Invergordon, today’s stop, is a charming little port town whose deep harbour is home to many oil platforms that are here for refurbishment. The town itself is small but forms the gateway to the Eastern Highlands of Scotland.
Todays trip was to take us along the banks of Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle onto Inverness and then finally a visit to the battlefield of Culloden Moor.
After a lovely early morning drive through the various villages along the loch side, our guide pointing out items of interest, we arrived at Urquhart Castle. Visiting the toilets a Scotsman wearing national dress explained to me how much easier it was in a kilt. I didn’t quite know what to say, so smiled, washed my hands and left.
The castle is a little bit of a ruin but its location on the edge of Loch Ness makes it very photogenic.
Parts of the castle date back to Pictish times and it was once one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland. It was destroyed during the Jacobite rebellion in the 18th Century but you can still see the outline of the great castle it once was.
From the castle we took a boat trip up the loch towards Inverness, unfortunately this is when the weather broke and it began raining. It still gave opportunities for some great shots of the castle from the loch.
As we sailed along the loch we kept our eyes peeled for any sightings of the creature of the lake but the rain must have deterred him/her as we saw nothing.
We drove into Inverness, known as the capital of the highlands, for lunch. It looked a very nice city but unfortunately we didn’t have too much time to explore it.
The main focus of the afternoon was a visit to the site of the last battle on British soil, Culloden Moor. Here the Jacobites lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie fought against the government troops of King George I. Although often described as a religious conflict or an England vs Scotland battle, our guide took time to explain that this was a civil war. Families were split with fathers and sons sometimes on opposite sides. On this bleak moorland battle ground in 1746…..
….the Jacobean army was effectively massacred by the vastly superior numbers of government troops. The site today is really a mass graveyard for the hundreds of soldiers on both sides who lost their lives on that one day. Stones mark the sites of the graves of the various Scottish clans.
At the edge of the battlefield sits a small cottage which formed the headquarters of the government troops….
…nearby to which a number of Jacobean soldiers were slaughtered in a barn.
The exhibition hall at the site has many artefacts of the battle and shows a very graphic film presentation of events of the day. A very sobering experience.
Tomorrow we will be visiting another great battle site at Bannockburn.
