2023 England and Scotland - Day #23 - to St. Andrews

A very long travel day.

We had breakfast at the lodge. Sharon had scambled eggs and sausage, while I had scambled eggs and salmon.

It was a 30 mile, 40 minute drive from the Loch Ness Lodge to the Tomatin Distillery. Tom had a nightcap of their scotch whisky the first night that we were at the lodge. I decided that we needed to tour at least one distillery.

We had a very nice tour followed by a tasting. As the driver, I took my tasting home in little bottles.


From there, we drove to Pitlochry. It was 71 mile, 1 hour and 20 minute drive. We had a nice lunch at the Old Mill. I had a Peppered Pastrami Sandwich [peppered pastrami, sauerkraut, dill pickles, mustard mayonnaise & charred rye bread], while Sharon had Beer Battered Buckie Haddock [french fries, minted mushy peas & tartare sauce].

After lunch, we continued southeast. The last section turned out to be a much more difficult drive than I expected. It was only 60 miles, but it took more than two hours. At one point, we ran into a road that was closed due to a poice action. About half of the drive was along narrow country roads and through villages. Several of the roads were essentially one lane. In the little villages, cars were parked everywhere blocking the street and clogging traffic. Dodging cars, trucks and buses, I felt like I was in a video game.

We finally got to the Kilconquhar Castle Estate about 4:30 pm. I was beat. Unfortunately, I was also shocked at the room. We ended up with what I would describe as a motel 6 hotel room. This will definitely be the worst lodging of the trip. fortunately, we are only here one night.

After settling in the room and getting cleaned up, we headed to St. Andrews for dinner. It is about a 25 minute drive. Sharon had made an 8:30 pm dinner reservation at the 18 at Rusacks at St. Andrews. On the fourth floor, we had a great view of the 18th fairway and the golf course at St. Andrews.

Sharon had ROBATA GRILLED RABBIT LOIN [AIR DRIED HAM, BARIGOULE & BASIL] as a starter, while I had NATURAL CUMBRAE ROCK [CLASSIC LEMON, MIGNONETTE & TABASCO]. We both SCRABSTER HALIBUT [CAULIFLOWERS, MORELS & CLAMS] as mains. After two medicore nights of food, the meal was good.

By the time we drove 25 minutes back to the hotel and crashed, it was 11:30 pm.