To reach Cairnbulg from Inverness, first continue through Elgin (with a hard G), cross the River Spey and then take the coast roads through Cullen and Banff towards Fraserburgh.  On a sunny afternoon, you’ll have a gorgeous view of the North Sea as it leads towards the Moray Firth.  Take time to stop in Cullen and taste one of the most popular menu dishes in Scotland “Cullen Skink“, a hearty soup of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions.   Once in Fraserburgh, exit to the south, and a few km down coast will be Cairnbulg, a village of several hundred souls.  It has a convenience store and – supposedly – a fish & chips shop, but I never figured out where it was.

We came to Cairnbulg to spend a few days caring for an elderly cat whose mistress wished to take a long weekend in the western Isles.  What a great house-sitting gig!  A cozy cottage smack up against the North Sea and a very easy-going kitty who loved nothing more than hanging out on the patio hunting wee beasties.  

On Saturday we drove west about 90 minutes to see what was out there.  Lots of smallish fields of barley waving their beards in the breeze as well as signs to a number of distilleries.  About 11:30 we came across what looked like a charming old distillery that was closed for maintenance.  We stopped at GlenDronach Distillery anyway and found them in their annual production shutdown which meant that we were able to inspect the nooks and crannies normally off-limits to tours.   Among other things, we learned that they had been making whisky for 50 years or so before getting their license in 1826.  They seemed quite proud that — of all the different whisky produced in the area — the locals seemed to prefer theirs.  All of the GlenDronach whiskeys are aged in sherry casks and it has become my new favorite Scotch. Check out this tasting map to see how the flavors change by production region…

A few more miles down the road is Dufftown, the malt whisky capital of the World (so they say).  Before this trip, I had thought that most Scotch whiskies were characterized by the flavor of peat smoked barley malt. But here in the Speyside region of Scotland, they don’t use much peat and the whiskies tend to be much sweeter in character.

Returning to Fraserburgh, we passed several stone circles – they are not hard to find in this area of Scotland.  Thought to be 3000-5000 years old, their purpose is still not clear.

Sunday, we took another drive and found ourselves walking about a splendid old arboretum near Old Deer.  There was a building nearby, indicating it had closed 10 minutes earlier and we missed out on our chance to learn more about the old Abbey and the “Book of Deer“.  We later learned that it is a 10th century Gospel.  The numerous margin notes are believed to be the oldest example of written Scottish Gaelic.  

Next post: We drive to Dundee …