In the County of Caithness, Scotland, the northern area, you will find the town of Wick. It is in this town that you will also find the World’s shortest street; it measures 2 yards and 9 inches and is comprised of one doorway. This street has now qualified for the Guinness Book of Records, but previously it did not, as there was no complete postal address.
Wick or in Gaelic “Inbhir Uige” crosses the River Wick and both the sides of Wick Bay, so it is an estuary town on the North Sea. It has a very small population of around 8 000 people. This town is on a main road, or if you like highway; that links John o’ Groats with Britain and it also has an airport of sorts.
The history of this town goes back to when the Scandanavians ruled Caithness. This rule ended in 1266, and it is believe that the name of the town derives from the Norse as “Vik” means bay. Strangely enough this tiny town has a diplomatic mission; there is only one of these and it just so happens to be a Danish consulate. The Castle of Old Wick was built in the 12th century by Harald Maddadsson, a Norwegian earl, all that remains of this today is one tall tower, however there is apparently evidence that the site was occupied before the castle was built.
In the 1800’s Wick was developed as a fishing town, to support the herring boom of the time, and the Wick Heritage Museum houses a collection which preserves this history. Many of the fisher-men at this time also worked in the whiskey distillery, bringing the malt into the distillery by sea and taking the whiskey out again by the same route.
The Old Pulteney Distillery in Wick is the malt whiskey production facility, it was established in 1826. It is worth paying a visit to the visitor centre in Huddart Street. The distillery makes “Old Pulteney Single Malt Whisky” at various ages, so if you can get a taste of this elixir of the gods of Scotland, your visit will have been worthwhile. Its exposure to sea air during the maturation process is one of the characteristics which make this Highland single-malt Scotch so excellent.