, we took the short drive to Stonehaven and found our B&B which surprisingly was right on the little harbour. Very cute place and obviously an huge tidal range given the number of boats sitting in the mud.

We took a stroll on the boardwalk and through the town. More stone buildings, narrow streets and small shops.

We stopped at the Ship Inn for a pint. Maybe should have tried a single malt as they had 93 varieties available on the bar!

For supper we ate next door to our B&B at the Marine Hotel and had the best fish & chips we can remember ever having.

We retreated to our room to watch the harbour activities as the sun went down.