FOUR TO THE FORE IN FORGANDENNY
Day 1 Sunday 20th February 2022
Once more we were heading down the A9 towards Forgandenny. Sharon's sister and her husband were off to Gran Canaria and we were off to look after their house and the blind dog, Blue for a week.
So, it really was like a bit of a holiday for us. You can see that it started well with some typical holiday weather as we headed for Drumochter Pass.
Shortly after we arrived at Sandra and Chris's, we were round to the village hall to see everybody for an early birthday bash for Rory, who was going to be three later in the week.
Before that really got underway or out of hand, Sharon got the chance to hold the youngest member of the family, 7 month old, Andrew.
She did let him go eventually.
There was a bouncy castle for the children. In fact you can see Rory, terrified and cowering in the corner as his mother, grandmother and great aunt made fools of themselves, when they really should have known better.
As you might expect, it all ended in a fairly undignified manner. Sandra had clearly been given a fright by the elephant!
Here are Sharon's nieces with their respective husbands and baby Andrew with his uncle Lindsay.
Andrew's mum and dad, Jill and Ryan. There does seem to be an unwritten rule that Ryan is never very far from a can of cider.
Sandra and Chris, proud grandparents with Andrew, who it has to be said, cried when Chris got close, but smiled and laughed when it was me. Clearly, a boy with some discernment.
By now, Georgia was showing some signs of having eaten one too many sweeties, which led her to be a little possessed of boundless energy and no volume control!
I was slowly losing my mind.
Karyn and Lindsay seemed to find that amusing.
Jill and Alasdair were, of course, as demure and as quiet as you could possibly wish for.
The birthday boy was overawed and had decided that the safest option was to pretend he was back to his youth and everything would be alright once the daft old people left.
Like all good things, and this, it came to an end. Everybody went home. We walked round the corner to Sandra and Chris's, where we managed a very nice steak pie dinner and a couple of drinks with them and Chris's brother in law, Mike.
Before too long it was time to go to bed as Sandra and Chris had to get up at some unearthly hour to get to the airport before flying off to the sun and leaving us all behind.
Day 2 Monday 21st February 2022
Monday was a bright day, but very cold in the wind. Sandra and Chris had left without disturbing us, or Mike, too much. Once Blue had been walked and all three of us had been fed, Mike set off for home. We were not too far behind him, albeit we didn't go home.
We are having all sorts of improvements made to the garden, so Sharon was on a mission to find exactly the right water feature. We stopped off at the Linden Garden Centre in Glencarse. They may have part of what we want, but we didn't buy it. Apparently, there are some other things to sort out before we can make that commitment. We did manage to get a flower holder with a spike and a nice artificial sprig of blossom for Sharon's father's grave. It appears that a headstone is held up by Brexit/Covid/Supply issues - take your pick.
Next stop was Pitkerro Road Cemetery to put this in place. Job done in the sunshine, but the there is every chance that it is gone with the wind by now. The cemetery has great views, but is a bit on the exposed side.
Time to do something nice.
We set off across the Tay Road Bridge to Fife and, specifically, to Newport, where Lindsay had assured us there was a great bakery. A nice salad or sandwich for a picnic was just what we were looking for.
Here we are crossing the Silvery Tay.
It didn't take long to find the bakery.
What an outstanding array of goodies they had.
I still regret not buying the steak and black pudding sausage roll!
The black garlic and rosemary sourdough was just to big for our needs this week. Another time for sure.
Cakes, on the other hand.....
We were really looking for a picnic. I was smitten by what turned out to be the best bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich I've had for a very long time.
Next we had to find somewhere with a view.
This was it - Wormit Bay. Sounds like a veterinary procedure, but it was a great place to sit in the warmth of the car and watch the river.
It even had a great view of the railway bridge.
This is, of course, the second railway bridge here. The first was built in 1878. The engineer was knighted in June 1879, soon after Queen Victoria had passed over it by train. It collapsed in December 1879 during a violent storm. There was an inquiry and the design was held to be insufficient in terms of wind loadings. There were no survivors and the true number of deaths is unknown, but could have been as many as 70.
A "new" bridge was built and opened in 1887. Remarkably the engine involved in the collapse was recovered and refurbished and remained in service until 1919! In the way of these things it was nicknamed The Diver!
Sharon had a Thai curried chickpea sandwich. She said it was delicious. However, as you might expect, keeping chickpeas in a sandwich is a bit of a challenge. We may be picking them off the car floor for years to come!
However, we can't stay still for long, so we carried on along the coast, heading west and following the Tay upstream. Our next destination was Balmerino. We had to stop to wait for the mobile library to finish dispensing books before we could continue on the very narrow roads we were travelling on - just like being at home! No rush, but we didn't care.
Not only was there a mobile library, but there was a pile of book inside a disused red telephone box. There was also a defibrillator - presumably in case some of the books were a little on the racy side.
We reached our destination - Balmerino Abbey. This was founded in 1229 by Cistercian monks who had travelled from Kelso. The Abbey was endowed by Queen Ermengarde, who, tradition claims, planted a chestnut tree, which still grows in the grounds. She was also buried at the Abbey. She was a bit of an interesting person and, to be frank, someone I had never heard of. She was chosen for King William to be his bride by Henry II, the English king and overlord of Scotland at the time. William thought Ermengarde, the daughter of a French noble, to be beneath his status. As an aside, Ermengarde's mother was one of 25 known illegitimate children of King Henry I! Once they were married, William and Ermengarde seem to have become close and Eremengarde is thought to have been a bit of a power behind William, who was older and, in later life, in poor health. It is thought that Ermengarde renegotiated various treaties with the English to secure the removal of the overlordship and the ultimate succession of her son Alexander as William's heir. Despite her involvement in affairs of state, very little is actually known of her life. When William died she continued a close association with the Abbey here and she lived for a good 20 years after William died.
Here is the tree reputedly planted by Ermengarde in 1229. It is a sweet chestnut in fact and a bit of a chestnut in truth. The National Trust for Scotland owns the site and they had bored the tree in 1988. It was found to be between 400 and 435 years old at that time, not quite the 800 years of age it would have been if planted in 1229.
There was a very short nature walk around the grounds and here is Sharon among the Celandines, blooming away so early in the year.
Back on the road west, we got some great views of the Tay.
Soon, we were back at Forgandenny and it was time for tea. We had, of course, not left the bakers without a little box.
What could be inside?
Cakes, of course!
A kind of take on a chocolate Bourbon biscuit for me. A choux pastry ring filled with hazelnut praline for Sharon. Probably a bit sweet, but irresistible.
After that bit of indulgence, it was time to walk it off with Blue.
Then the sun went down on a pretty good day.
Day 3 Tuesday 22nd February 2022
Tuesday was another fine day. We had decided to go into Perth for a look around. Once Blue had had his morning constitutional, we headed into the city, parked the car and walked along the river in the sunshine. We had half a mind to find a nice bakery to buy a pudding for guests we were expecting on Wednesday.
Before we did that, we found a nice deli, which was a bit like an Aladdin's cave of good things to eat and drink.
We didn't go completely mad. I bought some nice Italian sausages, because they are really difficult to get hold of at home. We also got some truffle crisps. We have had these before and they are ridiculously expensive for crisps, but they are astonishingly good. Buy some - they might cost about a fiver for a bag, but you will not be disappointed.
The deli was more or less opposite the Italian artisan bakers we were looking for. We bought some nice pistachio and ricotta cake for tomorrow as well as some freshly baked ciabatta.
We did a bit more shopping and then went back to the baker to get our stuff. We decided to stay for lunch. Sharon had soup and bread and I had a delightful toasted sandwich filled with cheese and porchetta, which they roast in their big bakery. For a toastie it was a joy.
Then it was back home for a quite afternoon of domestic bliss.
Day4 - Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Today was a bit grim weather-wise. Cold, grey and wet.
We started with a walk with Blue. You can see it wasn't quite the best day for a walk in the country.
I even had my umbrella to point the way forward.
We didn't hang about and got back home as soon as we could.
We had things to do. Susan and Robin were coming to stay with us for a few days. Time for us to get the first of a number of meals ready!
We had spinach and ricotta ravioli with a fresh tomato, pepper and garlic sauce. We had bought the ravioli, but I had made the sauce. It went down very well with a cold glass of Garda Frizzante!
Nobody was driving anywhere, even though it had actually stopped raining.
The entertainment for the day was another walk with Blue!
We had a quiet evening in front of the roaring fire after our dinner of fish pie and key lime pie, all made by Susan and Robin.
Another quiet day, but that would all change tomorrow!
Day5 - Thursday 24th February 2022
As is my wont, I had a peek out of the bedroom window to check on the weather while Sharon made me a cup of tea and fed the dog.
Excellent, lots of snow - more holiday weather!
It was the same out of the sun room window! There's a misnomer for today.
It didn't stop Sharon and Susan taking Blue out for his morning walk, though.
We had a plan, so, undaunted, we cleared the car under blue skies and set off. The weather was getting warmer and the snow was disappearing.
Our goal was to get to Lindores distillery for lunch and a tour for Robin and me. We had a bit of time to spare, so we took a fairly meandering route to get there, but get there we did.
We had preordered a sharing platter for the the four of us and sat in the comfy bar area and thoroughly enjoyed our lunch.
We had arrived in plenty of time, so managed to have a look around the exhibition before Robin and I embarked on the tour.
The distillery sits next to and, indeed, inside the remains of the Abbey, which was founded in 1191.This was one of many abbeys founded at that time. Lindores was occupied by monks who had originated in France. Unlike today, the site was very famous and visited by the great and the good over the centuries and by us today.
The monks traded all over Europe as well as establishing a wide variety of businesses such as beekeeping, brewing and distilling. they planted huge orchards (thought to be the largest in Scotland) around the abbey and over the centuries amassed considerable wealth.
It was, of course, this wealth and the associated power of the monasteries were partially behind the Reformation in Scotland and the abbey was dissolved and destroyed under the instruction of John Knox in 1560. The abbey became a stone quarry for locals and some of the remains of the original stonework can still be seen in houses in Newburgh.
Whilst the monks were involved in distilling, it is the existence of written and archaeological evidence to that effect that gives Lindores a unique selling point in whisky lore.
There was a record of one of the monks being paid in 1494 to produce whisky from 8 bolls of malt for James IV. this is the earliest known reference to whisky production, although it likely took place long before that date. During works to build the distillery, archaeologists found the remains of a distilling kiln.
It was this history that convinced the local landowner and farmer to build a new distillery at the site. Hence, Lindores has laid claim to be the spiritual home of whisky in Scotland.
The tour was similar to other whisky tours - mainly because whisky is made in a traditional and proscribed way. This is one of the washbacks at Lindores and it is here that the alcohol is first made. Previous steps on the process don't involve alcohol.
The washbacks don't look that big, but they are, in fact, very tall going below this floor level to the floor below. They are made of wood imported from America and they required the roof to be removed when they were installed.
The actual distilling of the spirit takes place in copper stills and these ones have a fabulous view out of the window into the remains of the abbey.
Like many distilleries, Lindores does not bottle its own whisky, nor does it store whisky for bottling on site. This is all done near Glasgow. However, it does store casks of whisky belonging to investors and there were quite a few just lying about appreciating in value in the peace and quiet. You can buy a cask from £1100 to £10000, depending on size. Seems reasonable, but you have to pay warehousing charges, tax and bottling fees on top of that. I suppose you could drown your sorrows if your investment was not realised. I don't believe that Sharon would consider that a risk worth taking.
On the way round the tour we passed a remnant of a pillar from the abbey. The fluted column was the inspiration for the bottles used by the distillery.
The distillery is very young, first distilling spirit in 2017, 500 years after the monks made some for King James IV! Whisky has to be 3 years in the barrel before it can be called whisky. In that 3 years, Lindores made and sold Aqua Vitae and now, of course, they can sell whisky as well. We were given a taste of both, which we enjoyed. So much so, that we each bought a bottle of the whisky. Sharon and Susan were given a taste of the Aqua Vitae, which was nice as they hadn't been on the tour, but had spent the afternoon, drinking coffee and blethering in the bar.
That was the tour over. We had had a great time and set off for home to get Blue out and to start getting ready for something else to eat!
Walking out to the cars gave us a view of the Newburgh Bear. This huge bear and a tree trunk were ploughed by a local farmer in 1980 as part of a local community project. The ploughman was given instructions by someone at the bottom of the hill using a CB radio! The photo is not great, but the bear and the tree, or ragged staff, relate to the Earls of Warwick. The first abbot at Lindores was a brother of that family. The origin of the bear allegedly goes back to Arthur and the Round Table. Subsequently it became associated with the Warwicks and one of the family is reputed to have killed an angry bear using a tree that he had uprooted with his bare hands. Whatever the truth of this, it is pretty impressive.
For dinner, I had made a harissa spiced chicken on a chickpea puree with asparagus and flatbreads, followed by a very nice ricotta and pistachio cake that we had bought at the Italian bakery in Perth a couple of days before. The cake was delicious. We all slept well
Day 6 Friday 25th February 2022
As forecast, it was a clear, blue, frosty day on Friday, which perfectly fitted our plans for the day. This was the view from our bedroom window first thing, or at least as near to first thing as I get at my age.
A bit of frost didn't stop Blue getting out for his walk, though.
Once that was done and we had all eaten our scrambled egg and mushrooms we were on the road again. Our first objective was to have a good walk around at Loch Leven.We parked up and headed down towards the loch. The first thing you see is this rather magnificent looking sluice house.
In the 18th Century, the river Leven was one of the most intensively used rivers in Scotland to power mills. In 1810, it was thought that the loch could be safely lowered by about 2.5 feet to reclaim 500 acres of land and still provide water to power the 40 mills between the loch and the sea. The project would also involve canalising the river. In 1827 an Act of Parliament allowed for the lowering of the loch by 4.5 feet along with the associated works. Work started in 1828 and was completed in 1830, with water flowing from the loch on Christmas Day through the sluices and into the new canal of 4 miles in length which replaced the winding river. The work to excavate the canal was carried out by hand by Irish navvies for the sum of 3 pennies and three farthings per cubic yard. Effectively engineers had created a new reservoir providing a secure supply of 5000 cubic feet of water every minute to the downstream mills.
On a more bucolic note, we spotted this ewe and lamb in the frozen field near the track. There was considerable debate as to whether the lamb was alive. It moved and so we deduced it was. That merely moved the debate on to whether it would survive. Eventually we decided it would and carried on our way.
After reaching such a momentous conclusion, it was only right that we had a suitably atmospheric photo as we crossed over the 32 foot wide canal.
Here is the canal.
We stopped off at a bird hide for a look at very few birds, it has to be said.
Further round we caught sight of a couple of mute swans on the loch.
Then there were also a couple of silver foxes in the woods.
The lamb was fine in the weak sunshine.
We stopped off on the shores of the loch for a wee look.
It was cold, but it was a lovely day.
However nice it might be, it was getting on for lunch time, so back to the car for the short driver to Loch Leven's Larder. We had a little wait for a lunch table, which just gave us all an opportunity to walk round the gifts and the food hall. I did buy one or two little things for our own larder before lunch.
I was a little conservative and had a chicken sandwich, but I would say that it was the mustard mayo and the optional, not optional side of fries that really sold it to me! Sharon had roasted cauliflower, kale almonds and sweet balsamic dressing along with a disproportionate portion of my fries. Robin had a ham hough shredded into a flavoured broth and Susan had smoked haddock quiche, that turned out to be ham hough as well. She was still very happy with that, but the haddock was becoming an issue for her. Robin had been sent to get fish pie mix from our local fish van - no smoked haddock included, and, now, this lack of haddock.
Satisfied, we went back to Forgandenny and took Blue for his walk before we lit the fire early and had some fizz prior to going out to Perth for a very nice dinner in early celebration of the girls' 65th birthdays. Our restaurant of choice was 63 Tay Street and what an inspired choice it turned out to be.
There is only a surprise tasting menu and we decided to take the accompanying flight of wines as well. The wine waiter was pretty good value. He described the wines at the start of each course and did not give too much away about the food until it was delivered to the table.
First course was a dashi broth, with pickled mooli, shitake mushrooms and Oban scallops. it was really very tasty and went well with the American Riesling. A great start.
Second course was a shredded portion of Scotch Hogget rolled in a crisp coating and served with a set parmesan custard, samphire and a green olive puree. Fantastic with the Australian Shiraz. I have to make a set parmesan custard sometime soon.
At last Susan got her smoked haddock, which came in the form of a triangular pastilla and served on top of beetroot and leaves with a smoked pepper sauce. It was served with a French Sauvignon Blanc/Colombard wine. It was all very good.
The next course was a breast of wood pigeon with a haggis made from the leg and offal, along with roasted shallot, celeriac, kale and a miso yoghurt. That came with a nice drop of Montepulciano. It was all rather splendid.
Our pudding was olive cake, a shio koji fermented blood orange ice cream and a spiced milk chocolate mousse. The dessert wine was a French Pinot Gris/pinot Blanc, which was rather moreish.
A truly excellent meal which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We'll be going back there again, I think.
Home, for a night cap and then bed.
Day 7 Saturday 26th February 2022
Susan and Robin left after a leisurely breakfast of bacon rolls. They were going to visit Robin's mother before going home, so they would be pretty late on the road.
We spent the day doing some tidying up and then catching up on various things. Sharon did some sewing. In essence, we had a pretty quiet day and there are no photos of us sitting slumped in a chair in the sun room.
Day 8 Sunday 27th February 2022
Another fine day and we were up reasonably early to take Blue for our last walk together for a while. No real hardship given the weather, although it was pretty cold.
We passed some new growth, which looks like wild garlic. It has a bit of a way to grow yet, but perhaps when we are next down, I should pick a pile and make some wild garlic pesto, which I should be able to freeze. I would, of course, avoid anywhere that Blue might have used beforehand, though.
Sharon striding into the morning sun.
It really was a fine morning, almost too good for us to go home, but go we must.
The good weather stuck with us - here we are passing over Loch Faskally at Pitlochry.
Heading for the snow covered hills.
In fact, the snow was close as we came over Drumochter, but the sky was still blue.
It was still blue as we came down Drumossie Brae and home. We really had a great break away to a part of the country that we should get to know better. The dinner at 63 will live long in the memory as well.
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