Carl and Lars are up early this morning - they have a round of golf to play at the local course, just a short distance from the hotel. After a fortifying breakfast in the hotel, they leave the rest of the family to a leisurely breakfast and drive the short way to the course. The place is not too busy at this time and we quickly get our loan clubs with pull cart and are ready to tee off at the first hole.
While the morning air is a bit chilly, we are soon stripping off our outer layers. The first four or five holes pretty much go straight up the side of the hill and we get a good work-out. The first 5 or so holes are a disaster for Lars - it has been too long since swinging a golf club (as good an excuse as any). But after the 6th hole, things start to improve, with a few pars on the remaining holes.
The course has some challenging holes that take advantage of the terrain. Many of the greens or the path of the fairway) cannot be seen from where we hit from, so it takes some reconnaissance and prayers to try and get the best shots possible. In fact, a number of the holes have long black and white poles that mark the best shot line. Being new to the course, they are a great help. Also, on a number of holes, they have a large brass bell you ring when you leave the green, letting the players behind you know that you have finished and are moving on (and that the coast is clear).
Another interesting feature of the course are the lanes and paths that cross over the golf course, rights-of-way that must date back since before the course was built. We make our way up and down and across the hill side, doing our best to get the little white ball in the holes with as few shots as possible.
It takes us almost four hours to play the course. We took our time, taking in the scenery and also in looking for a few lost balls. Luckily the course was not too busy, and we only had to let one or two single players play through. It was a fun heathland course to play, with very scenic surroundings. We are back at the hotel by 1 PM and everyone is waiting for us for our picnic lunch by the dam.
We head off in the two cars and find a nice spot by the dam to spread out al the goodies that have been bought by the non-golfers. The weather is nice and we enjoy the green, open space. After we have finished lunch, we take a walk down to the stream and then over to the dam for another look around.
In mid-afternoon, we decide to head over to the Blair Athol distillery to have a look around. Here, once again, they charge a rather high fee for a tour, so we decide to just have a look around. We are fortunate in that they let us have a taste. Not quite our favorite - we prefer the heavier ones from Islay. After the short stop in the distillery, we run a few errands in town (the most important of which was picking up a few bottles of single malt at the local specialty shop) and then head back to the hotel.
It is such wonderful weather that we just have to take advantage of the tables outside to have a pint or two (along with sampling some of the single malts that we had just purchased - we are not driving anywhere tonight). It is soon time for dinner, so we head back up to our rooms for a quick shower and change before returning to the dining room.
They put on another very enjoyable dinner, which we follow with coffee and drinks in the bar. Once again we amuse Master Carl (and ourselves) with a few (noisy?) games. Once again, we are not sure how many guests we chase out of the bar. The crowd in this hotel seems to be on the older side, which may be reflected in the times they serve breakfast. As my mom noted, hikers or wanderers would not be happy with such a late start). But we are not in a rush to go anywhere, so we will be happy with the time we start the next morning.