Today is our last day with George as we transit from Elgin to Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire.
Our morning takes us along the North Sea coast and its quaint fishing coastal fishing villages. We drove through Cullen, Gardenstown, and Pennan. All at one time were quite prominent fishing centers but mostly just residences now. None had pubs or even a place to grocery shop. Pennan is famous as the film location for the movie ‘Local Hero’ (soundtrack by Mark Knopfler). The red phone booth which played a key role in the movie is still there!
We came across an odd structure along a single track that puzzled us and turned out to be a ‘doocot’ as they are known in Scotland or a ‘dovecoat’. Doocots are structures designed to house pigeons or doves. Incredibly, a local guy who played football at Pitt who was jogging down the road with the wife he brought back from Pennsylvania in a chaser car clued us in on the structure. Amazing!
We stopped for lunch at the Morris Hotel/Restaurant in the historic market town of Oldmeldrum, near Aberdeen. Close by is the Glean Garioch Distillery where we enjoyed a tour and tasting at Glen Garioch Distillery (pronounced Geery in the ancient Doric dialect still spoken in these parts). Garioch is one of the oldest operating distilleries in Scotland and has been making its small batch, single malt whiskies since 1797. Very well respected, Gariloch took a gold medal in 2021 for its 17-20 year old single malt. A new still was dedicated in 2021 by then Prince Charles.
George dropped us off in Stonehaven. a very small fishing village. RW Thomson, inventor of the pneumatic tire was from the village. We are staying at the Ship Inn directly on the harbor. After a few beers in the pub we did a small walkabout, then dined on excellent seafood at the ‘Tollhouse’ restaurant on the harbor.
