From Edinburgh to Inverness

Today we checked out of our Edinburgh hotel and hit the road for Inverness, with some stops on the way.  On the way out I snapped James Maxwell, who is known in science for Maxwell's Demon:

And from yesterday, another view of the castle.

And some grit.  And Mayo Chicken for only 99p from McDonald's.

I saw quite a few beggars and people sleeping in the streets.

Lovely scenery on the way, including a bridge being built over what might be the Tay river.

We stopped to tour St. Andrews golf course, the ancient home of the sport of wasting time.  Most of us were not really interested, but we had a nice walk while being blasted with cold wind.  And I enjoyed a street sign: "Butts Wynd", and a sign that said "Danger: Golf in Progress".  Lunch was incredible: Caesar salad with deep-fried croutons, shaved parmesan, and little fishies (not salty canned sardines); huge portions of fish and chips with peas (mostly ignored in favor of the perfect fish); warm sticky toffee pudding with ice cream.

Back on the bus, and we stopped at a small distillery that makes single-malt whiskey, most of which is sold to makers of blended whiskeys.  We toured, we tasted whiskey, we resisted urging to buy, we used the bathrooms, and we moved on.  The water used by this distillery is pure, except for whatever the otters upstream add to it.  Mmmm.  12 year old otter juice.

Some of us are attempting to identify birds.  Lots of sea birds, lots of wood doves, magpies, rooks, feral pigeons, and not much else.  Sometimes I hear them, but can't find them.  A few people have binoculars, I have a European bird book, we share.

I knitted by feel while watching out the window.  Beautiful scenery, lots and lots of sheep and many new lambs which seemed to mostly come in pairs.  Scotland is one of the places with more sheep than people, and I believe it after today.  We saw highland cattle, deer, heavy horses with foals, yellow fields of canola, and miles of stone fences, all scattered over hills and valleys.  Hardly a flat, horizontal field in the whole country.  Rushing streams with people fishing for trout and salmon.  I have gotten through 2" of ribbing and can now just do plain stockinette until it's long enough to decrease at the top.  The way the weather has been I may have people asking to buy it when it's done.  I found a yarn shop and bought 3 small skeins of local wool, so there's another hat.

Our dinner restaurant in Inverness apparently didn't know they needed gluten-free for us, in spite of the evidence of correspondence with our hosts, but they managed to pull together an appetizer of open-faced mushroom and arugula sandwiches with a garlicky sauce, tender lamb, some casserole of soft cheesy potato slices with a crispy top, kale (mostly ignored), and chocolate mousse.  And wine to keep us from whining while waiting.  Pretty good.  We are eating much too much.

Tomorrow: a cruise on Loch Ness, tour of Urquhart Castle and a visit to a battlefield.  And a stop at Tesco to see what kind of gluten-free groceries they have here.