Scotland trip

[Zaukrie]

In the sea?

More likely peterhead. But possibly inland.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

More likely peterhead. But possibly inland.

Despite it being where my family are from, I don’t know that area very well. They decamped en mass to Liverpool in the 1850s! The closest I’ve been to Peterhead is flying over on my way to Shetland. I tend to associate it with the oil industry. The good stuff is west (Cairngorms) and south - Stonehaven/Montrose/Dundee (where the Beano comes from).

 

[Ryujin]

Despite it being where my family are from, I don’t know that area very well. They decamped en mass to Liverpool in the 1850s! The closest I’ve been to Peterhead is flying over on my way to Shetland. I tend to associate it with the oil industry. The good stuff is west (Cairngorms) and south - Stonehaven/Montrose/Dundee (where the Beano comes from).

If I had any desire to travel at all internationally, I'd visit the clan seat in Kintail.

 

[Tutara]

Peterhead isn't where I'd go for a nice holiday. It is badly rundown and deprived; the death of the oil industry up north hasn't really done it many favours. I assume you know people there, so they should be able to keep you right.

Edinburgh is a great time, but expensive. I like fancy beer so the Salt Horse is always a good shout, and if you're looking for RPG stuff Ancient Robot in Leith is great. Rose Street has some good pubs along it, I rate the Fierce Beer taproom the highest but they're all pretty decent. The Wee Vault by Haymarket does very strong sour beers and very strong sweet beers; if you like either of these it's worth a punt but it is indeed wee; there's maybe ten seats so book ahead.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I don't have a lot of experience as I just went there in September for my 50th for 7 days but I'll tell you what where we went. Myself and two friends rented a car and had a very loose schedule. We went mostly for the distilleries. We hit Doune castle just because we're huge Monty Python fans but, otherwise, we did brewery and distillery tours and just had an evening destination so we never felt rushed. Innus & Gunn is a favorite beer of mine so we stopped there for dinner one night in Glasgow.

If you're in the Speyside region and you like whiskey, visit Glendronach. We had a huge mix-up with our tour and they bent over backwards to accommodate us and we ended up with a private tour. I'd say it was the best tour we did - and we did 12 distilleries over 7 days.

We went to Islay and stayed at an amazing AirBnB (I'll get you a list of the places we stayed - they were all very nice - especially our stay on Islay) and paid for a driver for the day and visited several distilleries: Lagavulin (tour and tasting), bunnahabhain (tasting), Ardbeg (just for some drinks), Laphroaig (drinks), Caol Ila (drinks)...I think there was another one but now I forget. Probably because I drank too much.

We hit lots of local pubs in the evening and managed to find some trivia nights. In Oban, we went for seafood at EE-USK ( I forgot the name and just looked it up on google maps). I'm not sure if it's a touristy restaurant - a waiter at the Oban distillery recommended it and it was amazing, if you like seafood. My buddy lives on the East Coast of Canada and he was impressed.

Every day there was a highlight. I loved it. The one thing I missed is my AllTrails app kept pinging me everywhere I went. There seems to be lots of places to walk and hike. When I go back, that's what I want to do. Look into it if that's the kind of thing you like. The app is free and you can search for trails using it and then research them.

 

[Zaukrie]

Peterhead isn't where I'd go for a nice holiday. It is badly rundown and deprived; the death of the oil industry up north hasn't really done it many favours. I assume you know people there, so they should be able to keep you right.

Edinburgh is a great time, but expensive. I like fancy beer so the Salt Horse is always a good shout, and if you're looking for RPG stuff Ancient Robot in Leith is great. Rose Street has some good pubs along it, I rate the Fierce Beer taproom the highest but they're all pretty decent. The Wee Vault by Haymarket does very strong sour beers and very strong sweet beers; if you like either of these it's worth a punt but it is indeed wee; there's maybe ten seats so book ahead.

Thanks. . We're thinking of playing Cruden Bay, and the hike from there north comes highly recommended. That's the only reason peterhead is a possibility. But, I'd happily stay inland from there instead. It's also possible we don't play that course, in which case it's less likely we stay there.

 

[Zaukrie]

I don't have a lot of experience as I just went there in September for my 50th for 7 days but I'll tell you what where we went. Myself and two friends rented a car and had a very loose schedule. We went mostly for the distilleries. We hit Doune castle just because we're huge Monty Python fans but, otherwise, we did brewery and distillery tours and just had an evening destination so we never felt rushed. Innus & Gunn is a favorite beer of mine so we stopped there for dinner one night in Glasgow.

If you're in the Speyside region and you like whiskey, visit Glendronach. We had a huge mix-up with our tour and they bent over backwards to accommodate us and we ended up with a private tour. I'd say it was the best tour we did - and we did 12 distilleries over 7 days.

We went to Islay and stayed at an amazing AirBnB (I'll get you a list of the places we stayed - they were all very nice - especially our stay on Islay) and paid for a driver for the day and visited several distilleries: Lagavulin (tour and tasting), bunnahabhain (tasting), Ardbeg (just for some drinks), Laphroaig (drinks), Caol Ila (drinks)...I think there was another one but now I forget. Probably because I drank too much.

We hit lots of local pubs in the evening and managed to find some trivia nights. In Oban, we went for seafood at EE-USK ( I forgot the name and just looked it up on google maps). I'm not sure if it's a touristy restaurant - a waiter at the Oban distillery recommended it and it was amazing, if you like seafood. My buddy lives on the East Coast of Canada and he was impressed.

Every day there was a highlight. I loved it. The one thing I missed is my AllTrails app kept pinging me everywhere I went. There seems to be lots of places to walk and hike. When I go back, that's what I want to do. Look into it if that's the kind of thing you like. The app is free and you can search for trails using it and then research them.

Sounds like you had a great time. And, I'm using all trails to pick hikes already.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Thanks. . We're thinking of playing Cruden Bay, and the hike from there north comes highly recommended. That's the only reason peterhead is a possibility. But, I'd happily stay inland from there instead. It's also possible we don't play that course, in which case it's less likely we stay there.

We once stayed at Blairgowrie when I was a youngster. That was a pleasant town central to the region. We also stayed at a hotel near Nairn a couple of times, but that is closer to Inverness.

 

[Zaukrie]

We once stayed at Blairgowrie when I was a youngster. That was a pleasant town central to the region. We also stayed at a hotel near Nairn a couple of times, but that is closer to Inverness.

If I had more money we'd play Nairn!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If I had more money we'd play Nairn!

I'm not familiar with the cost to play golf courses. I grew up near (and still own a house near) Royal Lytham & St Annes, and got up to hijinks on the links when I was a kid.