May 3, 2019 – Isle of Skye, Scotland
Today is a tender port. There is a chance that the ocean will be tough rough to allow tendering operations or that it will begin and then cancelled as was done at Easter Island.
UK customs demand a “face to face” with passport in hand for all guests on board. We were assigned to group 10 and this was to begin at 7 am.
Tendering tickets are scheduled to be handed out at 7 am also. I am always up early so we decided that I would check things out at 5:30 am. I did and 5 people were already in line. The pool area in the Lido was quite cold so I went and put on some warm clothes and sat and read the paper in line. Terri came up after breakfast opened and brought me breakfast. We sat together until 7 am and the line then began to move. The line was very long by this time. The 5 people in front of me were given tender tickets with the number 15. I received tender 16. This is an attempt to provide a sense of legitimacy. The tenders hold 150 people. Anyone who booked a HAL trip will be going on the first few tenders and need no tender ticket and they will call tender 15 first. We went back to the room and had to wait for group 10 to be called for the immigration process. When we were finally called the process went quickly. One officer checked the picture on the passport with the holder. We waited back in the room for the tender call. We finally got aboard about 8:45 am and took the 20 minute ride to the port.
Today we had no tour. We wanted to see the Talisker distillery and two castles. We hired a taxi and were off to the distillery. Don was our driver and he was born and raised on the island. We arrived at the distillery shorty after they opened at 9:30. Next tour was at 11:30 so we purchased tickets and got back in the taxi. Off to Dunvegan Castle.
Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland. The ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for 800 years.
We have been through castles before but never did one have furnishings in it from more modern times. We spent some time visiting here and then went back to the distillery.
Our guide took us through the process of making scotch. Not much of a mystery. Barley, water, yeast. 72 hours of fermentation and then distillation. The barley is soaked in water and allowed to germinate. This is the malting process. This opens up the barley. It is dried by using heat from burning peat. This may impart some flavor onto the barley. The barley is crushed, strained to give a 60% grain, 20% husk, and 10% flour mixture. Using straight barley would produce dough. The mixture has yeast and water added to it and then is put in vats for the 72 fermentation process.
After distillation the mixture would be high in alcohol and absent of flavor. The aging and flavoring process takes care of this. The small barrels are actually previously used bourbon barrels from the USA. Federal law states only one use per barrel in the US. No such law in Scotland. The larger barrels were previous used for port wine in Spain. These barrels give the Scotch a darker color. There is Scotch that is aged, and Scotch that is flavored. This where the different distilleries give the unique flavor of their product.
We did a sampling after the tour. I prefer bourbon from Kentucky and the tasting did little for me. Terri enjoyed it. Nothing we can’t get at home. We went back to our taxi and Don took us to Eilean Donan Castle. Along the way we took some photos.
This castle made an appearance in many films. James Bond drove his Aston Martin in the film the World is Not Enough and it was also featured in Skyfall.
We enjoyed our visit to this castle and had Don take us back to town. We did manage to get something to eat and drink in Portree but most of the pubs were not open yet. We got on the tender about 4:30 and went back to the ship.
We spent the evening watching the movie The Bucket List. Two terminally ill men decide to create at list of things to see and do and complete it before they “kick the bucket”. Many of the things they saw have already been checked off on our list!…