Inverness

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Inverness Arrival

June 28- 29

We left Boston’s highly avoidable Logan airport at 6:00 pm for Dublin on Aer Lingus. After a 2-hour layover at the even more avoidable gate 337, which is somewhere deep in the lifeless bowels of Dublin airport we flew on a small, highly turbulent prop plane to Glasgow. From Glasgow we took a 30- minute bus to the Queen St. train station. I had read that there was a free shuttle to this train station from the airport. Even though I read that on the internet, it turned out to not be true! It cost 17 pounds for the two of us.

At the train station we collected our advanced-purchased ”anytime” tickets from the kiosk and hopped on a train that was leaving in 10 minutes for Inverness. Great timing. On board, we found an open seat, threw our duffel bags and backpacks in the luggage vestibule and settled in for the 3-hour trip. We engaged a friendly local next to us named Martin who gave us some local tips. A train change in Perth, and then on to Inverness.

We arrived at Inverness train station around 12:30 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We grabbed our bags and walked the 8 minutes to our lodging at the Castle View Guesthouse. This is located right in down town, and on the River Ness, with commanding view of Inverness Castle. Our friendly and helpful host Eleanor greeted us. We were a little early, and our room wasn’t quite ready, so Eleanor offered us a larger room, which was ready and had a cancellation, for the same price. We took it. In all, it was a 13-hour trip from Boston to Inverness.

June 29

We walked along River Ness about 10 minutes from the guesthouse to the European Bagpipe Championships which were being held in Inverness that weekend. There were endless bagpipe teams playing everywhere. So much so, that we opted not to pay to go in and just enjoy the sights and sounds outside the fair.

After about 30 minutes hanging around the competition grounds, we walked to downtown Inverness to explore. Downtown is vibrant, historic, and full of choices for food, drink, and music. We wandered into the Black Isle Bar for pizza and beers. We found a couple of open stools at a shared table and enjoyed great conversation with some locals who educated us on Scottish Highland pride and independence. The niche pizza  here was truly outstanding, and the tasty microbrews are made just a few miles away at the Black Isle Brewery. We stayed for about an hour. After walking around a little longer admiring the architecture and the river we went to our room to rest a bit before dinner.

With the bagpipe competition in town it was difficult finding any place to eat dinner. We ended up at dinner just on the other side of the river from our guesthouse, at the Riverside restaurant for the sole reason that there was an open table. Though simple fare, it caters to the locals, and it was good, plus we got a table by the window with a view of the river and good for people watching. It turned out to be just the right spot for us on this first night after a long day.

June 30 – Inverness Castle, Culloden, Fort George

Woke up to a wonderful English breakfast at the guesthouse. Well, we said it was English, but our host Eleanor clarified that it was a Scottish breakfast. That was our second taste of Scottish Highland pride and English separation. We sat at a second-floor window in the dining area with a view of the river and Inverness Castle.

After breakfast we headed into town to explore. We first went into Inverness Castle. The inside of the castle itself was underwhelming as we were privy to very little of it. But we got some good history lessons and a fantastic view of Inverness from atop the tower…definitely a must-do in Inverness.

It was Sunday, and so we could not find a car to rent, and there is no Uber or Lyft in Inverness. So, in order to get as much in on this day before our bout tour of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle the next day, we paid a lot of money and hired a private car and driver through a tour outfit downtown. We would likely never get back to Inverness again, so what the heck. Our driver/tour guide was a friendly, older gentleman named Dougie.

We headed out of downtown on a 4-hour tour to visit the Culloden Battlefield, Balnuaran Clava Cairns, and Fort George. Along the road we also saw an amazing viaduct which Dougie told us we travelled over when we were on the train from Perth.

The Culloden Battlefield is the site of the last battle ever to take place on Scottish soil, which was between the Jacobites and British government forces. The battle ended the Jacobite uprising and set the tone for the still-current animosities between the Highlanders and the rest of Scotland and England. We walked the Battlefield Trail. It had the same kind of unexpected emotional impact we felt when we walked the battle trail at Little Big Horn in Wyoming. So many people died (mostly Jacobites), and families decimated here. We were rained on during the trail walk, but it seemed so unimportant when considering what the people in this brutal battle went through. The Visitors Center and museum were also very good, with a great deal of well presented information on the history of the Jacobites.

The rain subsided and the weather remained in the 50s with overcast skies the rest of the day. In other words, a typical Scottish Highland summer day.

We headed to the Balnuaran Clava Cairns next, just minutes from Culloden. These are Stonehenge like stone formations build many centuries ago, yet still standing. They are thought to be both sacred burial grounds and a farming calendar to indicate planting time based on the angle of the sun’s shadow and light hitting them. These were very cool, and definitely worth the visit. Though the Culloden Battlefield was crowded, there were hardly any people here at the Cairns…a real hidden jem.

We finished the tour at Fort George. This vast army fortress about 10 miles north of Inverness is impressive in its grandness, sloping grassy banks inside, drawbridge and dry moat, and ravelin fortification entrance. The grounds, along with its cannons, dog cemetery, and ramparts and walls overlooking the ocean with dolphins swimming around were really amazing (if not somewhat dangerous for walking). But also amazing is the Highlander’s Museum inside the fort. The hundreds of exhibits include uniforms, weapons, medals, First World War pictures, paintings, memorabilia and regimental regalia. Displays include the history of the regiments and their links to Scottish clans. We could have spent another hour just in this great museum, but we had to get going since we were hitting the end of our 4-hours with Dougie who was waiting for us at the car.

We got back to downtown Inverness in time for dinner. Revolution restaurant was recommended to us by a person coming out of the restaurant. It had decent food. I had a double pattie cheeseburger, Em had her first fish n’ chips in Scotland. Service was so-so…not too engaging and somewhat stuffy wait staff, but competent.

After dinner we strolled the Ness Islands per recommendation from or host Eleanor. The islands are reachable via bridges from either side of the River Ness, and the loop walk in total took about an hour. These are heavily treed narrow islands with paved walkways and decorative lighting. We had no idea there were such huge trees in this area. We came across one downed tree that that was made to look like the Loch Ness Monster, which of course was a must photo-op for Emilie.

Our last stop for exploring tonight was at a creepy but cool cemetery at church in town where Culloden Battle Jacobite prisoners were executed. We found a bullet hole and the gravestone that was used by the executioner to set his rifle barrel upon when doing the deed.

Then we went to capped the night at MacGregors pub (as recommended to us by a patron eating dinner at a table next to us at Revolution). This was a great spot. We listed to some great traditional music by a trio of fiddle, piano, and acoustic guitar. It was such the definitively Scottish pub. A mix of locals and tourists drinking and enjoying the music. Ironically, we met a young woman at the bar who was travelling alone and who was a theater professor at Holy Cross in Worcester…. what a small world!

 

Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

July 1

Breakfast at our guesthouse. We then hopped a City Sightseeing tour bus to Dochgarrochfor Lock about 3 miles away to do the 3-hour “Mini Rebellion” boat tour of Loch Ness with an hour stop at Urquhart Castle. We did this with Loch Ness by Jacobite tours. Though we tried, we never did pay for the bus ride getting there or getting back. It didn’t seem all that important to the driver. Weather was overcast all day and in upper 50s, but it only rained on us when on the boat on return trip.

The lake tour was nice but if the monster doesn’t make an appearance, which it didn’t, It’s really just a lake. The surrounding green landscape is quite beautiful, though, and it is kind of a bucket list thing. The guide over the speaker was fun, so extra points for that.

However, it was the stop at Urquhart Castle that was worth it all. The ruins and grounds are impressively beautiful and well worth the visit. There were bagpipers and dancers performing, adding to the authenticity of the ambiance around the castle. The only drag was that there were a lot of tourists who arrived around the same time we did. We fortunately got into the main section of the castle ruins ahead of the hordes, but they caught up to us eventually. Still, a great stop. We could have spent more than the allotted hour to see more of the Visitors Center, but it was good enough to see the Castle and grounds.

 

When we got back to downtown Inverness, we had lunch at Encore Pub around corner from guesthouse. Em had a great steak and ale pie. This place had great service with a friendly, engaging server, and a comfortably homey feel. There was a laundromat next door so we did laundry after lunch. We have learned in our travels that when the opportunity to laundry presents itself…do it.

We napped for an hour and then met up with our friends who we were going hiking with (John, Ann, and John’s son Charlie) for dinner at White House, downtown. These were the friends we made on our Alaska hiking trip with Backroads the previous summer. Dinner was adequate but nothing memorable to speak of.

After dinner we all went to the Black Isle Bar where we got pizza the first day here for a drink.

Then off to bed to end our Inverness adventure.

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