Blue and black

We’re tourists in whisky distillery land. Do we visit a distillery? Of course we do. First to Dufftown, which boasts nine distilleries and allegedly provides the Exchequer with more tax per capita than any other town or city in the UK. Then to Glenfarclas distillery in a bowl of hills where I taste the whisky and forget to taste the peaty water it’s made from. It’s a fascinating tour and I discover that a certain sort of black mould (extra) thrives on the whisky distilling process. Apparently Customs and Excise used to look for it to uncover illegal distilling. Perhaps they still do but I get the impression that everything is more legit nowadays.
 
When we get to Ullapool, late, looking forward to staying in one place for two nights, we discover that the internet reservation we made two days ago was not for August but, slip of the finger, for September. We have no booking.  We contemplate sleeping in our very small hire car but thankfully the hotel has had a late cancellation. We can have a room for one night. After a quick walk to the harbour in between showers for the last of the glorious wet light, we spend the rest of the evening tediously on the internet trying to find somewhere, anywhere nearer than Dundee, for tomorrow night. Finally something comes up on the internet and we phone. Yes, someone has just cancelled in Dornie, the room will be ours.