Author: Kirstin Uhlenbrock

Campbeltown is know for many things, among others to be the fictional Kinnloch in Denzil Meyrick’s fabulous crime novels-> bloody Scotland for a change.

Other than that Campbeltown is also one of Scotland’s five whisky regions with GlenScotia, Glengyle and Springbank. Springbank also being one of the very few remaining distilleries who still do their own malting.

Campbeltown is also home Cadenhead, Scotland’s oldest independent bottler (1842).

To cut a long story short this is a place the collective whisky drinkers should visit if they have not already done so.

Springbank Distillery not only produces the obvious Springbank, but also Hazelburn, the peated Longrow and not to forget Kilkerran (at Glengyle) Their 12 year old Kilkerran is much appreciated amongst the “cognoscenti” as it is an excellent drum for an affordable price at £48 per bottle (their are others such as Laphroaig 10 at £29 and Bunnahabhain 12 at £39.95).

Usually the “wee town” delivers to the local whisky shops across Scotland on quarterly basis but this time there was no stock refill of Kilkerran12. In the community of whisky lovers the news did not take long to spread and the spirit for much missed from the “daily” diet and people began to ask around where this much appreciated spirit could still be bought.

One of the gentleman in “the know” approached Archie from Luvian’s Bottle Shop and asked the question: Did the shops still stock any Kilkerran 12. Archie directed that person to the Cupar shop and indeed there were some left so if you are in urgent need for Kilkerran12 visit Luvian’s in Cupar:

93 Bonnygate, Cupar, Fife, KY15 4LG
+44 (0) 1334 654 820 | info@luvians.com

A whisky region has to have at least three distilleries Campbeltown nearly lost this status but was saved from it by the re-opening of Glengyle (Kilkerran) in 2004. Read the full story HIER (article by James Gilles)

If you rather wish to watch a little more on the history of Campbeltown go ahead:

I had curated a tour to Strahcarron Adrheslaig in the very north western highlands in August and was once again acutely aware of the impact toursim has in remote communities like Shieldaig. Shieldaig is a tiny and gorgeously beautiful village at the shores of Loch Torridon.

My guests stayed in The Torridon which is a five star hotel, with sustainability credentials and offering an experience totally away from any real life. I opted to stay a little further “down the road” (which had of course been a single track for many miles) in the Tigh an Eilean (Gaelic meaning: house of the island) which was fully booked and buzzing.

The place is “dominating” Shieldaig a local resident told me and that was indeed very true. It also, naturally supplies jobs and brings income to the place being the only hotel in town. The night I stayed in August there were clearly more tourists than residents in town (or perhaps the residents were in hiding?).

The little family run hotel was excessively busy but everyone was still kind, caring and very friendly indeed. Let me add that I travelled “on my own” and felt very welcome and safe of course.

I had one of the best meals ever with the nicest view over Loch Torridon:

The room was equally cosy and very comfy and by the nature of this remote place geared up to get you walking & hiking with plenty of information as to how to.

I was so taken by their food offerings that I cannot help but post two more photos of the delightful breakfast I had:

I do apologise for blethering on about the food but it simply was so outstandingly delicious. Coming back to the community: the village has the usual store which acts as post office (I think) and partially art gallery for the resident creative people.

When walking in and caring to engage in a conversation it becomes quickly very clear that this little place sports a vibrant community and I personally would advise to come back out of season to really get to know the tightly knit quality of living remote. People have to rely on each other but also respect differences. It does give me a very warm feeling. I hope I am not romanticizing this too much as I am sure there will be conflicts but still you need each other living in a place like this.

I did bump into the big tourist bus invading the local coffee shop the following day which took away the feeling of remoteness but when walking into the hills I immediately got it back. This is a fabulous place to go exploring, hiking, being mindful and not to forget go swimming and as said I would also highly recommend to do so out of season if you can. Enjoy!!!

There is a guide available on the history of the place by Alice and Vivienne MacLennan which I highly recommend:

For keeping up-to-date with current news try the Ross-Shire Journal and also visit Shieldaig.scot, Shieldaig.info, Steve Carter

My vision for Starfish Travel was to go electric in 2023 but that was not meant to happen based on vehicle capacity, costs but mostly reach and re-charge time. Based on annual mileage this could save up to 21 t of CO2 emmission- the biggest saving.

I am usually a little suspicious of “green washing” but with failing to switch to an EV Starfish Travel still needed to contirbute something.

In January 2023 Starfish Travel invested a small amount into Highlands Rewilding.

In February 2023 Starfish Travel achieved the Green Toursim Silver Award:

This is only the beginning and achieving a Gold award somewhere in the furture would be fabulous.

On a monthly bases Starfish Travel also contributes to Ecology:

I am aware that these are only very small contributions but it is a start.

On a broader range Starfish Travel also supports the National Trust Scotland both as a member and with volunteering occassionally at Kellie Castle:

Starfish Travel is also member of Historic Environment Scotland, Innerpeffray Library, Arran Heritage Museum and the Wildlife Trust

Over the years I have had the opportunity to meet such a variety of fabulous people while showing them my favourite country, Scotland.

I frequently visit the same places, but it will never get boring for one, thanks to changing weather each place will always be different and, secondly, my guests join me from all over the world.

Some of the more common reasons to make the journey are: a true love for golf, family ancestry, loving the Royal Family, Outlander and most of all a nature connection.

Recently, I had a lovely family from the US, joining me for a day tour into the Highlands.

Initally the trip was planned as a golf trip, but then diverted to a trip to Iona as one of them is teaching at Iona University (if you click the link you can read the story berhind the name).

They spent some days on Iona, added the golf in St Andrews and joined me to visit Balmoral.

Balmoral Castle

View point near Laurekirk/Fettercairn

There is also all boy’s Catholic High School called Iona Preparatory, their athletics teams are called the Gaels as well.  Like the University, it also takes its name from the Isle of Iona.

St Columba is the patron saint of Iona University.  Both schools were founded by the Irish Christian Brothers who were founded by Blessed Edmund Rice, following in St. Columba’s footsteps after the monks fled Scotland (after the Viking invasions) and returned to Ireland.  

When touring Scotland I often inform my clients that story telling is a natural talent of all Scots. Therefore, there is an unlimited number of stories, whether it is the numerous ghost stories of various castles telling about missing pipers, people playing cards until doomsday, not to forget the various grey ladies and many, many more.

The Scots are also notoriously known for disobedience against the authorities: Magaret Thatcher trialed her poll tax in Scotland and failed.

One of my favourite stories is that of the post boxes. The roadside letter boxes first appeared in 1852.

You see them all over the British Isles in various shapes, forms and colours (they are green in Nothern Ireland)

These boxes stated the contemporary monarch’s monogram, such as seen on this one:

Above you see one created during the reign of George VI, who ruled from 1936 till his death in 1952 (Here G for George VI and R for the Latin Regis/king).

Before his daughter, the late Queen Elisabeth, was coronated in 1953 Royal Mail rolled out a new version:

A number of Scots objected to these because there had never been an Elisabeth I in Scotland. During Elisabeth I’s reign, Scotland was ruled by a Scottish Queen, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Edinburgh Live tells the story in this article and the design was changed to ER with a crown between the letters but no number or no mention of the late Queen Elisabeth at all:

In 2018 (not that long ago!) a ERII post box appeared in Dunoon and yet again caused another “stushie” as described in this article of The National.

If you wish to read more on the “pillar box war” and anything else relating to any post box in the Bristish Isles I highly recommened Martin Robinson’s book, “Old Letter Boxes”

For more about the uniqueness of my fellow Scots; come and visit and let me show “my” Scotland. Please fill in this form: Contact

A little addiotion to this post. Here is a rare ER VII post box:

Often things happen by the weirdest coincidence… I took my motorbike for its MOT and wanted to wait for it so I stroll through Cupar and noticed this amazing “shop” full of old clocks- seriously old clocks:

Eric Young is the owner of this shop and a clock maker himself. There is even a stunning clock on display he created. The clocks currently on display come all from one house, which is undergoing renovation which allows the rest of us to go and view these amazing pieces of careful engineering. The exhibition still runs till July and and is definitely well a visit.

Thanks to Eric I had a peek into my great grandfather’s pocket clock which is nowhere near as old as some of those exhibits

VisitScotland and the V&A set up to host the Creative Congierge yesterday in Dundee. The event was intended to inform about all the fantastic events happening in Dundee this year and also to encourage attendees to network, but above all it allowed attending businesses to visit the Tartan Exhibition.

It was a lovley evening and since I had not yet made it to the Tartan Exhibition a superb excuse to do so. If you have not been yet I highly recommend it and it is so big that I intend to return very soon to spend more time investigating all these fabulous exhibits in more details.

Next month is Dundee’s month of design !

It is spring break and I was lucky enough to be be booked for a Highland Tour by some lovely people who wanted to see Glenfinnan Viaduct as one of them is a true Harry Potter fan. We booked the first ferry from Armadale to Mallaig and ended up (luckily for my guests) at Glenfinnan when the steam train meandered its way across the famous bridge. My clients managed to get some photos of the event and were super happy.

However, there are three car parks which were full. I dropped my clients off and pulled into a a layby, where I bought a coffee and stayed at the car as I was blocking other cars who were mostly illegally parked there. Prior to dropping my guests we went passed the car parks (to turn around mainly) but that road (which is the main artery to Maillaig for heavy traffic) was almost blocked by cars randomly abdoned by their owners to capture a selfie with a steam train.

It is total mayhem really.

While I was sipping my coffee and waiting for my guests to return I got engaged in a nice conversation with a local lady who I met at the church. Listening to her what this mass invasion does to the community I was ready to refuse future guests to go to Glenfinnan. However, like with the Fairy Pools on Skye or just Skye that will not work I suppose.

I love my job and take great pride to realise my client’s dreams but I do have sincere reservation when it comes to over crowding.

Back in 2021 I visited Tesla in Edinburgh and tried the Model 3 for 45 mins. I was so taken by this amazing experience that I thought why did I not switch years ago?

Sadly, the Tesla did not have the seating capacity I required.

It took me a while to convince Mercedes Benz to let me have an e-Vito L3 to try.

A few months later I again set off to Edinburgh to collect the e-Vito and take it on a trip to the Highlands. The car itself drove fine and basically was a Vito as I had driven for years, but the range of 230 miles was not a lot to start with but I never managed to reach anywhere near. I could not charge the car at home, so I was forced to leave it in St Andrews to charge enough to take up north to Forres. I never managed to charge 80% within 45 mins and I did a lot of worrying and walking on this trip. Incidently I did the exactly same trip a few months later with my combustion engined Viano and never even had to stop to refill.

I returned home quite desillusioned but did not entirely give up on the idea of going electric.

Since then I observed the EV market, have test driven quite a few more EV’s and attended an EV show in London as well as the Energy Saving Trust‘s Decarbonasation Taxi Forum webinars and also visited the amazing Arnold Clark Innovation Centre in Glasgow.

To state it bluntly there is still no EV on the market which has sufficient range, charging capacity or seats to do my business any justice.

However, the Energy Saving Trust kindly provided an analysis and my current C02 emission per annum is a staggering 23 t.

For this coming season roughly 30 % of my groups are larger than four but for the remaining 70% I could put a five seater EV on the road.

Running en EV will require more planning but creating my tours does involve planning in any case.

Currently I am considering the MG4 or the Tersla Y.

What would you buy? Tell me!

Over the years I have had a number of guests who either had dietary requirements or are vegetarian or vegan by choice. Generally speaking Scotland caters quite well for both and there are even vegetarian B&Bs but not always where you need them.

As standard Starfish Travel provides bottled water and a fruit basket (in summer always locally sourced and containing blueberries, rasberries, brambles and strawberries). During whisky tours I have also supplied packed lunches which were mostly randomly bought to ensure some stamina when sampling a little too much whisky.

In the aim to focus on locally produced food and cater for vegans in particular we have teamed up with local businesses and have added some own efforts. Do take a look at some examples:

Let us know what you think as well…..