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If your world has just turned into winter wonderland (like mine has, see below) you may want to start dreaming about Scotland and if you do I have a few suggestions.

I love whisky and walking if that is you too try this book for entertainment and ideas. There are some very common routes, such as Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroiag (if you sample enough whisky on route you may never leave it either), but there is much more.

Personally, I have fallen in love with Morven penisula and NcNean which can easily include Mull and Tobemory. Since we should not drink and drive walking seem a real option.

There is also the option to visit the Hebridean distilleries by boat. Get in touch for more ideas:

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Starfish Travel is based in Fife so I know most of the attractions mentioned in the next book but thoroughly enjoyed reading it as there were of course things I did not know:

I have always been intrigued by the Picts and their rather unknown history this next book sheds light on a number of mis-interpretations but also truly new insights to what we know about the Picts.

As previously stated I would love Starfish Travel to become more sustainable and less poluting. Currently I operate a Mecedes Viano with a traditional combustion engine carrying up to seven guests.

When providing day tours in summer I often exceed the 400 miles a day mark. I do encourage slower travelling and offer tours up to ten days but this is not possible for everyone.

I attended last month’s London’s EV show which was very interesting indeed. We expected to see a variety of electric vehicles but actually there was more on chargers, infrastructure and research, which was both surprising and fascinating.

The event was intended to encourage networking and that indeed happened.

So I am now lined up with both University research as well as training on electric vehicles. We also spoke extensively to Maxus who offer a standard van which is bigger than practical for our small Scottish raods. Ford had a big stand and their developments do sound exiting but their nine seater is not yet available.

We tried the Mustang Mach-e which had a range of 315 miles which is almost what I require.

If I take a group into the highlands at some point they require lunch, coffees, a comfort break or indeed a visit to an attraction. If chargers are available and charging indeed only takes 30 mins to an hour driving electric should work, shouldn’t it?

Tesla had a stand and we tried the Model 3 (again) and loved it. While waiting for the car to become available we bumped into a lovely London cab driver who was running a Mercedes V-class electric or the past three months and provided us with some detailed insights as to how to. It certainly worked for him. The range was roughly 200 miles.

Upon my return I arranged a meeting with the Energy Trust once again and that provided to be helpful. There are obviously more electric vehicles available so I ventured out and test drove the MG5, learned about the Kia Nero and also tested the I-Buzz of VW. All of which do not have the range or number of seats I would like. The I-Buzz provides five seats but an amazingly big boot space.

I finally got a good look at an used Tesla X seven seater. The two seats in the back hardly allow you to sightsee as there is next to no view,. Also the seating is not really for tall persons and you loose all the boot space. It may work for a day tour but as soon as an overnight stay is added there is not sufficient space for luggage.

With all this in mind I am at the point when I am comtemplating to keep the Viano and add an electric vehicle to learn how to run it. However, will this be more suitainable? Paying insurance, servicing, repairs, “fuel”/electricity for two vehicles?

To all of you out there running electric vehicles in similar circumstances do get in touch and tell me how it works for you.

I moved to Scotland in 1993 and we had a Glaswegian friend who introduced us immediately to Glasgow’s party scene around Sauchiehall. We had tremendous fun, though -back then- female toilets were not a standard in Glasgow’s pubs. Returning in daylight hours to this powerhouse of the industrial revolution was somewhat less magic. I still utterly disagree with a motorway running right through the city centre. In those days Glasgow was a little rougher though her people then and now are a particularily nice bunch of Scots.

Glasgow had been named City of Culture in 1990 which certainly enhanced the city self esteem and had a a profound effect (read” What impact has the 1990 City of Culture had on Glasgow – 30 years on?“)

“The Burrell Collection” was originally opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1983 and after expansive refurbishment with re-opened in October 2023 by King Charles.

Pollok House is situated within easy walking distance meandering through a beautiful park which lets you forget you are in a city at all.

Visiting both venues can may well take an entire day, whether you are an art, history or garden lover.

Following the art theme you could spend the next day in the west end starting with the cute Astone Lane followed by a visit to the amzing Kelvingrove Museum and or the the Huntarian, meander over the Glasgow University and conclude with the Hidden Lane. All of this can be done walking .

LIVE MAP

Obviously no visit to Glasgow could be complete without visiting the City Centre. You might want to start with a tour of the City Chambers perhabs followed by some browsing at Walker Slater. Have a nice tea and cake or a light lunch at the Willow Teamroom enjoying Rennie MacIntosh’s work. Visit George Square and have a laugh at the Duke of Wellington who usually sports a traffic cone and conclude with the Gallery of Modern Art or perhabs venture on for some shopping or a dinner?

LIVE MAP

Glasgow with its 1.6 million people you might need a little more time to find all of Glasgow’s gems but it is certainly an effort which will be well rewarded.

You can spend days exploring Glasgow but you can also just visit for a day or maybe even a few hours. There is plenty to see and do and it is very easy to fall in love with the place.

Get in touch!

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Thanks to my wonderful customers I had many opportunities to visit a variety of whisky distilleries this season. Scotland may be a small country but it boosts five distinct whisky regions: Speyside, Highland, Lowland, Islay and Campbeltown. My personal favourite has been Islay and still is. Over recent years the number of whisky distilleries have considerably increased, either by re-opening a formerly mothballed place (Rosebank for example) or creating something new.

The Lowlands have quite a number of new ventures. In my own region, Fife, we have Daftmill, who have just a released a stunning 15 year old, Lindores Abbey, Edenmill, Kingsbarns to just name a few.

The Highlands also contributed considerably with Adelphi in Ardnachmurchan, Torabhaig, Glenwyvis and NcNean. The latter being my personal favourite of the newcomers, though I admire Daftmill and hold great respects for Lindores too. In the end this is obviously down to personal taste nothing less nothing more.

Despite taste the distillery experience is very important to me so that my customers can enjoy themselves while visiting.

Most of the distilleries really do make an effort to make you feel welcome and some provide additional services such as pairing your whisky with chocolate, like Glendronach, or food pairing (Lindores). Others add on their beautifully maintained gardens such as GlenGrant.

Like everything else Covid changed the way distillery tours needed to be booked and reduced the numbers of people who could attend. Over the 2022 season gradually things did return to almost normal. Some distilleries remain difficult to access, MacAllan was certainly one of those. Smaller ones such as Aberlour it simply took a little longer to book. Others, such as Edradour, Glencadam and Fettercairn did not open to the public. The latter two are open to visitors again.

Glenfarclas, GlenAllachie and Glenfiddich have made great efforts to accommodate my customers. GlenAllachie is highly recommended for Billy Walker’s special releases.

Islay’s most welcoming distilleries for me were in this order Bunnhabhain, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Kilchoman, Bowmore, Ardbeg. Bruichladdich tours were a bit dissappointing.

Caol Ila was being renovated, Port Ellen not yet open and I failed to visit Ardnahoe.

I always love to come to Campbeltown as all three whisky distilleries are extremely welcoming. Springbank, Kilkerran and the Cadenhead Warehouse Tour are all in the same location and if you can book a manager’s tour with Iain McAlister at GlenScotia I very highly recommend.

The Diageo distilleries generally provide good experiences and I have been enjoying Dalwhinnie in particular. One evening I pulled up to provide my clients with a wee dram at a nice location as the place was closed. The distillery manager happened to walk by with his dog and made it an unforgetable experience for my guests.

The Isle of Skye’s two distilleries: Talisker, Torabhaig and next door Rassaay are fabulous places and produce gorgeous whisky but I never made it there this season.

There is one distillery, Dallas Dhu, which is only a museum.

There are roughly 150 distilleries in Scotland, so clearly too many to mention them all.

Other experiences are available. There are a number of really enjoyable whisky shops, bars and whisky experiences:

Johnnie Walkers in Prince’s Street Edinburgh provides avery American experience:

I hope this little indiv idual overview is something you have enjoyed. Let me know what you think.

2022 was a busy season for Starfish Travel and I was blessed with so many lovely customers who took me all over the country. In winter I focus more on teaching yoga and finally find the time to share someof the 2022 highlights with you.

I would like to introduce you to Britain’s first lending library: Inverpeffray just outside Crieff. Nowadays you would think it is situated very remotely but back in Roman times a strategic road passed right through here. Below you can view the history of the Innerpeffray Library

When we visited we had a passionate book lover as our guide and he was so knowlegdable. He invited my customers to handle an old bible and found the village they were from on an old map

The library started in the nearby church but quickly outgrew the space. Robert Hay Drummond had the current building purposefully constructed in 1762.

The space of the library in its own right makes it well worth a visit. If you add on the knowledge our guide possessed you never want to leave again.

He showed us a selection of miniature books which were almost as fascinating as all the many old books.

Our guide almost drew our attention to an early book on what we would nowadays call depression:

If you require some exercise after spending hours inside because there is so much to see you can enjoy the heritage trail outside:

If you wisj to visit the library you can make it part of a tour with myself:

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You can certainly also just go there yourself. The Library is open for visits Wednesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm and Sundays 2pm – 5pm.

You can finf more information HERE

If you are unable to visit in person perhabs yoiu would enjoy browsing their shop.

Whatever you do Innerpeffray Library is certainly worth supporting

15th October 2022 at Eden Court Theatre organised by Inverness Outlanders

I was lucky enough to get tickets for this event. Work took me to Glasgow that day and on the way there I managed to catch up with a dear friend of mine to break up the journey at least a little. When I arrived I bought Diana Gabaldon’s newest book “Go tell the bees that I am gone” with the intention of having it signed by her. As I had a day of work ahead the next day and about 2 1/2 hrs of driving to reach I home I never did get it signed.

Upon arrival I immediately noticed quite a number of people dressed up in contemporary dresses and learned later the the Eden Court staff all kindly dressed up in 18th century clothes.

I found my seat and instantly got to talk to my lovely neighbours: On the right a true fan who had read all the books starting in 1993 and on the left hand a tourguide originating from Russia.

The event itself could not have been any more enjoyable. It began with reciting the first sentence in the first book in Scots, followed by the TV series song in English, Gaelic and Scots before Sarah Fraser fittingly introduced and interviewed Diana Gabaldon.

Diana was entertaining, funny and really humble. The conversation between her and Sarah was truly engaging and I think even entertaining to anyone who had never heard of Outlander before. Diana provided a deep inside into her writing process and showed so much respect for each and everyone who was brave enough to ask her a question at the Q&A which followed the interview.

Diana also read from her 10th book which was very exiting. The crowd -obviuosly- adored her and I can only fullheartedly agree.

The evening finished in style with City of Inverness Pipe Band taking over every molecule of air in the theatre.

Despite the epic drive this really was an event I would not have wanted to miss. My only regret has been that my friend could not join me.

Read more in the Rosshire Journal

Taking pictures and videos was not permitted during the event so please follow the various links for imagenary! Also, massive thanks to Nancy encouraging me to attend this event!

Arm balance fun & restorative & Nidra session

27th November 2022 1.30 pm at Realm Chiropractic, 52 Crossgate, Cupar with Gwen Joubert & Kirstin Uhlenbrock

Join us for a few hours of joyfully exploring our mental and physical capabilities followed by a soothing session of restorative and Nidra yoga conducted by Gwen.

We are privileged to be able to host this session in the wonderful studio at Realm Chiropratic.

Costs: £25 per person

Get in touch to book 07446112672 or email Kirstin@starfishtravel.scot

Click HERE for nore information

I reported earlier on the tremendous fun to be had when participating in the 2022 Scottish Field Whisky Challenge. The panel of ten was allowed to sample 34 whiskies in total.

In the morning we had a knock out round and after a gorgeous (and much needed) lunch we re-tasted the remaining contenders again to create appropriate tasting notes.

Not only was a fabulous day being so previleged to blind taste all these amazing whiskies but also to meet everyone else on the panel and share our experience with each other.

This month’s Scottish Field Magazine (November 2022) announced the winners, which is always very exiting to the panel as we are not aware what we were tasting on the day. I am happy to annouce that I am quite content with the results, though I have to admit that I knew nothing of the Silver Angel’s Nectar till I found an article in “The Scots Magazine” a few days ago (I added it to the very bottom if you are interested).

On a personal note John Boyle kindly let us try the first bottle of a new Scottish Field Whisky Series, which I bought and shared with my clients who agreed with me that this is a lovely bottling of a Dailuaine distillery which is quite hard to get your hands on.

As most of my clients know I am a bit of a peat head and my natural home for whisky is Islay especially Bunnabhain (Moine!!!!) but I love to try all the Scottish Whisky Industry has to offer.

Curiostity might kill the cat but only if you consume too much at any one tasting. Drink responsibly and enjoy!

Last but not least I obviously offer whisky tasting tours all over Scotland for more click below:

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I was fortunate enough to be part of the panel in 2019’s Scottish Field Whisky Challenge as well, click the link to read that article. You can apply for 2023 if you like the idea!

Please find below also the full article taken from the online edition of the Scottish Field Magazine

Harvest Fest at Falkland was blessed with beautiful weather so participants could meander between venues in bright sunshine. The event had a fascinating programme and my only regret was that I could not attend all it had to offer. Some of it was filmed so hopefully I will be able to delve into all I missed.

Ninian Stuart started the session in the big tent

This morning session welcomed Jenny Anderson from Really Regenerative, Professor Seaton Baxter (Natural Design) and Gordon Mole, Head of Business and Employability, Fife Council as speakers and each of them as well as Ninian highlighted intresting points. I especailly feel in love with the phrase “the mind can be anywhere but the feet need to be somewhere.

I also wished I was able of shorthand as Professor Seaten Baxter left with an amazing poem. He actually invited the audience to write a poem as the act of doing so engages one with one’s own emotion. I did try this last night together with my boyfriend which was a lovely experiement.

I ventured on to listen to Joe FItzpatrick’s “Revelations of archaeology of Falkland Hill’ which was fascinating and very engaging, especially as we were allowed to examine some of the finds. I also love and adore the engagement of local people.

The lunch in itself was to die for, both main dish and cake and not to mention the amazing apple juice produced onsite.

After lunch I attended Gary Young (The Mindfulness Enterprise )& Madhu Mastan’s session “The healing & restorative power of mindfully connecting with nature”, which was insightful and also fun. Madhu, I will do some drumming!

If you attended any of the other sessions let me know and I will happily add your input here.

The exhibitors were also well selected: Reforesting Scotland, The Scottish Sawmill Services, Newburgh Handloom Weavers , The Falkland Society and the Falkland Estate itself promoting their barley which is being used by NcNean Whisky Distillery.

Also check out the Chidren’s Parliament for information on how the future generations are involved in the power of place that Falkland is. Not to mention their poems page.

Falkland truly spreads its magic: everything is connected, everything needs to go somewhere, nature knows best and it is the place to be.

I also met some amazing people and feel real gratitude for all I was able to experience.