Lowland Whisky by Bus – Glenkinchie and Princes Street
A day by bus and on foot, from Edinburgh and back.
The route
Glenkinchie is a Lowland distillery of red brick, with two copper stills and a garden by a stream, set in East Lothian farmland south of Pencaitland.
It is one of the Four Corners of Scotland, the set of four distilleries whose malts go into Johnnie Walker, and this is a day there and back from Edinburgh without a car. Haddington, a market town on the River Tyne, is where the buses meet. The old department store at the west end of Princes Street is now the whisky's home in the city.
Before you go
Book a Glenkinchie tour that starts soon after your 123 arrives and lasts about an hour and a quarter; the distillery opens Tuesday to Saturday.
Book Johnnie Walker Princes Street
Book the Princes Street tour for the late afternoon, after the X7 is due back, and be at the door fifteen minutes early.
The day
Glenkinchie
A day in two halves, the first among the fields of East Lothian and the second above the rooftops of Edinburgh. The morning bus leaves Princes Street for Haddington and the quiet country beyond it, and the afternoon one comes back to the street it set out from. The day ends on the roof, with the castle across the gardens.
Glenkinchie Distillery
An attraction
Glenkinchie opens Tuesday to Saturday. Take the X7 towards Dunbar from stop PD on Princes Street (west), one due in Haddington at least half an hour before the late-morning 123. That bus leaves stop B on the High Street, four minutes' walk east, for the distillery's gate. Pay by contactless or exact cash, and check the day's times with Lothian Buses. A tour longer than an hour and a quarter means waiting for the next 123, so check its length as you book. Inside are two copper stills and a 1925 scale model.
5 min on foot
Haddington
The 123 carries on round its loop to stop A on Haddington's High Street, about 25 minutes. Lunch is at the Loft, a café behind the Corn Exchange, open Monday to Saturday until 4pm; the Waterside Bistro by the river is second choice: check it's open. The Nungate Bridge, a 16th-century crossing of the Tyne, is 5 minutes' walk from the High Street. Allow about an hour and a half for both, then take the X7 for Edinburgh from stop A, about every half hour: check the day's times.
50 min by bus, 4 min on foot
Johnnie Walker Princes Street
An attraction
It's about 50 minutes by bus to Princes Street, then 4 minutes' walk west to the Hope Street corner. This was Binns department store, and its corner clock sends out painted Highland figures. Book a tour for about an hour and a half after your X7 is due in, to allow for a missed bus. Latecomers may not be admitted and are not refunded. Tours take no under-8s; bring photo ID if you look under 25. The shop and the 1820 roof bar need no ticket; check the bar's hours.
If it rains
Nearly all of this day is under a roof, so rain changes little. At Glenkinchie the garden is the only part out of doors, and the bus stop is at the gate. In Haddington, leave the Nungate Bridge for a dry day and stay at the Loft, 5 minutes from the stop for the bus back. On Princes Street the tour, the shop and the bar are all indoors; only the tables out on the roof terrace depend on the weather, and the bar has seats inside.
Worth a detour
- Haddington Riverside Walk
With half an hour more in Haddington, the short walk to the Nungate Bridge can be made a round. The Haddington Riverside Walk runs from the High Street to the Nungate Bridge and along the River Tyne past St Mary's Church, coming back through Neilson Park. It is a mile and a quarter on surfaced paths and pavements and takes about half an hour. The X7 runs about every half hour, so it means the bus after the one you planned on: move the Princes Street tour to match.
- St Mary's Church, Haddington
St Mary's stands 3 minutes' walk from the Nungate Bridge, along the river. The church welcomes visitors from 1 May to 30 September and at Easter, on most afternoons from 1.30pm to 4pm, which suits the hour after lunch. For the rest of the year it is shut to visitors and is seen from outside. The church dates from the 14th century and was restored in 1971.
Make it a weekend
More days out in East Lothian.
Photograph by Ken Massingham via Google