Scotland: the Highlands

We left London from King's Cross station on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 to head north. We had the good fortune to share a table on the train with a couple who lived just south of Edinburgh. We were in a "quiet" car which I think meant we weren't supposed to talk, but the four of us pretty much ignored that. We got some great perspective on Scotland, its quasi-independence and its relationship to the British government. And we got some commentary on the scenery as we rolled through the countryside.

On the map you can see the major rail routes throughout Great Britain. If you click it to make it bigger, you can see just how far north Inverness, our destination, is from London. It took us a little over 8 hours to get there.

This map also shows the train route from Inverness to Glasgow and on to Stranraer where we caught the ferry for Belfast. Keep in mind that Northern Ireland is still a part of Great Britain.

Although the train station was quite close to our B&B, it was dark and cold and rainy when we arrived in Inverness, so we opted for a taxi. It was a good thing because the route to the Craigside Lodge Guesthouse was straight up and we were pooped. In fact, our room overlooked the castle which is now used as a government building.

We also overlooked the River Ness. Inverness means "at the mouth of the River Ness" according to the Wikipedia article. It was a great room and a great location.

Our hostess, Amy, was running the place by herself at the time we were there. Her fiance, Ewan, was in Canada getting ready to represent Scotland on its curling team. There was plenty of clan plaid around the place and some great pictures. They are planning a fall wedding at his family's place in Spain this year.

We had breakfast there, of course, but on Amy's recommendation after we arrived and when we got home the next day, we opted to eat at the Redcliffe Hotel Restaurant across the street. The first night I had some of the best salmon I've ever eaten along with the desert I'd been wanting to try since we got to England, sticky toffee pudding. The link shows a good example of it, but if you want to seriously salivate just do a Google images search for sticky toffee pudding.

Remember, in GB, pudding is a synonym for dessert, so not all puddings are what we would call pudding here. Anyway, it was one of my top ten all time favorite desserts.

We only had one full day and 2 nights in Inverness, so the 23rd was packed with activity. After breakfast we walked to the bus station to take a bus to the Culloden Battlefield. Brush up on your British and Scottish history by visiting the official website linked. We went here largely because our friends Don and Patsy had been here and I wanted to learn more about this famous battle between the Jacobites, led by Bonnie Price Charlie, and the Hanoverians, who were in control of Britain, to try to bring the House of Stuart back to the British throne. He failed.

When Don and Patsy were there, it was just a big open field, but now there is a great interpretive center with a very nice little cafeteria. We ate lunch, visited the exhibits and headed out onto the battlefield.

The exhibits were very interesting to me because each major stop along the way had recorded actors presenting the different points of view of those who backed the House of Hanover as rulers of Britain and those who backed the House of Stuart.

We were supplied with satellite radio head sets that gave information about the exterior locations as we walked along. Both of us had issues with our headsets due to walking too fast sometimes, but we did learn a lot.

It definitely was fall when we arrived.

This is the approach to the building with information in Gaelic and English.

The building sits well in the landscape.

The flags indicate the lines of battle.

The red is for the Hanoverians and the blue is for the Jacobites.

The battle was in 1746. Most of the older stones were placed there in the 19th century.

As is this memorial to the Highland clans who lost their lives here.

They are buried in trenches with stone markers.

For a long time, a family lived in this house making a living by taking care of the battlefield, making sure it wasn't desecrated and giving tours.

It's very close to the new building.

The bus we caught took us straight to the battlefield. It was fun going on it because it also took us through neighborhoods with people coming and going doing their normal daily activities. To go on to Loch Ness, we had to go back into town and take a different bus. When I bought our tickets, the clerk was very excited to learn we were from Tucson. She has some connection here and loves the Desert Museum.

As you might imagine, it was getting pretty late and due to the late season, we did not have time to get to Urquhart Castle when the grounds were still open, but we could take a bus to the location, see it and take some pictures and then take the next bus coming through back to Inverness, so that's what we did.

This is what we saw along the way.

This is the River Ness. I got these good shots from the left side of the bus because we were driving on the WRONG side of the road.

The loch begins where it gets wide and deep.

From the lighting, you can tell it was pretty late in the day. I think we got there a little after 5:00 p.m. and found out they had closed at 5:00. We thought they were going to close at 5:30. Ooops!

Still seeing the castle ruins and Loch Ness from the parking lots was pretty special. This is the deepest part of the lake and supposedly Nessie's lair.

The desert isn't the only place with prickly things.

I know I went crazy with all the lake pictures, but part of the reason for going to this part of Scotland was to see the scenery.

...and here's more of it. I took these on the way from Inverness to Glasgow. I didn't take any pictures on the way from London to Inverness because we were sitting away from the windows then.

These are the famous Highland cattle that we learned to call the "hairy coos." This picture is actually from the Wikipedia article on them. We saw them in the fields but I never got a good shot. The closest we've ever come to them was at the southbound rest stop between Tacoma and Portland. A guy had some in a trailer there one time. They are so cute.

All these pictures are from the train, so the quality isn't the greatest. This is a typical stone fence.

These are some sheep through the blurry trees. I actually kind of like this picture.

Here's a wild mountain stream. It was and had been raining.

A foggy moor in the fall.

Hunters on the moor.

Another moor area with rain.

Farmer's fields with an irrigation stream, although I can't imagine that they would ever need it.

More grazing land with a stream.

Taller fall colors.

Gotta love the weather.

More sheep with a house.

More moors.

A muddy field.

Some not so muddy fields with greens so green it hurts.

It was still daylight when we arrived in Glasgow. We planned to do a little sightseeing that day (Saturday, October 24th), but the weather was so miserable, we just decided to stay in. I wasn't feeling too great anyway. We stayed at the Premier Inn, the first European chain hotel of our trip and it was quite comparable to ones here except the breakfast was much better.

We weren't due to leave Glasgow until late in the afternoon on Sunday to catch the only ferry that day to Belfast. I was feeling better on Sunday, but the weather continued to be horrible, so we decided to do laundry instead. There seemed to be only one place open in town and it was way far away, but we took a taxi to it anyway. It was in the most rundown building of all our laundry stops and at the same time it had the most modern and cheapest machines. Amazing!

We checked out of the hotel, stored our bags, did the laundry, came back and put it away in our bags and headed on over to the train station where we had a late lunch before leaving for Stranraer. We got a great "rail and sail" deal on the Stena Line to Belfast and had plenty of time to make the connection. I'll tell you more about the crossing next time.