Invergordon

Invergordon

Well  I know I am beginning to sound or I should say read like a broken record but this was an amazing day and we could have spent 3 days taking in these sights and not the few hours that we had.

We were book with WOW Scotland tours. There were 16 of us and we were expecting the usual sardine scenario where they put 16 people in a 15 passenger van. Much to our surprise and pleasure we were given a 25 seater,  small bus. There was plenty of room for everyone. Ken and I sat on opposite sides of the bus so we could get lots of pictures.

Zane was our guide and she was very good. She knew her history and she could tell us the significance of all of the places we visited.

Our first stop was the battle field of Culloden. Here she told us of the numbers and the strategies and the failures of the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was so strange to be here when I had heard so much about this battle and about the prince. The site was very well restored and honored the men who died here.

One interesting fact that she mentioned was that in the days long ago when men went into a battle they picked up a stone and put it into a pile. When the battle was over, those who were able removed a stone from the pile. That was their way of counting the lost. This is not the case here all of these centuries later but it was an interesting fact.

Next we went to the Clava Cairns. Zane referred to Stone Henge as the new kid on the block. Apparently these cairns are much older but had basically the same purpose. There was the main cairn and the 16 stones that marked the phases of the moon. These stone structures are not as famous but they are very interesting to say the least.

Inverness area has an amazing viaduct system. It is hundreds of years old and still as good as new. It is hard to believe it was build so long ago with the tools they had back then.

Our main stop was at Cawdor Castle. This castle is a private home during the winter so it has a very different feel to it. Among the wonderful tapestries and art work are family portraits and homey touches. All of this makes it loose its museum feeling. Zane split us into 2 groups. Half of us had lunch while the other half received a guided tour of the castle. Ken and I had lunch first and then we toured. The gardens were beautiful but there again there was not enough time to do this wonderful place justice.

The next stop was Loch Ness. Basically it was a photo stop but we did get to hunt for sea glass and we found quite a bit. In fact I found enough that I was able to offer a piece to all of the bus passengers who wanted one. We also had ice cream here. There was no sign of Nessie.

Our final stop of the day was at the city of Inverness. This is very different from the Inverness in Cape Breton. Again we could tour with Zane or go off on our own. We had an hour and a half so we began with Zane. She did a walking tour when she highlighted many of the historical sights in the area, many of which were connected with Culloden. The Victorian architecture was wonderful.

We passed a thrift shop, here they are called charity shops and we decided to go in after we left Zane. Jim and his wife went with us. We told them we wanted to find a toast rack and  she was the first to spot one. It was wonderful and cost only 5.5 pounds so we were thrilled by our purchase.

We have been very good about buying and about the only things we have bought are gifts for the three grandchildren.

We made certain to leave time to tour the Cathedral here. Again it is beautiful, hundreds of years old and steeped in so much history.

Zane has Daniel drive us past the gable end murals in town

 and as usual we could have spent much more time viewing these. There are many around the city but our day has been spent and we have to get back to the ship.


We had a wonderful pipe band welcome us back to the ship. What a grand send off.

Inverness bid us a wonderful good bye with a performance by their pipe band.