James and I decided that a trip to Scotland would be incomplete without doing some fishing. We bought fishing licenses, rented a boat and some rods, bought bait and fished the Loch Faskally in the center of Pitlochary. James chose a spinner, while I tried worms. The Loch is formed by the river Tummel and as such has a strong current running through it. Plus the wind was blowing in the same direction and caused our anchorless boat to require constant rowing unless we were near the banks and sheltered from the wind and current.
In spite of seeing several fish jumping, we had no luck. There were 27 salmon caught at the boat rental site ranging from 5 to 18 pounds that day. We would have been happy with a perch or a small trout, but none were to be had.
Cold and tired from rowing in the wind, we stopped for a bit of soup and buttered roll, which tasted good and warmed us up. We then walked into town and met Laura, who had just completed her walk. She will write about that separately.
We did a bit of shopping in town. Then James and Jim visited the smallest distillery in Scotland, The Edradour, established in 1825. The whole place is run by three men and produces only 12 casks per week. Jim liked the taste of this single malt and bought a bottle for £22.50.
We all went to dinner at a pub Laura discovered on her hike called the Moulin Inn, in Moulin a small town just outside of Pitlochary.
They brew their own beer and it was the closest thing to a neighborhood pub we had found.
Most of the places in Pitlochary cater to the tourists, the locals go elsewhere. We had some real authentic Scottish food this time. Laura had Mince & Tatties (minced beef and mashed potatoes), James had Vrackie Grostel (fried potatoes with bacon and a fried egg on top) and Jim had the salmon that got away.
