day 13 - around Inverness (ish)

[vampyresheep]

Another day of more traditional Scottish summer weather – cloudy! - we decided to spend the day visiting castles.

Firstly we had a wander round the Victorian Market in Inverness and found a cafe for breakfast. 

After that, set off out of Inverness along the Moray coastline to get to Brodie Castle.  En-route we saw a sign for Broath Doocote, so decided to check that out first.  Ended up in a quiet car-park around the back of a residential area and had to traipse up an overgrown track with no signs to get to the Doocote (dovecote).  Most of the information signs were missing; apparently this was a 17^th C structure built on a famous battlesite but there was nothing there to tell us of this.  A bit of a wasted detour really, particularly as we had to pass this again on the way back anyway.

  

Carried on to Brodie Castle, a miracle that we actually found it, given the horrendously bad signage!

 

National Trust for Scotland is still a pretty old fashioned affair and this site was no exception.  Sadly no photos indoors (can't even find any online to add to this post) and it was guided tour only within the castle.  However this turned out to be very interesting, with an amiable tour guide who enjoyed his job.   It was a beautiful castle too,  owned for about 4 Centuries by the same clan and gradually extended and updated by each generation.  I particularly loved the Scottish take on Baroque in some of the drawing rooms. 

 90 minutes later we emerged out of the castle and had a quick picnic in the grounds.

 

Headed back towards Inverness to visit Cawdor Castle, allegedly the home/inspiration for Macbeth – to be believed with a large pinch of salt! 

This castle was still privately owned and quite a contrast from Brodie. 
   

 
A beautiful dramatic looking exterior, quite how a castle should look, but with an interior of Scottish chintz; more tartan than you could shake a stick at. 

In contrast, the tour ended at the Thorn room, set in the basement next to the dungeon, this round room contained nothing but a thorn tree spotlit in the middle of the room, around which the castle was apparently built.

We then had a wander round the gardens, which were very lovely although sadly the maze was closed to the public.

    

   

one might, at this stage, wonder if Rob knows my camera has a zoom lense ;-P
 

the pretty wildflower garden and stream, hidden behind a "secret door"
 

 

 

 

After this, we still had time to nip to Culloden.  I'd been recommended to visit this by a work colleague but have to confess to knowing little about it's history and therefore not greatly interested.  However, it really was surprisingly impressive.

You started off in the Exhibition centre, which gave the history of the build up to the battle; as told by the Government along one wall and the Jacobites on the opposite; the tension building up until you arrived at the "theatre", where you got surrounded by 4 screens showing a dramatisation of the battle from all angles, all around you.  Rather well done.

This then led you to the exit out onto Culloden Moor itself and we were given GPS tour-guides.  These were way too complicated for their own good.

  Rob struggled from the start, whereas mine just gave up and thought i'd finished the tour!

We decided to just wander around the site, hoping there would be information boards when suddenly Rob's GPS decided to work, so I shared his to listen to the tour.

Expecting just an empty field, it was more moving than I thought it would be.  Flags showed where the opposing sides lined up, in the centre was a large stone memorial to those who died and running up to this were markers for the mass graves of the various clans who died on the battlefield, including the Well of the Dead where one of the Clan Chiefains met his end.  Over 1500 Jacobites died, compared to just 50 Government/English soldiers!
 

 

 

 

 

We finished off at a reconstruction of a typical farmhouse which would have been on the site and then up onto the roof of the exhibition centre to see an overview of it all.

 

By the time we'd finished, the place was about to close.  We decided to head to Dores to finish off the day, to find a good viewpoint on the south bank of Loch Ness.  Turned out the best view was in Dores itself, in the pub garden!  Unfortunately they were fully booked for meals inside, so we had a quick beer in the garden, looking out at the view and went down to the beach area of the loch. 

Who says Loch Ness is unattractive – the clouds were lifting, creating a wonderful layered misty effect on the surrounding moutains, rather atmospheric.

 

   

sadly, Travel Dragon was in the hotel this day, so couldn't come to Loch Ness :-(

 

As we couldn't get food here, headed back to the Castle Tavern in Inverness, where unlike my usual habits, I ordered exactly the same as the day before, Haggis!

and more of day 14 photos are still here

Comments

[demonmoonglow.livejournal.com]

no monster?

[vampyresheep.livejournal.com]

alas, no!
Although, joking aside, I did see something really large in Loch Tay a few days later. It was probably a pike or something but from our view from a road above the loch, it was pretty massive!