Inverness and the Highlands

We arrived in Inverness after a day full of road trip stops and found a home in a new hostel. We were happy to cook and rest in preparation for our next big day out, this one with substantially less driving.

We took it slow getting ready to go in the morning so we could all sleep in a bit and have a good breakfast before we made the 15 minute drive to Culloden Moor.

This is the site of the last stand of the Jacobite uprising of 1745-6, and the last pitched battle fought on the island of Great Britain. The museum here has an interesting format: in each gallery the right hand side share the event from the perspective of the Jacobites (supporters of the Stewart's claim to the throne), the left hand side presents the government/Hanoverian viewpoint.

The kids obviously liked the costumes, but they also liked the immersive movie experience room. We picked up a packet for kids that had us hunting all over for clues so we could fill in the answers and earn the all important certificate of completion. It was legitimately pretty hard.

We joined a guided walk around the battlefield, which I think provided much needed context. Maybe not as much fun for the kiddos, but I don't think we'd have gotten much out of our visit with out it. The guide was quite good and the grown ups managed to learn a thing or two.

Along one wall of the museum there are protruding bricks commemorating the casualties, one section for the government (50), the rest for the Jacobites, about 3,000 dead. In a 45 minute battle.

The Battle of Culloden was an unintentional blunder--no one would ever have chosen the boggy moor for a fight--and it was the nail in the coffin for the uprising, but honestly before this the Jacobites were insanely close to winning the civil war. 

The end of the uprising was also the end of highland clan culture as it they knew it. Even though there were English and lowland Scot Jacobites, the government took their vengeance on the highlanders. Bagpipes, tartan, kilts, and weapons were all outlawed.

I know I managed to get a lot of photos of Culloden that make it look like we were the only ones there, but it was actually quite busy. Since leaving Edinburgh, this is the first place we visited where I felt like we were back in the tourist factory. The museum is built to handle lots of visitors and the parking lot had more than a few tour buses in it. We still managed to have a good time and Arthur fell in love with a Nessie stuffed animal at the gift shop, so she obviously came home with us.

After visiting the battlefield, museum, and a nice picnic lunch, we went to another nearby site: Clava Cairns

Just a couple miles from Culloden is a terrific (and free) Neolithic burial/ceremonial site. These cairns are 4,000 years old.

 There are two passage way cairns and one closed cairn; the entrances to the two passageway cairns line up with the setting sun on the winter solstice.

It is a beautiful and evocative place, very peaceful. I find myself so curious about these early Scots and what they believed and how they lived. All we have left of them are these stones, so all we know about them is from how they treated their honored dead.

Paul was really feeling the druidic wizard vibes:

We took a good rest and then made a half mile drive down the lane to Leanach Farms for what was--according to Paul and George--the best part of the trip. Here we met farmer Ian and his remarkable sheep dogs: Lad and Patch.

Ian offered to give Paul and George a ride in his little vehicle to the field where we would get to see what he and his dogs to do.

Paul's big bucket list item of meeting a highland cow was achieved, Ian had two beautiful hairy coos.

I'm told the shaggy fringe protects their eyes from rain and bugs, I wondered if George's hair would do the same for him.

Ian's grandson drove some sheep over on his four wheeler and then the first dog set out to strut his stuff. Lad is a young border collie and only partially trained. He's for sale if you're wondering and you've got a spare £4,500. He needed commands to be repeated at times, but really quite impressive and full of energy.

We next got to see Patch do her work, she was much more precise, had more complex commands and managed to get the sheep exactly where Ian wanted them with very slight movements. She could even divide the little flock in two and then herd both at the same time without losing any.

Once all the sheep were guided into the little pen, Patch settled in for her reward: belly scritches.

Everyone had a good time (though Arthur was chilly since he refused a jacket) but George LOVED that doggo.

As the demonstration wrapped up and the other visitors started to trickle away, Ian asked if the kids would like to feed his pygmy goats. An easy yes. And would we like to meet the lambs in the barn. Again, of course!

We were joined by a whole gaggle of Ian's sweet little visiting grand kids and they introduced our boys the kennels and the other half dozen dogs Ian has trained/is training. 

When we started seeing a few drops of rain, we took that as our queue to say good-bye to this lovely family farm and head back to our hostel for dinner. I wanted to see a bit of Inverness itself, so we took a little walk around town and along the river. We did get rained on again but, as usual, if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes!

This old kirk has a bit of rather tragic history associated with it, several Jacobites were executed right in front of the church during the post-Culloden crack down. There are still pock marks in the facade from the firing squad's musket balls.

After a full day and lots of time on our feet, we grabbed some treats and headed back to our hostel for a good sleep. Paul says this hostel was the best one, and I don't know if I can say which was best, but it certainly wasn't the worst one! I know exactly which one was worst, but that is a story for another time.

The next morning commenced our road trip through what most people picture when you talk about the highlands of Scotland. Our first stop was Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness.

Yes, it's another ruined castle! But this one is special because it didn't just fall apart, it got blown up! And not by invaders or anything, it was blown up by it's loyalist masters so it couldn't be use by rebels.

Paul says this was the best ruined castle that we visited. It was certainly the busiest! Large parking lot, lots of buses, and a busy visitors centre. I suspect he liked it best because there was a short movie about the castle that was decently entertaining.

Arthur decided part way through that he would not take another step without skittles. He'd gotten a bag of skittles the previous day and he wanted them immediately. Lee walked all the way back to the car for skittles, I had to keep Arthur from trying to run away to follow him, and then just sit with him as he pouted on a rock.

He was deeply cranky and, as you can see, he was immediately happy once he got his skittles. Would that my mood could change with such whiplash speed.

We continued driving along the shores of the loch to the far end to the cute little town of Fort Augustus, where Loch Ness is connected to other lochs by the Caledonian Canal. So, there are a series of locks on the loch, which is not confusing at all to explain to children.

We spent a few minutes surveying all the restaurant options and ended up at a little pub that served pizza, just in time to avoid getting rained on.

After a nice lunch break, we made our way to the west highlands and the Glenfinnan Monument. The monument parks the place where, on the shores of Loch Shiel, Bonnie Prince Charlie rallied 1,200 highlanders to his cause of reclaiming his father/grandfather's crown.

It had been raining for a pretty big portion of our drive, including the mile or two before we arrived at Glenfinnan. But right as we arrived the sun popped out! Our timing was perfect in more ways than one, put a pin in that.

 We first walked over to the monument and the loch; the kids returned to the old standby of throwing rocks in water while I was busy snapping photos of the beautiful scenery.

We went for a little walk along the river and then up the hill to the viewpoint. And what a view!

From the viewpoint if you look the opposite direction you may spot the other point of interest her at Glenfinnan: the viaduct.

Harry Potter fans may remember it as the bridge where the Hogwarts Express nearly runs over a certain flying car, but it is in fact a real bridge that real trains use on the regular. And it is stunningly beautiful.

Not just regular trains either, the Jacobite Express--a heritage steam engine--crosses this viaduct 4 times a day in the summer and we were in time to see the finally crossing of the day.

We got as close as we could and tried to find the best spot to watch the train go by. We ended up having Lee and Arthur on one side of the viaduct with Paul, George, and I on the other side. And we waited.

 And waited. They train was nearly 20 minutes late. There was no breeze, just early evening sunshine. Do you know what that means? midges. Highland midges are a charming breed of itsy bitsy biting fly. They come out morning and evening, they love the damp, and they love to bite. Your tolerance for midge bites may vary, but I found them merely annoying rather than painful and didn't have any residual welts or marks as with mosquitos.

The train finally came, engineer waving, deafening us all with the horn. The kids declared it worth the wait (and the midges).

Our first taste of the famously beautiful highland mountains lived up to the hype. It just made me more excited for the next few days of travelling in Scotland's tranquil glens and mountains.