Had some fun

stig · Post by **stig** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:49 am

Just had to share my experience from yesterday.

Wonderful autumnal day on one of the best roads anywhere.

Aberdeen...Banchory....Ballater....Tomintoul......Grantown-on-Spey and return to Aberdeen.

182 miles round trip testing the full capabilities of my Celeb.

My wife must have been impressed with my driving as she refused to have a go!!

What a drive.....magical on this deserted road, no justification statement other than lunch in JJ's cafe in Grantown !! Pure indulgence.

Car performed faultlessly..... 11.8 mpg uphill in third out of Brige-of-Brown is a bit scary but compensation came with 99.9 mpg on the downslopes after the Lecht Ski Centre !! Swings and roundabout eh ?

Stepped out fresh as a daisy with a large grin on my face and a little tap on the bonnet to aknowledge the wee beasties efforts !

Apologies to Kinker as it was rather late to drop in when we came back through Banchory.

Cheers

Stig (Still smiling)

eEm · Post by **eEm** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:00 pm

Fantastic!

Can't think of a better reason to own a car.

Vegetan · Post by **Vegetan** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:19 pm

Great

I'd like to have such a trip

OAPin480 · Post by **OAPin480** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:02 pm

After reading your post, I closed my eyes & imagined the fresh clean air, the beautiful scenery, the gorgeous colours in the trees...

How I wish I were there!

My first visit to Scotland was in autumn and I was hooked.

esta · Post by **esta** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:06 pm

I have never driven (or even been actually...) to Scotland, but if I compare it to the sort of routes I have enjoyed around Devon (especially the coastal parts) and the route I took to my rallying day in the middle of Wales it was fantastic...bet you had a fab time!

stig · Post by **stig** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:10 pm

Open invitation guys.....come up and I'll show you this secret road.....then I'll have to kill you !!!

Cheers

Stig

The Xile · Post by **The Xile** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:55 pm

My celeb's done a fair few miles in Scotland. My favourite scenic country, patricularly the west. Two 800 mile round trips to Oban to name a few.
Tomintoul eh ? Nice whisky . . . Maybe a 480 distillary tour could be your next beautiful journey.

stig · Post by **stig** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:56 pm

Nice one Xile....passed a few distilleries on Wednesday.
The whisky trail starts just north of Aberdeen.

Cheers
Stig

Captain Crunch · Post by **Captain Crunch** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:41 pm

I see a slight problem here:
If the whisky trail starts at Aberdeen and if you plan to go on a tour, who will do the driving with all that Single Highland Malt vatted in the region

I love driving my car, but if I ever start on that trail, I think I'll leave my drivers license at home

stig · Post by **stig** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:00 pm

Aye yer right capt'n crunch......this is precisely why I "passed" a few distilleries on Wednesday.

Oh all right then.....I'll drive !! Get yourself up here.

Cheers

Stig

stig · Post by **stig** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:16 pm

You have a PM capt'n crunch.

Cheers

Stig

piper1st · Post by **piper1st** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:11 am

stig wrote:come up and I'll show you this secret road.....then I'll have to kill you !!

haha, being a shire lad myself, i've done this road a good few times. The top of the lecht is my favourite bit, you'd wanna watch out for the stray sheep tho!

stig · Post by **stig** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:35 pm

Secret's out !!!........yeh, watch out for sheep on the road.

One particular sheep decided to lick the white paint off the road marking just as I approached.......can't think what else was so interesting about the centre line.

Trouble is that there is no way of predicting which way they will turn as you approach (usually the opposite from your thoughts !! ).

If anyone can guide me through posting images, I can show you my car on the road........might even qualify for the calendar if I hurry.

Cheers

Stig

piper1st · Post by **piper1st** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:27 pm

stig wrote: Trouble is that there is no way of predicting which way they will turn as you approach (usually the opposite from your thoughts !! ).

too true, and you never know what corner the middle of the road sheep are hiding behind.

You need to upload your photo's onto the internet. You can do this a couple of ways, the easiest is by setting up an account with a image hosting website (such as photobucket). If you up-load photo's anywhere else on the internet, maybe online photo developing or social networking sites, if the permissions are set up right, you might be able to paste links from there. Once the picture is on the internet somewhere, you paste a link to the photo you have up-loaded into your post and hey presto.

(i hope that helps)

stig · Post by **stig** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:36 pm

Thanks Piper1st,

I'll give it a go.

Cheers

Stig

Captain Crunch · Post by **Captain Crunch** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:30 am

@Stig: Thanks for the invitation

Mind You, I might take You up on that

Jokes aside, my daughter visited Scotland some years ago and she really enjoyed her stay in Your country. She even found a white whisky that she brought home to her father. I had heard the there was such a whisky in Scotland, but I didn't know if it was commonly found in the stores. My daughter at last found one in a store in Edinburgh. The funny part of it was that on the bottle it was recommended to serve it well chilled, like a Chardonnay

It was quite good, but I still prefer my malt to be room tempered.

Now many of You might think that writing about malt whisky in a car forum is not quite appropriate

But as long as one doesn't mix up the fuels and connect the fuel pump to the bottle, that shouldn't mean any conflict law-wise.

If the forum admins don't oppose, why not have a poll of the best malts of Scotland (and Ireland)

To Your health

stig · Post by **stig** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:30 pm

Come over any time you like .......are you sure the White Whisky wasn't Vodka !!!! Still can't work out the Smileys....what a twit.

Never heard of white whisky but now I will have to investigate.

Cheers

Stig

Captain Crunch · Post by **Captain Crunch** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:25 pm

The bottle reads: (empty since long, alas!)
JB, Justerini & Brooks
St. James's Street, London
A Unique Scotch Whisky .......
-6Ã‚Â° Chill Filtered
Guess I misread that part as 'serve chilled', but it was quite nice when chilled

It's a blended whisky and a couple of years ago anyhow, it could be found in a shop in Edinburgh.
Apart from whisky, they sold gifts and souvenirs.

stig · Post by **stig** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:08 am

Ah Ha.......found it !!

I had never heard of white whisky before........there you go, live and learn.

Cheers

Stig

Captain Crunch · Post by **Captain Crunch** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:23 pm

Speaking of live and learn...
We had a visit of my wife's former son-in-law's sister and her former boyfriend a couple of years ago (the family relations are getting quite complicated theese days).
His name is Andy and he's from Scotland, not too far from Glasgow, if my memory is correct.
We sat out in the garden one warm summer evening, smoking and sipping some blended scotch.
I asked Andy if he would like some whisky, and to my surprise, he said:
I've never tasted it, but yes, please

I thought the Scots were raised on scotch

Anyway, Andy liked the whisky and after some time I asked him:
Would You like a wee bit more, Andy?
He liked the "wee bit more"-part almost as much as the whisky

So I guess both Andy and I had our share of "live and learn" that evening

I might add that, when parting, Andy stated - "Next time I'll bring a bottle"

To Your health

Volvo 480 Club Europe

Had some fun

Had some fun

Bonny Scotland