A whiskey cos we’re off to a castle. * Sixtyexpress

Scotland

Suns out, let’s do a happy sunshine dance. Today is a beautiful sunny summer Scottish day. Light wind , 14 degrees, glorious. People are in T-shirt’s.

First stop Sligachan Bridge. There is only one road that goes to the west side of the Island and that is over the Sligachan Bridge. There appears to have been a bridge here for eons and guess what there is a legend concerning it.

Two warriors wanted to prove their strength and challenged each other. The daughter of one warrior wanted to stop the fight and was crying near the river. The faeries heard her and told her to bathe her face fully for seven seconds and she would have ‘eternal beauty”. This gave her the insight to go home and prepare a meal to entice the warriors to stop fighting. After 3 days the warriors came and ate and saw they were equal and became allies. Now did you go to the river and (on your hands and knees) put your face in for seven seconds? You are looking particularly beautiful.Me? No the others were hurrying me up so the bus could go.

Amazing how sunlight brings out the different shades of green.

Talisker distillery , next stop. I don’t know much about whiskey, but it is all made from Barley and water. The quality of these and of the oak barrels it is stored in, will give the whiskey it’s distinctive flavour. Talisker Whiskey is known for its smoky flavour gained from smoking the barley during the malting process with peat.

This is the process :

Fermenting after the mashing and malting the barley

Aging in oak barrels that have previously held bourbon or other spirits gives whiskey it’s subtle flavours

Now whiskey is not my preferred drink and I know it is not always yours but adding two drops of water certainly changed the flavour. Did you find it had less punch and you could taste more flavours?Perhaps we should experiment soon.

Come on Princess we are off to Dunvegan Castle. There are gardens to explore, rooms to visit and a Fairy tower. You used to only enter the castle by the sea.Don’t worry ,there is a front door and even a road now. The present Chief of the clan Macleod live here six months of the year so it’s not like a museum….though they are very neat and there were no dirty coffee mugs left on the table or bench.

The Fairy tower used to be separate but is now joined to the rest of the building. There are stories of the Chiefs baby son being comforted by fairies and wrapped in a special blanket.

Some believe the fairy flag may be this blanket and others that it came from the Holy Lands at the time of the crusades. It has been dated as 1075 years old. Tradition says it will protect who ever has a piece from evil or death. Soldiers took some in WW1 but it was realised if you keep cutting pieces off, there would soon be none left.WW2 soldiers just took photos of it. So here is a photo and if you are a Macleod, keep it with you to ward off evil. I’ll stand close to you so I’m covered too.