Hiking "Hill walking" in Pitlochry

On Saturday Aug 22 our family went hiking in Pitlochry ... a small town north west of Dundee and on the southern edge of the highlands. We also took one of Harrison's friends Daniel that he made at summer camp in Dundee. Longer hair isn't common in Scotland for boys but you wouldn't know it looking at these two. Anyways is was a stunning drive from Dundee taking backroads and "B" highways. Many fields of heather are starting to turn purple and it rivals some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen (and that's saying something).

I am hesitant to call our adventure proper "hill walking" since we chose a rather gentle route for everyone. The hike despite not having lots of elevation had many cool things to see including an impressive waterfall and a distillery about half-way through. A few months ago we wrote about having toured Scotland's oldest scotch distillery (Glenturret). Well on Saturday we visited Scotland's smallest scotch distillery (Edradour) which makes relatively small amounts ... a mere 90,000 litres a year - but that is what some of the bigger distilleries produce in a week. Their claim to fame is a blended scotch called "House of Lords" which can only be found at their distillery and Westminster Palace ... if you happened to belong there! Needless to say I had a 'wee dram' of it at their tasting bar but they were sold out of it otherwise and I couldn't get a bottle to bring home. As far as scotches go, it was pretty good (meaning the least revolting) and fun to try something kind of exclusive.

The last third of the hike was through town (included an ice cream stop for everyone), checking out a really cool hyrdo-electric dam and fish ladder. It was a great day and a reminder of how great it is to live in Scotland and close to the highlands.