Adding a splash of awesome: Borders and more whisky

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Borders and more whisky

So I went on a bus tour of the Scottish Borders on Saturday. I say I went cos someone claimed her and Russ and Harry had something else planned that had to be done on Saturday and was mega important. I personally think she just didn't wanna spend another day on a boring bus and she didn't wanna brave the wind and rain (that one I don't blame her for), so yeah it was just me that went. Photo wise it wasn't the most interesting tour cos two of the three stops we weren't allowed to take photos which kinda sucked. And story wise it wasn't really as interesting cos all the cool stories seem to have happened up north. Most the stories we got were of towns and when they were established and why etc.

Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel, no pics allowed inside and to be honest not the most interesting talk I've heard either. But we were allowed to take pics of the outside so I got a few of that.

Next stop was the town of Melrose to see the Abbey and for lunch. I decided I didn't wanna pay the entrance fee for the Abbey so just took pics from the outside and found a river walk to do, there was a pretty cool bridge along it which was a nice lil surprise. Also visited the Melrose rugby grounds, home of the 7s, or so I've been told. Melrose is a lovely wee town that I'm glad I got to check out and was def the highlight of the tour.

Then we stopped at Scott's View which had a view of the Eildon Hills which overlook Melrose. This was just a brief stop for photos then it was onto Glenkinchie Distillery for our tour there. No pics allowed here which was disappointing and they are more mainstreamed than Deanston Distillery and do more of it by machine than it looked like Deanston did. Got 2 whiskys to taste at the end tho, their single malt which I just wanna say was a lil ick then the tour guide said adding a couple drops of water to whisky makes it more smooth and brings out the taste, if he meant the taste of vomit he was right. It was disgusting. Then the next one we got a choice of two and I went for the smokey one from the Isle of Skye which smelled pretty bad but tasted pretty good :) Still think Johnnie Walker is best though, and when I was talking to our distillery guide after the tour he said Johnnie Walker black is his fav too.

Then it was back on the bus and home. And I'm not sure what Missie, Russ and Harry did but it sure wasn't cleaning my room, slackers lol.

Random things I learnt:

Bonny = beautiful in colloquial scot.

On the River Tweed salmon fishing is illegal on a Sunday as it is the king of fish. Also it costs around £1000 for a day licence.

Whisky cannot be called scotch unless an oak cask is used.

It also can't be called whisky unless sat in a cask for a minimum of 3 years.

Overall I liked The Highlands tour better for the stops and the stories but I liked the scenery of the Borders one better so overall I'm glad I did both.

Rosslyn Chapel