Baden-Powell Council BSA
at the
2022 Blair Atholl Patrol Jamborette
Day 5 - July 16th - Speyside
The overnight ferry arrived in Aberdeen around 7:00AM, which gave us time to fill the Scouts at the all-you-can-eat breakfast and then hit the road westward.
Glenfiddich Distillery
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 Glenfiddich Distillery arranged a private tour for our group before the usual opening hours. Thanks for that, we really appreciated it. |
 The tour led through the distilling process, starting with soaking the grain in heated water in these mashing tuns. |
 The grain is then mixed with yeast and ferments in the washback tuns. |
 The liquid is heated in these copper stills in the new still house, completed a few years ago. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, so this removes the alcohol from the water. The collected alcohol is distilled again - Scotch whisky is twice distilled, Irish whiskey three times. Our guide insisted that's because the Scots can get it right in fewer tries... |
 The old still house at Glenfiddich. The distilled alcohol is collected and aged in barrels - it's the aging and the components of the barrels which creates the amber color of the whisky and provides much of the flavor. Photography is not permitted in the storehouses, so you'll have to take my word for that. |
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Tomintoul Highland GamesA visit to a Highland Games is a "must" if you're touring Scotland. My favorite games are the ones in smaller towns, where all of the people get involved. There were half a dozen games going on during our touring - Tomintoul worked out best for us, geographically, being only about fifteen minutes from Glenfiddich Distillery. |
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 Our Instant Expert for the day, Brennan, described the upcoming games for the other Scouts. |
 We arrived as the games were getting started, in time for an early lunch at the food trucks surrounding the games field. |
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 The games officially start with the Chief arriving at the head of a pipe band. |
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 Highland Dancing is one of the most popular competitions. Dancers range from four-year-olds to adults, competing in various dances - this one is the sword dance. |
 Hammer Throw |
 Piping Competition |
 A games warden shows the heavy shotput to the spectators. |
 I wound up sitting next to a couple who turned out to be a former District and Regional Commissioner and a District Secretary in Scouts Scotland. Their grandson, a Cub Scout, liked our group patch. He was also impressed that I had visited the Statue of Liberty. |
 A portrait of two of our Scouts, Zeke and Nick, taken by the Cub. |
 Heavy Weight Toss for distance. |
 Weight Toss for height over a bar. |
 All of our Scouts participated in the games, doing a Tug-o-War with two teams of six Scouts a side. They were advised by the team from Elgin, in red shirts. |
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 The actual Tug-o-War competitors were much more impressive - I think any one of the Elgin team could have taken all twelve Scouts together... |
 Three of our Scouts ran in the 800-meter running race. They did quite well, finishing fourth, fifth and seventh out of a field of 15 or so. |
 The ultimate Heavy Game is the Caber Toss. The competitor lifts a 20-foot, 200 pound log by its narrower end and runs with it. He then tosses it vertically so that it turns completely over and lands on the thicker end. If he pulls that off, the toss is scored by how closely the caber lands to a line directly ahead of the competitor. In these games only one person managed that. |
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 Even the youngest kids in the town took part in the games, with races for 5-and-under and 8-12 year olds. |
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Evening - Keith and Duffus Castle |
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 We stayed at the Keith Scout Group's Scout Hall for the evening. Once we'd checked in, we walked into town to pick up fish and chips at a chippie. We took that back to the hall and had dinner on the back lawn. |
 Once we'd eaten, we headed north to Duffus Castle near Lossiemouth. |
 Duffus is a motte-and-bailey castle. The motte is a man-made hill, on top of which a tower (keep) is built. The bailey is the area below the motte, surrounded by a wall. The original Duffus Castle was made of wood, but at some point the wooden keep was replaced by a stone structure. Unfortunately, the weight of the stone keep far exceeded that of the wood one, and the motte subsided, leading to the collapse of the keep. |
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 Mike Homrighaus spoke to the Scouts about the geology of some of the rocks making up the wall around the bailey. |
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