We had another tour with a kilted Scotsman. This time it was Bob Grant with Invergordon Tours. Bob was quite the character, full of excellent stories about the region as well as his own colorful life.
Our first stop was Cawdor Castle, a traditional Scottish Castle that has been in use by the Cawdor family since the late 14th century.
The medieval tower was built around a holly tree that they didn’t want to remove. Tradition states that a donkey, loaded with gold, laid down to rest under this tree, and like “X marks the spot”, the castle was built there. The tree died in 1372 due to lack of sunlight. Maybe they didn’t understand trees needed sunlight back then?
I thought this display of muskets was pretty cool.
The gardens of the castle were particularly beautiful!
We could have spent a lot more time exploring here.
This would make for an excellent AirBnb!
Their bird feeder is very unique!
Our next stop was Balnuaran of Clava, a group of Bronze Age cairns that are burial tombs. There are about 50 of these around Inverness. but these are the most visited.
Our guide Bob told us that just a few years ago he’d bring somebody here and they’d be the only group. Then the TV show Outlander premiered, and the place has been over-run ever since. We watched the first episode, but I still remember this rock, which was supposed to be up on a hill. So much for that! Bob is displaying the method to go back to the past, by pushing on the rock. Everybody was taking his photo, including people not with our group. The kilt rocks!
The best preserved of the cairns is Clava Cairn. We saw a lot of these cairns in Ireland.
Our guide wasn’t overly enthusiastic about bringing us to the Culloden battlefield…since it was the site of a terrible defeat by the Scots. Insert sad face emoji here.
The below sign shows the two lines of battle, the Government forces (the English) versus the Jacobites (the Scots pushing for freedom). This was the final battle in the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and the Jacobites suffered a stinging defeat.
The battle occurred on on April 16, 1746. The red flags depict where the English lined up. About 300 meters to the west are blue flags depicting the line of the Jacobites, but the final battle happened near this line of red flags. The battle only lasted an hour, and 1500-2000 Jacobites were killed or wounded, while the better supplied and more rested English only suffered about 300 killed or wounded.
Every stone that protrudes from the wall of the visitor center depicts a Jacobite that was killed in the battle.
On to a lighter note, at our next stop we found this chain-mail depiction of a Hairy Coo very cute. It’s worth noting we have not seen a Hairy Coo on this entire trip. Where are they hiding them?
A life-long dream come true…I am on Loch Ness! For those that aren’t aware, I grew up with a poster about the Loch Ness Monster on my bedroom wall, and have always wanted to visit this site. Not a sign of Nessy, just as I expected. A beautiful spot regardless.
About halfway up the Loch we got off the ferry at the ruins of Urquhart Castle.
The castle ruins date from the 13th through 16th centuries, although they were built on fortifications that are even older. The castle played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century.
The castle was abandoned in the mid 17th century, where it started to fall into ruins. It was purposely destroyed in 1692 to keep it from being used by the Jacobite forces. Everything in Scotland seems to come full circle at some point.
By the 1770’s the castle was roofless. The country started making repairs in 1913, and completed them in 1922, to the condition that we see them in today.
One last shot looking back towards the Loch from just below the visitor center.
The sun broke out on the coast of Edinburgh as we departed. This was the view from our suite. You can see from the handrail we had a wee bit of rain just before departure.
Our next stop was Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, the northern most part of Scotland. I’m way behind…writing this from Reykjavik, Iceland! Too much stuff to do!