Day 6 – Inveraray – Doune – Edinburgh
We moved east-ward through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, as the roads definitely got wider and heavier on traffic. Our first stop was Doune Castle, the filming location of Winterfell in the pilot episode of GoT and used extensively in Outlander as well.
Doune is an incomplete, or probably damaged, castle; which was a significant stronghold in the medieval times. The original plans and layout of the castle show great significance of the kind of architecture planned to make this a massive royal castle, but only part of it was ever constructed. The castle was also used as a royal hunting lodge for a brief period of time before it witnessed military action during the Jacobite risings, leading to its eventual ruin.
The insides of the restored castle reflect the immaculate nature of the structure, with almost-modern sized bedrooms, separate ball rooms for dining guests and court rooms for official work. The Great Hall would have been overflowing with food and wine from the cellars underground, while huge rooms were a characteristic of medieval construction. No wonder it is used extensively as a filming location.
Doune and dusted, we headed to Edinburgh to check-in to the Scotch Whisky Experience on the Mile road. This is a tour-cum-exhibition of arguably the world’s largest collection of whiskies. The interactive ride through the process of making whisky takes you to the exhibited collection of 3384 unique and unopened bottled of whisky from around the world. This collection is the brainchild of Mr. Claive Vidiz, which began at a meagre 6 bottles and is now managed by the Diageo group.
Tours start at 16 GBP per person, while the Platinum Tour (priced at 75 GBP) includes 5 whisky tastings and a 3-course meal. Definitely an apt way to end the entire road trip on a ‘high’!
So that was our 6-day, 870-mile (1400 kms) Castle and Whisky trail through Scotland. Hope you enjoyed the tipsy tales on this journey.
Scotland has the best road trips to offer and we definitely won’t be stopping at one!!
Useful links – (Link to the Scotch Whisky Experience blog)