Highlands: Day 1 (Inverlochy to Inverness)

NOTE: These tour posts were originally written in a notebook as everything was happening. So they'll seem kind of random, jumping from one thing to another. There was a lot of information and places to cover! Thank goodness I did because I never would have remembered it all! Since it was two very busy days I think I'll break them into 4 posts to make them a little more manageable!

So this is Day 1, Part 2! (missed Part 1?)
Monday, Feb 11 (Continued)

Inverlochy Castle

Next Inverlochy, where the ruins of Inverlochy Castle remain after the Battle of Inverlochy. We've been very fortunate to have such a clear day. While we can't see the top of Ben Nevis, we see more than most tours are able to. We made a pit stop at Speanbridge Mill. Next we saw the Commando Memorial for the special forces that train in the area. This entire area is known as the Great Glen. Loch Lochy is the first loch of Great Glen. We left Cameron country and entered MacDonnell country. A small weak clan, they joined the MacDonalds as a sect of their clan. 

The Commando Memorial overlooking the Great Glen

We stopped at the Seven Heads monument. Seven Councilmen tried to betray their clan and their headless bodies were thrown down the well. An excavation in the 1800s proved the fact in the legend. It was situated beside Loch Oich. Further along we entered the town of Fort Augustus and came upon Loch Ness. We got off the bus by the water and took some pictures. No monsters but we have a 26 miles drive along the banks of the Loch so plenty of time to catch a peek! As we drove along, our guide put on Led Zepplin. Apparently Jimmy Page had lived on Loch Ness for a time. Earlier he had put on Paolo Nutini for Glasgow and Gaelic music for the rest of our drive. The next stop will be Urquhart Castle or the ruins of it because it was burnt down in a fire. It was closed so we just got some pictures of it from the parking lot above. We drove through Drumnadrochit with their Nessieland. We pulled in the Loch Ness Visitor Centre and got some pictures with "Nessie". It's the same one that my family got pictures with 15 years ago!

Seven Heads Monument

Loch Ness (AKA The most boring loch we've seen on the tour)

Urquhart Castle

Me and Nessie - 2013
(unfortunately handing off fancy cameras to others gets you unfocused...)

It was getting a bit dusky and we're hoping to make it up to Inverness before nightfall. We ended up driving around Inverness in low light. It looks like a nice city. We even saw a Chinese New Year celebration. Dave said the Chinese population here is very small so these folks are probably from Glasgow. He dropped me and a women named Terri (from Sydney, Australia) at the hostel and told us they'd pick us up at 9am the next day. The couple from Manitoba, the couple from Hong Kong, and Dave, our guide were staying at at B&B.

Drive-by of Inverness and Chinese New Year Celeberations

After settling in at the hostel, Terri and I decided to go out exploring. It was dark but Dave had said there was a path across the Ness Islands (here in the River Ness), which was all lit up nice. He said it was actually a better walk at night so off we went. I wasn't terribly impressed with the "lights" but the walk was quite nice. We made our way back & went to the Castle Tavern. It was a pub right next to our hostel and recommended by Dave. I got a veggie burger (cheapest meal on the menu). The patty was literally a breaded, fried exterior filled with peas, carrots, and corn all in mash potatoes (!!?!?). Tasty but unexpected. 

Some of the nicer lights along our walk

The Castle Tavern

We came back to the hostel after some nice conversations over dinner. I had a quick FaceTime with my family to check-in but then it was time to get ready for bed. I also had to delete some photos. I only had 150 left for tomorrow because I've been taking RAW format too. I also would like to walk around with Terri tomorrow before we leave at 9 and explore Inverness.