Sadly we farewelled “Sonya” and headed north.
First stop was the site of the Battle of Culloden which was not, as we had previously believed, a battle between the English and the Scots but was a civil war based on religious lines with clans on both sides.
The visitors center was very good and well worth a visit. It was freezing cold so we didn’t walk the battlefield but instead went into an active display where you stand in the middle and all four walls run a film on the battle. It starts off with the troops lined up on the ridges in the distance and finishes with you in the thick of the battle. Very graphic and quite disturbing. The battle only lasted an hour and was a massacre. A good example of how not to run a campaign with Bonny Prince Charlie and his commanders in disagreement all the way along
From there we headed to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. All the old castles are, of course, located on hilltops, lakesides etc. for defensive purposes so the scenes are uniformly spectacular. . Urquhart Castle has a long history dating back to the Picts. It was blown up by the last inhabitants who, sick of defending it against the Lords of the Isles, the MacDonalds, and others, blew it up and retreated south to their other estates. Hence the ruins which are still impressive.
Loch Ness is a lot bigger than I had imagined – you could hide a lot of monsters in there and no doubt they are all swimming up and down laughing at us, but we didn’t see one. A few whiskeys would surely be needed to help my eyesight.
We stayed the night in Inverness in an 1876 Mansion House owned, unsurprisingly by a MacDonald. Lovely spacious room but their restaurant was a bit mixed. To (Ed) my amazement (somewhat tinged by nostalgia) I saw that my “medium rare” rump steak had been hammered and well done a la Mrs. Paul. No more steaks while in UK.
Next day on to Isle of Skye via a more northerly route to see more of the Highlands