Inverness

The road to Inverness

 

Friday night’s dinner party at the home of Tina, John’s friend, near Bridge of Allan was an absolute treat. Tina and John went to university together in Glasgow where they both were studying engineering back in the early 70s. Tina now lectures in business management at Stirling University.

 

John and Tina

She had a couple of other friends staying at her place whom John had met briefly many years ago at Tina’s wedding. Dorothy and Charles happen to have a daughter who lives at Bokarina on the Sunshine Coast. Isn’t the world small?

 

Dorothy and Charles

Tina went all out with her entertaining. She’s a great cook and her lemon chicken was so delicious! We had a most enjoyable night catching up, laughing and talking until late. 

 

John: Tina began the entertainment, almost as soon as we walked through the door, by flaunting photographs of the pair of us from our student days. This included one of me proposing to her of which I had no recollection. I was young! Barb was captivated by my long curly locks – this was the seventies – without a trace of grey. Tina and I each thought the other hadn’t changed very much and I thought this very charitable on her part. We picked up as though we had seen each other only the day before rather than nearly twenty five years ago, and it really was a great evening.

 

 

Saturday

 

What a day! We’ve squeezed in four castles and a viaduct into one day, as well as driving through some of the most wild and beautiful Highland country in Scotland from Stirling to Inverness.

 

We started by heading north on the M9 towards Perth. It was too early in the morning to call in and visit Scone Palace, so we moved on towards Braemar instead. Braemar Castle, it has to be said, was a bit under-whelming as far as castles go. It was in a state of dilapidation and needs to either be completely restored or pulled down before it falls down. John was for the demolition option. The philistine. (John: If I hadn’t seen the parliament buildings yesterday, I’d’ve said no one could have such appalling taste!)

 

driving through the Highlands

A pictish hut?

Braemar Castle

It wasn’t far from there to Balmoral Castle across the River Dee. We decided to actually do the tour of the castle and gardens and we were so glad that we did!

The river Dee

Barb and John at Balmoral Castle

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Balmoral Castle and gardens

cottage in the grounds

vege pathc at Balmoral

Barb and John at Balmoral

It was magnificent. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous and immaculately kept. You can see why the Queen likes to come here. It’s idyllic and peaceful and far from everything. We could easily have spent much longer here, but we still had a long winding drive ahead of us. (John: the Bakewell tart in the coffee shop was really good).

 

The Highland countryside is jaw-dropping. It is vast and craggy, with towering snow-capped mountains, gorse-covered hillsides and the occasional grazing sheep. The drive through it was a tiny bit scary for Barb who hates edges, but she was sufficiently distracted by the beauty to cope well. We pulled over in lay-bys frequently to take photos and sometimes just to admire the vista. Photos can’t possibly do it justice. (Barb went through one or two periods of breathlessness, and it wasn’t the altitude wot dunnit).

 

We drove down a lane to take a look at Corgarff Castle. It didn’t take long. It is un-castle-like: sitting alone in a field surrounded by a high wall. Call it a castle? What were they thinking? Oh well …. plenty more castles to see yet.

 

Corgarff Castle

overlooking Corgarff

We did the last part of the journey back on the A9 as we wanted to see the viaduct near Tomintoul. Much to our lack of surprise there was insufficient warning given to pull over in time to take photos, so Barb snapped away through the car window as we whizzed by. Oh well …. plenty more viaducts to see yet.

 

We arrived at Inverness mid-afternoon and were drawn towards the castle sitting atop the hill overlooking the river and city. Now this is more like a castle! Sadly you can’t go in, but we walked around the perimeter and admired the splendid view of Inverness from this lofty position, and watched in aghast horror (tautology, but justified) at the tattooed lady encouraging her toddler children to climb over and through the tall, spiked railings with a near shear drop on the other side. Barb walked away for fear of seeing natural selection in action.

 

The castle at Inverness

Inverness castle

Views from Castle of Inverness

John at the castle

Our lodgings for the next two nights are in a guest house called Ardross Glencairn. It’s within walking distance of the city centre and castle. The blurb on the internet rather over-stated the view, but it is comfortable enough. Perhaps we’ll get the castle view if we sneak onto the roof when no one’s looking.

 

our lodgings at Ardross Glencairn

We walked into the city in search of a restaurant in the evening. The Italian Restaurant round the corner looked good, but we were turned away as they were booked out. Across the bridge we spotted an Indian place. This looked promising. Over we went, and although they were also busy, they found us a table in the corner. The food when it came was sensational, and the service was very professional too.

We might be back!