Introduction

This evening, I am reprising a one day tour of East Lothian region for a small group. Location is the east of Scotland near Edinburgh.

Information on the tour

First, we departed our Edinburgh lodgings for the final time and drove south for about 30 mins to our first stop of Glenkinchie Distillery.

Glenkinchie is the principal distillery in the Edinburgh area and one of  a few distilleries classified as a ‘Lowland Malt’.

On arrival at Glenkinchie we were able to immediately join a tour which lasted about 1 hour. We learned about the malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation and maturation processes at this medium-sized distillery. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the production area.

At culmination of the distillery tour it became evident the heavy rain would prevent us going on to Dirleton castle as planned. Instead we returned to south Edinburgh to visit Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel dates from the 15th century and has become famous for its links with the Da Vanci Code. We were able to join in the 12.15pm tour, lasting 30 mins, and then availed of lunch at the Visitor Centre.

After lunch we went on to Dirleton Castle, which has a long history spanning the period 12th to 17th  centuries.Later the castle degenerated into a ruin. Other features here include a long herbaceous border with colourful flowers and  a very well preserved dovecot (pigeon house).

We encountered heavy rain towards the end of our visit to the castle and decided to drive straight on to our destination of Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Here we discovered the Ormiston Institute which ties in with the underlying Ormiston ancestry theme of the tour.

In the evening, we all met for an excellent dinner at a local hotel.

Tomorrow, we visit the famous Border Abbeys.

More Information

Please refer Visitors’ Guide to Scotland which contains nearly 800 pages of information and images on many aspects of Scotland. ISBN is 978-1-9161332-0-4. Also available via Kindle.