Water, wildlife and wonders... a road trip around Scotland COMPLETED 11/6 - Page 62 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I think I like your food better than Mark's but then I don't like lamb. The ice cream looks good. We went to the zoo about a week ago and had ice cream for our lunch. As you can see, we like our ice cream.
Ice cream for lunch? Sounds perfectly normal to me!
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The pictures of the ruined castle are beautiful. It must have been an amazing place when it was whole.
Liz
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We set off for our hotel for the night, and the scenery was once again Ok, but as Mark said, nowhere near as breath taking as on the west coast with all its mountains and lochs…
As we came to this roundabout, this guy was obviously looking out for me!
We had a bit of a battle to find our hotel, as both the GPS and Google Maps got a bit lost on the way, but thankfully there were some signs from the hotel, and finally we made it…
I must admit from the outside I wasn’t 100% sure about it. Would it be Ok? I thought it was supposed to be something quite dramatic. Well, it was when we went in!
We were very pleased when we were shown to our room!
We went for a wander outside, and they have some beautiful gardens…
I was trying to get some photos of these bees for ages!
Well it only took me a week, but I’m now caught back up! And I should’ve been keeping notes as I read, because I’m sure I’ve forgotten 90% of what I was going to comment on.
First, those red squirrels are lovely! The red is the same color red as our beloved Cavalier had been - my favorite!
Whiskey - I didn’t think I liked it at all either, until I tried two different mixed drinks with whiskey. One was a martini and the other a cocktail, and both were delicious. So much so that I need to buy a bottle of whiskey for my liquor cabinet.
But the part about no cameras for fear of explosions?! What in the world?!
The castle you stayed at was amazing! And so is today’s place! WOW! I think it would feel like stepping back in time to stay there, and make me feel as though I was hobknobbing with the royals!
Loved the pictures of Aberdeen - especially the one with the ferry in it. We’re currently watching the show Shetland, and there’s been a series of episodes dealing with the ferry from Aberdeen to the Shetland Islands!
I’m sure there’s been more I’d thought to comment on, but that’s what happens when it takes me so long to catch back up!
Wow, looks like another great choice to stay in for the night. Beautiful views from the garden. And cows and coos!!!! Doesn't get much better than that.
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Well it only took me a week, but I’m now caught back up! And I should’ve been keeping notes as I read, because I’m sure I’ve forgotten 90% of what I was going to comment on.
Oh I'm like that whenever I've been away on vacation. I'm always like "there was loads I wanted to comment on - what was it again?"
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First, those red squirrels are lovely! The red is the same color red as our beloved Cavalier had been - my favorite!
They were so beautiful.
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Whiskey - I didn’t think I liked it at all either, until I tried two different mixed drinks with whiskey. One was a martini and the other a cocktail, and both were delicious. So much so that I need to buy a bottle of whiskey for my liquor cabinet.
Interesting... I may have to try that.
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But the part about no cameras for fear of explosions?! What in the world?!
I know... they took it very seriously!
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The castle you stayed at was amazing! And so is today’s place! WOW! I think it would feel like stepping back in time to stay there, and make me feel as though I was hobknobbing with the royals!
They were definite highlights of our trip.
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Loved the pictures of Aberdeen - especially the one with the ferry in it. We’re currently watching the show Shetland, and there’s been a series of episodes dealing with the ferry from Aberdeen to the Shetland Islands!
Oh that's really good. Is that the one that starts with the death on the ferry? If so, it is very harrowing in places...
Wow, looks like another great choice to stay in for the night. Beautiful views from the garden. And cows and coos!!!! Doesn't get much better than that.
Oh that's really good. Is that the one that starts with the death on the ferry? If so, it is very harrowing in places...
Not quite ON the ferry, but I’m sure we’re talking about the same thing. We really like the show. It’s on Netflix for those who may be interested. Season 3 is the one with the ferry related story. We watch as we like the story lines, and actors, but also because the scenery is always breathtaking! Our friends were just in the Shetland Islands, and actually stayed at the lighthouse featured in one of the episodes!
Not quite ON the ferry, but I’m sure we’re talking about the same thing.
Yes, that's right - he disappeared on the ferry, didn't he? You know what - with that season, there was so much more than happened after that, I almost can't remember how it started.
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We really like the show. It’s on Netflix for those who may be interested. Season 3 is the one with the ferry related story. We watch as we like the story lines, and actors, but also because the scenery is always breathtaking! Our friends were just in the Shetland Islands, and actually stayed at the lighthouse featured in one of the episodes!
Oh wow! That is so neat! We were hoping to add Shetland into this trip and we would've flown from Aberdeen, but in the end, it was just a bit too much to try and include it...
Tuesday 20 June – part eight: look at the presentation of that!
We had some downtime in the room, then we headed down just before 7:00pm, and found Mari and Raleigh in the lobby area. We were greeted very quickly by our server, who really was a complete gem. She couldn’t have done anymore for us, as will become apparent a bit later on…
She first took our drinks order, and then our food order. We had our drinks delivered to the lobby, then when they were ready for us, our server took all our drinks through on a tray – already very good service.
For appetiser, I had the sweet melon and mango cocktail with glavca and passion fruit sorbet, and I cannot begin to tell you how good this was. You could easily have served this up for dessert, and I’d have been happy. I polished it off in record time, and it’s one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time.
Mark had the fine oak smoked salmon with lemon, caper berries, brown bread and butter, and look at how much turned up – about as much as I had on my sharing platter earlier!
For entrée, I went for the grilled sea bass with lemon parsley butter served with seasonal vegetables and potatoes. Now I cannot fault the sea bass, it was beautiful, and the ratatouille was excellent. However, there was just way too much potato on this dish, and I couldn’t eat it all.
Mark had the thickly sliced Aberdeen Angus beef fillet with a creamy brandy and mushroom sauce. He really liked it, but Aberdeen Angus cows tend to have the last laugh with him, shall we say, so it remains to be seen how he gets on…
We were served up a choice of carrots, broccoli, and fennel, but I thought the fennel were leeks. Our server asked if I wanted leeks, and I hesitated before saying as I thought that was too much to ask. The next I knew, this had appeared!
And oh my goodness, it was really good too!
Surprise, surprise – Mark had the sticky toffee pudding served with a warm butterscotch sauce and Chantilly cream. He told us he wasn’t going to go for it, but then changed his mind. I think he’s had it every time he’s been on the menu, and that’s been a lot this trip.
I had the selection of ice cream, and wow, what a selection they had! The server reeled them off, and there must’ve been 10 options for ice cream and about six more for sorbet. In the end, I went for coconut, mint chop chip and amaretto, and look at what arrived!
I was seriously blown away by the presentation of this dish. They could easily have just plonked it on a plate and left it at that, but they didn’t, and full credit to them for making it look so wonderfully stylish.
We had the restaurant to ourselves to begin with, but then others came in. We had a guy on his own, two guys, and then a couple. We knew from talking to the person I assume is the owner that they had seven people, in total, staying tonight, and that included us, so I can only assume either the couple or the two guys were just visiting for dinner, and that doesn’t surprise me, given the amazing quality of food we were served up, and in the most wonderful and attentive of atmospheres. This really had lived up to the beautiful surroundings it’s located in.
Lands of Loyal
Appetiser 10 9
Entrée 9 10
Dessert 9½ 9½
Service 10 10
Atmosphere 9 9½
Value for money 9½ 9
Average score: 9.50
Bellies very full we staggered our ways back up to our rooms…
The weather today was dry with some sun and some cloud and temperatures in the mid 60s. The best thing today was our amazing hotel. : D The worst thing today was that the scenery wasn’t as spectacular as earlier on in our road trip… Today we tried visiting Aberdeen And the result was we were more impressed with it than we thought we would be when we first arrived. The most magical moment today was seeing another red squirrel.
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How cool to see the castle that inspired Brave! 
You could easily have served this up for dessert, and I’d have been happy. I polished it off in record time, and it’s one of the best dishes I’ve had in a long time. 
as I thought that was too much to ask. The next I knew, this had appeared! 
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