Speaker 1: 0:00

Thi Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are.

Speaker 2: 0:04

The.

Speaker 1: 0:04

Romies, we are married.

Speaker 2: 0:07

To each other.

Speaker 1: 0:08

Right, we are a touring musical duo.

Speaker 2: 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 1: 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

Speaker 2: 0:23

And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Welcome to part two of our adventures in Muddy Speyside. Scotland.

Speaker 1: 1:00

And part two. So that means if you missed part one, make sure you go back and listen to it.

Speaker 2: 1:06

Check out part one. We got to share in our previous episode about our adventures, our first day and a half in Muddy Spaceside, scotland, and now we are going to be sharing with you day three of our action-packed itinerary that was put together for us by our wonderful friend, david at Visit Muddy Spaceside. So if you haven't been to their website yet, you want to make sure to visit. It's M-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom. That link will be in the show notes as well as links to all of the things that we'll be talking about and the places and the experiences we'll be talking about in today's episode. We will put links to all of those things in our show notes, so make sure to check those out. Visit those sites, visit those places. You're going to book your own adventure and have an amazing time. We hope that our itinerary that we're going to share with you today will inspire you to come create your own itinerary. But before we dive into day three, we're going to give a few little tidbits about Murray Spaceside from the experts themselves.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Gemma and David with Visit Murray Spaceside.

Speaker 3: 2:20

Well, we kind of say that it's like it is off the beaten track, you know. So it's something different. It's a different region. You can probably tell that it's not a huge tourist place. Our tourism is growing and it has grown quite significantly over the last kind of three, four years, which is great because we work in tourism. But it is kind of up and coming, as we say, people like it when they come here because we've not got the infrastructure. You know, you do need a car to drive around people like that.

Speaker 3: 2:50

As something different, we are quite rural and it's quite a spread out region, but then when you come here the locals that you'll meet are, like, very friendly, they're very different and you'll also just find that it is a lot of locals that live here. We do have a lot of people that come in from england, come and live up here. We do have, obviously, like, the raf base at loss ofouth as well, which is really popular and that helps the economy hugely. So that's really quite interesting that we've got that there. We've also got the army barracks as well at Kinloss, so we've got the two kind of stationed here, which is great. It brings in a lot of people. A lot of people retire here.

Speaker 4: 3:16

I think. Well, I've always liked the fact that we are a bit of like a smaller place.

Speaker 3: 3:21

We're between.

Speaker 4: 3:22

Aberdeenshire and Highlands. So we're sort of like a little baby brother, sort of in the middle.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Does anybody talk about this area?

Speaker 4: 3:28

Yeah, exactly, it's the two. But then within that small little bit we have got so much stuff, so we sort of describe ourselves as like a mini Scotland all in one place.

Speaker 2: 3:38

So let's dive into part two of Visit Muddy Spaceside, scotland, to part two of Visit.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Muddy Spaceside, scotland. After a peaceful night's sleep, the next morning we made our way over to Brody Country Fair.

Speaker 2: 3:53

I'm actually drinking some Brody's tea as we are recording this.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Wow, yeah, okay, this will be a very special segment.

Speaker 2: 4:01

Yeah, absolutely Don't. Y'all feel the specialness. You can just feel the effects of tea just oozing out.

Speaker 1: 4:11

It's almost as though I can smell it on your breath when you speak. It's a very real sense. With the name Brody Country Fair, I was just expecting like a restaurant, but it was way more.

Speaker 2: 4:24

It felt like a shopper's wonderland. You walk in and all around this giant building you have one shop after another, and so there it's just sectioned off so you might have a little section of cool vibey dishware. And then you go a little bit further and you're gonna find knit caps. And then you're gonna go a little bit further and you're going to find knit caps.

Speaker 2: 4:46

And then you're going to go a little further and find a women's boutique area yeah, and they all just flow right into the next one so it's like these gift shop type places and or like boutique type shops, all in one place and so uh, but very segmented as well and it's just such a neat feel. It's a bright, open, happy feel yeah, very happy so you can walk in and do all of this fun shopping, and then you keep making your way to the back at the delicious restaurant where we had breakfast.

Speaker 1: 5:20

A huge restaurant. Now, when we walked in, I knew we were going to have breakfast there, so so I was thinking where's the restaurant in all of these stores? And so I walked to the very back of the first store I came to because I saw there was a bakery and I was like, oh, that's cool, a bakery. So I guess we're gonna have some bread for breakfast. Yeah, okay, well, scottish bread, nice. But then I kept looking around and walked to the other end of the building, through all the shops and there was this giant restaurant area Really cool.

Speaker 2: 5:45

With everything you could want.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Even some things you didn't know you wanted.

Speaker 2: 5:49

Right or that I needed. You know we've been talking about Rory doing the whole haggis thing. Do I really need to eat the vegan haggis? So I am sort of somewhat Scottish.

Speaker 4: 6:02

Yeah, I guess. So I mean, the haggis is obviously your standard, but obviously you're vegan so you can't have that. So obviously the meat's also replaced with a lot more oats and barley and things like that. Obviously, spices will still be the same, but you know it's going to fill it up.

Speaker 1: 6:17

So would a Highland Scot curse her for ordering a vegan haggis? I wouldn't share that. I'd keep it quiet, okay.

Speaker 6: 6:24

Keep it quiet. Keep it quiet, all right.

Speaker 1: 6:30

That's what I wanted to hear.

Speaker 2: 6:32

Okay, Really really good. I was so glad I tried it.

Speaker 5: 6:36

The haggis.

Speaker 2: 6:37

Yes, and there were no mystery ingredients, just like all goodness that you know you're going to feel good after you eat it and your body's going to feel good all day.

Speaker 1: 6:45

My haggis was a mystery, but it was still really good.

Speaker 2: 6:48

So I had that, I had the vegan sausage and I basically got like the vegan Scottish breakfast that they had. I gave you the mushrooms.

Speaker 1: 6:57

Again is there such a thing as saying vegan before Scottish or. British breakfast.

Speaker 2: 7:02

They are very accommodating there.

Speaker 1: 7:04

I like the English breakfast vegan A lot of places we went, they accommodated us weird people. They did yeah, very much so.

Speaker 2: 7:09

So I also got a green smoothie, which was delicious and we had. The potato scone was also on there, so the potato scones. We went to England the next week and we had the whole Cornish scone thing. But in Scotland we learned about the potato scones and they're very flat and just kind of a different thing.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Yeah, melt butter on them. Oh, good stuff.

Speaker 2: 7:35

So Brody's Country Fair was a really fun experience. We kept the Brody theme going and headed on to get our private tour at the Brodie Castle.

Speaker 1: 7:43

With our new friend.

Speaker 6: 7:45

Jamies. The Brodie clan have always been quite a small clan, so really only of any particular significance in the local area, just immediately in this area, rather than on the page of Scottish history more generally, if you know what I mean. So that's why the name doesn't come up as often as some other ones do. And they've been on this site since the 12th century for certain, because that's when we have records that tell us that they were here, not really any further details than that, just they were here. But because the place name and the family name are both Brodie, that tells us that it's quite likely on hold, that they've been here much longer than that and probably nobody else has been on this site ever, because when the two grew up in tandem, like that, the name and the place usually means that Not always. But so it's difficult to say for certain when they first started being here and we really don't know what kind of building they were in at that time because we don't have any sort of physical records. But it's likely to be a kind of what would be a bit like a Motten Bailey kind of castle, principally wood for defence, but not really leaving any trace behind it. So the first physical evidence that we have of them being here is this tower here, and this might date back as far as the 1430s. It's really difficult to be absolutely certain about that because we don't have an archaeological date, but 1430s is a guess within the family history and it's quite likely on the whole it's either this tower or the other one which I'll tell you about, where you've got just one chamber per floor with really thick walls, probably five, six feet in places, and it would have just had the arrow slits, the lancet windows, like you can see down here on the ground floor. The windows up above are later editions and this would have just been by itself surrounded by lots of other wooden buildings. So these would have constructed most of the estate, things like kitchens, stables, living quarters.

Speaker 6: 9:44

For most people they're in separate wooden buildings dotted around, because at this time most buildings are made out of wood. The fire risk is enormous because you've only got fire for heating and light. So if any one building, especially the kitchen, burns down, it doesn't burn everything else down as well. That's why it's not one building, there's lots of separate things. Probably see how the tree line is kind of a circle from here. It's all pretty much clear.

Speaker 6: 10:11

Apart from up to there, that's very roughly the slate of where the ditch was, so we never got as good as a moat with water. But the next grade down is a dry ditch which creates that dip, with a palisade fence on the inside and we're not talking like a little garden fence, we're talking big, solid posts. So it would have been substantial. Yeah, so between those two things within it's almost like a compound and like a little village really, and you would have felt quite well protected in this area on a day-to-day basis from like wild animals or just, you know, annoying neighbors or what have you. Yeah, but then when the marauders come really properly, that's when you probably get out of those wooden buildings and pile into the stone tower at the center of everything for protection. Yeah, so that's how it would have looked for about 100 years or so, until this central ring.

Speaker 3: 11:09

This is gorgeous.

Speaker 6: 11:12

So if you imagine, this kind of rectangle here with the pillars in the middle. This is the 1567 section Okay.

Speaker 6: 11:21

Added onto that corner of the tower there and this, for hundreds of years, was the kitchen of the house. So all the way through from the 1560s and to the 1860s, pretty much this was the kitchen. It was a completely different sort of room. It would have been busy, noisy, bustling. You would have had lots of smells of all the herbs and the meat and the bacon. These are much later so. When this was made into the entrance hall in the 19th century, these pillars were carved by a mason called Mr Square. I think that's a fantastic name for Stone Mason, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 11:55

Really sweet name.

Speaker 6: 11:57

Look at the ragged carving there on the stone and there where that door is, that's where the big Inglemoor fireplace would have been, so it would have been that height. Here in this window, we've got the Brodie coat of arms. So if you're a family that is armigolous, that's able to bear arms, you have to officially apply for the licence to be able to bear a coat of arms, and then you're granted it by Lord Lion, king of Arms, who's the person responsible for the Scottish heraldry, and then you can whack it on everything you like Windows cushions. You'll see it everywhere around the castle, so that's why it's nice to pause here and have a look at it. Underneath is the family motto, which is Unite, which is nice and straightforward, and either side, the naked guys are there to demonstrate the antiquity of the family. So they're to demonstrate that it might have pickedish or celtic roots from time foreclosed. That's what they're there to demonstrate, and they're called supporters around it. Dutch there. Yeah, we've got a lot of dutch. Well, that was what they were doing later.

Speaker 6: 13:04

On.

Speaker 6: 13:04

Yeah, exactly, I'm just saying the collection is probably much smaller than it was originally. Yeah, it's very impressive. So this takes us into the 19th century drawing room, and the term drawing room comes from the custom in this country where in the 18th and 19th century the men at the end of dinner would stay seated at the dining table and the ladies would withdraw to the comfy seats in the withdrawing room, which over time gets shortened to drawing room. Otherwise, it's a very odd term. By now. This is in the 19th century, so you can see that we can go in here, yeah the engineering is completely different by now.

Speaker 6: 13:45

So you've got the technology to make a much higher ceiling without pillars supporting it, and you don't need to worry about defence anymore. You can have these huge windows. And you've also got the technology to make much harder panes of glass which then means that the windows are strong enough to be able to support themselves is is the piano in tune it is. We had a piano and recital just just a couple weeks ago. It's really lovely when you see the rooms being used for the sorts of things they were intended for.

Speaker 3: 14:23

Right.

Speaker 6: 14:24

Yeah, I agree it's really lovely and the acoustics are quite good in here. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:30

Which is maybe surprising. Yeah, it's not bouncing at all. Yeah, it's pretty good.

Speaker 2: 14:34

Can Rory play a song or not? Yeah, yeah if you can play the piano.

Speaker 6: 14:38

go for it. Yeah, yeah, Please do.

Speaker 1: 15:03

It's in tune and it's always better for the musical instruments to be played.

Speaker 5: 15:04

It keeps them in good condition. You can't feel the rain. Sometimes, when you burn away, all you know is pain, and I know the road to walking.

Speaker 1: 15:15

And I know your hope is dying, so you better go to the keep.

Speaker 3: 15:41

Come running to me. Come running to me you better go to the keep.

Speaker 6: 15:51

Ain't nobody who cares? Ain't nobody who?

Speaker 1: 15:53

loves you like me. What this room is made for, that's a German piano made by the Blüthner company about 1890.

Speaker 6: 16:08

This was made in 1890?

Speaker 1: 16:10

Yes, and it sounds like that, yes.

Speaker 2: 16:13

You're like Take care of something at last. Right, Absolutely.

Speaker 6: 16:19

It's beautiful. It's a semi-concert band, but Luton is one of the principal.

Speaker 3: 16:25

European piano makers.

Speaker 6: 16:26

I knew what they were doing Absolutely when we came from before to get to the stairs.

Speaker 1: 16:32

Yeah, it wasn't the same room, was it? No, I've all turned around, wow.

Speaker 6: 16:37

Yeah, we're in the 19th century again here. 19th century, of course, took up a lot of space.

Speaker 3: 16:44

The Sk in the 19th century again here. The 19th century, of course, took up a lot of space because Scar Zahara had huge skirts.

Speaker 6: 16:45

They were pretty big and of course they were really complicated to go on and off as well. So therefore, to have a separate room to be able to do that in comfort and privacy is really important, because they often get changed several times a day.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Wow for different meals or times.

Speaker 6: 17:02

Yeah, for different occasions. If you were going out for lunch, if you were drinking tea, if you were going riding, if you were going walking, if you were dressing for dinner. These things require different outfits, men and women, more women than men, but, yes, to some extent for men as well, absolutely so. A lot of changes and clothes that are at the back for rich women, so you need a maid to be on hand to help you with that, whereas poor women's clothes did up at the front because you could do it yourself.

Speaker 2: 17:32

So those would be one of those really subtle signs to people back in the day Right, you have money, you don't.

Speaker 6: 17:38

Yeah, you just know just by looking One of those. I like things like that that totally wouldn't have cared to us but of course it meant a lot to them at that time.

Speaker 6: 17:50

Yeah, there's nothing holding it up in the middle, no posts or anything. That's because it's a cantilever staircase where each step is one piece of stone and it's built into the wall and so that's what holds the whole thing up, that and the tension between the steps. So that's why you get this lovely sense of light and space through the whole middle of the section, and it was cripplingly expensive for 1732. Ian had two main interests in his life, and one was his career in the army.

Speaker 6: 18:30

You can see he was a soldier and he first saw service with the Second Boer War in South Africa about 1900. And that's where he won the colours. World War in South Africa in about 1900. And that's where he won the colours that are displayed on his chest there. That's the DSO, the Distinguished Service Order, and it tells us that he wasn't just brave but also kind and decent. And he last saw service with the First World War and that's where he won the Military Cross, which is again another very high honour in the UK to show decency as well as bravery. And his other main interest was gardening.

Speaker 3: 19:01

Okay.

Speaker 6: 19:01

He was a very keen gardener and focused all of his efforts on the daffodil. So over decades of his life he crossbred existing varieties of daffodil to create over 400 new varieties 400 new varieties daffodil. Wow, we've got about 200 of those here today, so around. Easter time it looks so lovely and cheerful here on the ground.

Speaker 6: 19:24

That's fun and it's in 1601 that they move the front door and so every time you come in the front door you see travel for eternal life, for it is full of joy. It's a really nice sentiment as you come in from outside. But what I really like is when the 17th led has it repaired in the 18th century.

Speaker 1: 19:44

He puts george brody loves emilia, which I think is really cute, especially for 1714 it's really cool to get a private tour of a castle. It feels totally different. There's so much more information, You're kind of allowed more things. I think he took us in a place where the big tours don't go, so that was kind of cool. You even get to see some things that the normal people the normal people that everyone doesn't get to see on a bigger tour. So, anyway, really cool getting a private tour of the castle there. After that it was lunchtime.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Yes.

Speaker 1: 20:23

So where do we go?

Speaker 2: 20:25

We headed on to Logie Stedding.

Speaker 1: 20:27

That's right, logie Stedding. For those of you who don't know, a Stedding is like a farm or the outbuildings of a farmhouse, not to be confused with the outhouse, the outbuildings, or it's a farmstead, that kind of a thing. So, logie Stedding, beautiful setting. I didn't mean to rhyme, but I am a songwriter, so it just happened. Logie Stedding has a beautiful setting. As we were driving out these beautiful fields we're driving through and these little felt like a country estate road and really, really nice.

Speaker 2: 20:58

And we pulled up to this structure or infrastructure that had different shops. So these were kind of like, if you compared it, to maybe an outdoor mall in the States but, like you know, a cool Scottish vibe with, like the old school brick and the history Right, right so nothing like an American outdoor mall. But, like you know, yeah, it makes me think that the Logie Connected outdoor stores.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Yeah, it makes me think Logie Stedding, since it's also the outbuildings of a farmstead or a farm. It makes me think that that's what they once were and they've now created these really cool shops.

Speaker 2: 21:35

And we got to talk to a shop owner.

Speaker 5: 21:37

You're never hemmed in. Even when this place is absolutely busy in the summer, you're never crowded and you know we really work hard to add to it with our businesses.

Speaker 1: 21:50

Yeah, I love the feeling because it's just what you said. It feels like it's, we would say, in the States, mom-and-pop shops, yeah, but they're very nice and so it makes me it's very homey feeling.

Speaker 5: 22:00

I really like that yeah, and you find things in Loughy that you won't find elsewhere that's why.

Speaker 3: 22:05

I want to my job later on. Yeah, no, but I mean it is.

Speaker 5: 22:10

I mean this shop. For example, my partner, christine, has the lady shop. It was established first and her philosophy is it's kind of sustainable fashion. Yeah, we start with those shops brands you can't find anywhere else in Scotland. So people come here and discover it. I mean, obviously I take it you're from the States or Canada.

Speaker 3: 22:29

Yeah, the States.

Speaker 5: 22:31

We start things over here that appear to be good for us and come from the States, because we have as many different made inin-Scotland things as we possibly can.

Speaker 3: 22:39

I love it as well as things from all over Europe.

Speaker 5: 22:42

So, whether you live here or whether you come and visit, you're going to find something unique in Logie and to help you fit in, yeah, Absolutely, or in our case, stand out.

Speaker 1: 22:51

That's right, absolutely. This is what I'm saying. You're going to have something different. Like we said earlier, the whole reason we went there was to have lunch at the cafe at Logie Stedding, and boy did we have lunch.

Speaker 2: 23:04

We got the hook up there. Woo, we got everything.

Speaker 1: 23:09

The lady serving has told us that the chef wanted to send us some samples of all the different kinds of foods.

Speaker 2: 23:15

And we got to try so many dishes and everything. The plates were beautiful.

Speaker 1: 23:20

Yeah, the presentation was awesome.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 1: 23:23

The food was awesome, salad was great.

Speaker 2: 23:25

They had several vegan options, and so I got a couple vegan dishes and, of course, rory did all his meat dishes.

Speaker 1: 23:32

Yeah, but what was really funny is true to Scottish fashion the portions were huge and the food was really good.

Speaker 2: 23:41

And also in true Scottish fashion. Rory, of course, was offered haggis. Yes haggis bonbons yeah so he got the haggis bonbons.

Speaker 1: 23:50

But that's not all. Also got a big, huge double burger with, you know, fries chips of course Right. I also got mac and cheese with scallops and black pudding. It's an interesting combo. Really, truly, it was good stuff.

Speaker 2: 24:11

I had a beautiful Buddha bowl with a wonderful mix of different grains and veggies and herbs and it was just super unique and special. And then there were all these like desserts that they had. There's just such a huge variety and it's all just gorgeous, colorful, fresh, delicious, etc.

Speaker 1: 24:32

Including red velvet cake.

Speaker 2: 24:35

Including red velvet cake. Hard to go wrong there yep, and everyone was so nice. The servers are great. So while you're on the logie studying campus and you're enjoying the cafe, keep in mind that they also have some events that are throughout the year and different experiences that you can take part in. There is the Logie House Garden. They have woodworking courses, river walks. Check out their website to see what is going on and enjoy your stop at the cafe at Logie Studding.

Speaker 1: 25:07

They got us totally fueled up for our next big adventure, and it was a big adventure for us.

Speaker 2: 25:14

Yes, Ace Adventures. So Ace offers everything from canoeing to high ropes, canyoning, paintball, splat, master, disc, golf, bungee jumping, what yeah? Whitewater rafting, tumble rafting.

Speaker 6: 25:33

Okay.

Speaker 2: 25:33

Camping and glampinging, high ropes and zip line and, of course, our big adventure our big adventure, which was river tubing and cliff jumping what we had never done either in this capacity ever not, not in a river where they have level five rapids, yeah. Okay. So y'all, we wanted to do something where we would be able to kind of push the limits a little bit but also just be able to enjoy the scenery, and so Push the comfortable limits.

Speaker 2: 26:13

We this was a little beyond what we are used to, you know, in our adventure-ness, but it was really that's not a word, but I just made it one but we really really loved the experience and I think more. I wasn't really like necessarily afraid that's not the best word but apprehensive about the tubing but the whole cliff jumping thing. That was never. That's never been on my bucket list. But I think I was more apprehensive about the cold. I think you and I both were a little bit more apprehensive about being cold than we were, like having to jump off a cliff.

Speaker 1: 26:53

Yeah, the air. The air was cold, it was like foggy, a great atmosphere. But then when you think about jumping in a river, in that climate.

Speaker 2: 27:01

We were so at least I was so paranoid about the cold.

Speaker 1: 27:06

I prepared myself. I tried mentally to prepare myself. Yes, we just tried to.

Speaker 2: 27:10

And so you get there, and what's really great is they clothe you, they gear you up with wetsuit, wet shoes, like the whole. Get up and y'all, we were not freezing.

Speaker 1: 27:25

Not cold, no, it was comfortable.

Speaker 2: 27:27

One time we got cold.

Speaker 1: 27:28

No, I never got cold. You didn't. No, not in my wetsuit. That's because you're a big manly man, yeah One time.

Speaker 2: 27:33

I was just like a little cold, like a little bit, and it was no big deal, right. So that was really really awesome. So all of that was out of the way and now we could just focus on the adventure and surviving these rapids.

Speaker 1: 27:50

And survive them. We did.

Speaker 2: 27:51

So first we, so it was kind of a combination. We tubed a little bit bit, cliff jumped a little bit and they got back on the tubing, and so it was kind of like tube cliff jump, tube is sort of how the tour went yeah, they had some challenges for us along the way yes, david and cameron were our guides. They were amazing. Cameron just knows his stuff. He's so fun to talk to.

Speaker 1: 28:13

He's been there for a number of years.

Speaker 2: 28:15

He's super, super great. So ask for Cameron, if you, if, when you go.

Speaker 1: 28:20

Yes, when you go.

Speaker 2: 28:21

Yes, to have your adventure with Ace Adventures. What do you think about your tubing experience, Rory? Just talk about the tubing part of it.

Speaker 1: 28:27

Yeah, it was super cool. We love waterfalls and rivers going across these big rocks and boulders and stuff. But I've always wondered what it would be like you see the water sluice through these little narrow areas and shoot out the other end and I thought, oh, it'd be so fun to like a water slide, whoop, like, shoot through that. That's what we did. It was so cool. It's things I've thought about. But growing up, where I grew up, there were no big boulders and rocks and rapids.

Speaker 2: 28:52

There were no cliffs to jump off of right and, as you're there, it is so beautiful just the scenery and the setting and you wouldn't be able to experience all of that from a hike. Now you can hike around that area, but seeing it from the river's point of view getting into the river being in the river is an amazing way to experience the area and this beautiful scenery that was going on and Rory really loved the fact that it was kind of hazy.

Speaker 1: 29:24

Yeah, it was like going back in time. I was expecting guys in kilts to come out of the woods with swords and it was some kind of clan. It was really, really cool. Yeah, like stepping back in time, and I gotta say, the cliff jumping it was a challenge for me again.

Speaker 2: 29:43

You know earlier we've talked about rory's uh love with heights.

Speaker 1: 29:46

Yeah, my love hey relationship with heights uh, certain heights kind of freak me standing on the cliff was no big deal. Jumping off the cliff the first one, okay it was, you know it was low.

Speaker 2: 29:58

They start you off smaller yeah and so you, you know, try. They try to just get you more comfortable yeah, and so the second one for me.

Speaker 1: 30:06

It took me a long time to get the guts to jump off. Finally he said okay, I'm gonna ask you a question Jump or no? Jump, yes or no? He was fed up. He was patient, though really patient. So finally I got up the nerve and I jumped off the cliff.

Speaker 2: 30:23

He did so good. I was so proud of him.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Oh yeah. So they're in between the areas where the rapids are, where you're riding your tube through, there are these cliffs where the water settles and there are deep pools, so you got plenty of deep water to jump off the cliff into, and those are the places we would tube. And they would climb up on top of this thing and he would challenge us to jump off and, of course, and we, we've never jumped any cliffs no and so across them or off of them or anything, and I don't know.

Speaker 2: 30:56

I think it was fun.

Speaker 1: 30:58

Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker 2: 30:59

I'm trying to think what was it like? It was fun and I'm just glad we did it. We made ourselves do something out of our comfort zone.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Something totally new.

Speaker 2: 31:11

Something totally new and it was a cool, fun experience. It was an adventure.

Speaker 1: 31:14

It was an ace adventure.

Speaker 3: 31:16

Yeah, it was a cool, fun experience. It was an adventure I mean truly ace adventure.

Speaker 1: 31:18

Yeah, it was an ace adventure. One really cool thing, too is, after our most excellent adventure that we went on, you go back and they have showers, so you strip off all your gear that they gave you, that they suited you up in, you shower and you're ready to go.

Speaker 2: 31:38

And I got to say adventuring works up quite an appetite. Yes, we had a pretty awesome food day that day, didn't we rory?

Speaker 1: 31:42

it was my favorite food day. Yeah, it was like every meal was.

Speaker 2: 31:47

All the food was good, right that we had, but like this day especially, just had some magic to it. I think, yeah. And to top it off with your very, very, very favorite, the Old Mill Inn.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Yeah, my favorite meal it was the Old Mill Inn had really good food.

Speaker 2: 32:02

They care highly about their food and the Scottish would think that they had smaller portions, but we kind of felt like they were just right.

Speaker 1: 32:10

It was plenty. Yeah, it was was plenty. I got the venison steak. Amazing, they get their own venison, they prepare it their own way, they age it and all this kind of stuff all right there in house. It was fabulous.

Speaker 2: 32:25

Just I mean, you could cut it with a fork almost and I had this really unique dish and they were so accommodating. It was already kind of a vegetarian dish, but they still also, like, tailored it to some of my weird taste and left, you know, customized it and it was so, so good. Everything was just pristine and, um, I want to say like fancy.

Speaker 1: 32:51

And it was a little bit more of a fancy restaurant than the other ones we had been to.

Speaker 2: 32:56

Right, it still kind of has like a pub vibe, but like an elegant pub.

Speaker 1: 33:01

It's not uptight yeah it's not uptight, you go in and it's a little more of an elegant atmosphere and you have great food. So if you're looking for a quiet night, right, and they put it into an old pub. So if you're looking for a quiet night in a more of an elegant pub atmosphere.

Speaker 2: 33:17

Right, oh, and we had dessert.

Speaker 1: 33:20

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:21

Y'all like we were Scottish again, Apparently, you know. There was no haggis involved with the dessert there was no haggis with the dessert, but apparently it's super Scottish to have this sticky toffee, I think is what they called it yeah, sticky toffee pudding or something they do, a gluten-free version which generally makes it more moist, depending on your approach to gluten-free cooking, which theirs is spot on.

Speaker 1: 33:44

Man, they've thought about everything they do.

Speaker 2: 33:46

I even liked it better than the chocolate that we also tried, and I love chocolate, and the chocolate was amazing, and so the sticky toffee was even, in our opinion, both even better, and we just felt so proud that, again, we were so scottish yeah, they work their recipes until they have them exactly like.

Speaker 2: 34:06

Yes, they take a lot of pride in their menu. Yeah, for sure. And that was such a great ending to have such a nice meal on a very last night in Muddy Space Side. We had to catch a train to England. The next morning we stayed again at the Bergey Woodland Lodges and enjoyed the hot tub one more time.

Speaker 1: 34:25

Yeah, it's great it's out in the countryside, it's quiet, such peaceful sleep. Plus, you know, like you said, they got the hot tub.

Speaker 2: 34:35

So we hope you enjoyed hearing about our itinerary as much as we enjoyed experiencing it. And when you book your next trip to. Scotland. You must visit Muddy Spaceside, and so we are going to have all of the contact info that you need on our show notes for all of these things that we talked about, but you definitely want to visit muddyspacesidecom, so it is M-O-R-A-Y-S-P-E-Y-S-I-D-Ecom.

Speaker 1: 35:09

For us Americans it looks like wwwmorayspacesidecom.

Speaker 2: 35:16

And again, we will have all of that in the show notes. So please visit the show notes so that you can go to all of the social links for each of the places we visited.

Speaker 1: 35:24

Okay, now, through the magic of the online internet, which no one really understands, we are going to ask David and Gemma to ask this to answer the second trivia question that we asked way back the beginning of episode one part one yes, part one, episode two, two, eight okay yeah, we threw out the second trivia question to you and now David and Gemma are going to ask it.

Speaker 2: 35:51

What is the question?

Speaker 6: 35:52

do you?

Speaker 1: 35:52

know they're going to answer it. Do you know what city is the host of the Fringe, the world's largest arts?

Speaker 3: 35:59

The Fringe Festival is held in the city of Edinburgh.

Speaker 4: 36:04

Edinburgh is where they host the Fringe. That's Edinburgh. I used to live in Edinburgh and I used to go to the Fringe quite a lot when it was on. It is a brilliant festival.

Speaker 2: 36:16

Now, David, is that like a good road trip to go from Murray Spaceside to?

Speaker 4: 36:18

Edinburgh. It isn't too long of a drive. For me personally it probably is a long drive as a Scots person. It's about three hours from Forest to Edinburgh, so it is quite a long drive, but I don't think it would be that long a drive for Americans. That's like nothing for you guys. So it's a brilliant trip out. There's free festivals, there's some really big celebrity names that go along to every single year and it's just a brilliant, brilliant, like day out. You can go to get up in the morning at nine o'clock, go to a free show, you get handed millions of leaflets, so you have a pick of a bunch. You can pop into the National Museum, which was one of our favorite things to do, or the Botanical Gardens in between shows and then you can stay out, go for lunch and then in the evening go to another show and you can sort of really make your day your own, depending on what you're into. So yeah, it's a brilliant day.

Speaker 2: 37:14

We hope that we have inspired you to go visit Scotland. Experience something brand new, go off the beaten path.

Speaker 1: 37:21

You will not regret it. And, like we said, there is so much we didn't get to do, so much more to see and experience and do there.

Speaker 2: 37:30

We got our bucket list for next time.

Speaker 1: 37:31

Make sure you book your trip. As a matter of fact, right now you should go to MuddySpacesidecom and get started planning and booking your adventure in Muddy Spaceside. Muddy Spaceside, muddy Spaceside.

Speaker 2: 37:50

We hope we've inspired you this episode, so join us next time. Please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or you know whomever? And please like and follow us on Instagram, youtube and Facebook.

Speaker 1: 38:01

We are also on X and on all social platforms. We are at TheRomies, that's T-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our main hub is our website at wwwtheromyscom, that's right, that's D-H-E-R-O-A-M.

Speaker 2: 38:18

I-E-S dot com. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening. Bye you, you, you, you.