Blogs from Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 16

Traumatised by the words up and hill and long walk, (things you don't want to hear mixed in amongst directions to your hostel, especially when you've been awake since 5am and have already had one long hike and a never-ending bus ride,) I was relieved to discover the predicted twenty minute slog up a ridge was actually nothing more than a slightly inclining five minute trot through the Inverness town centre. Thank goodness, because otherwise I may just have lain down in the centre of the road and called it home! It was the 21st of October and the end of the road for the National Express Pass, but I was far from feeling adrift. Rather than making plans, I was ready to relax, and I soon knew I'd landed in exactly the right place. The ... read more

We are now in Scotland after a whirlwind few days in London. We visited a few old haunts and Pete reminisced about his time in London. He also spent a day with some friends (James and Colleen) and I spent the day with Tania. Our hotel was in an amazing location right in the middle of the West End. The hotel itself was nothing special but it was great as we could walk to Covent Garden, Leicester Square etc. We also did another walking tour there (we are addicted to them!) and it was great - really interesting even for Pete who had lived there before. We then flew to Edinburgh, collected our car and drove down to Culzean Castle on the south west coast. Wow!!!! It was absolutely amazing. We spent the night staying in ... read more

I had a couple of days off work, so I went up to Inverness. I was looking forward to the trip, because Claudine had told me how much she liked the city, plus I was going to take a trip to the Orkney Islands. I stayed at the Bazpackers Hostel, which was really nice. I wasn't that fond of the city itself, because I thought it lacked any grace or elegance. It was just kinda there. It did have a river through the town, like most towns hwere seem to do. I went to a "Scottish Experience" show Wednesday night, which was pretty cool. Hokey, but interesting. Dancing, singing, bagpiping, etc. I even got asked to dance a "Gay Gordon" with one of the dancers. It was fun, but I couldn't dance for anything!! :)... read more

Thursday, August 2nd- Inverness (with a trip to Dingwall aka Tulloch Castle). Inverness. In the morning we went to Culloden (where the Battle of Culloden took place.) After this battle (which the Scots lost), Bonnie Prince Charlie went into hiding (Flora MacDonald disguised him as her “lady’s maid”) and eventually made it to Greece where he remained ‘til he died. Clan Davidson did fight in this battle, they made up part of Clan Chattan (according to Wikipedia). Anyway, so the battlefield now has blue flags which show where the Scots line was and red flags which show where the British line was. There are also stones that show where the heads of certain clans “fell” and other stones which represent where the clans stood on the field. In the middle is a stone memorial. url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/nairn/fort... read more

If we thought it was a little cold in Ireland, we knew it was cold when we got to Scotland! With 2 nights in Edinburgh and 3 nights in Inverness it was another flat out tour of a country. We love to keep busy. We had booked our accommodation for the whole stay so arriving was no drama. We checked into the Caledonian Backpackers Hostel on Princess Street at about 11pm. The place seemed like it used to be a huge mansion or something with its winding stairs and huge 38 bed dorms. There was also amazing artwork all over the massive walls through the corridors and in the common areas. Breakfast was included at the hostel which was a great cheap start to our first day. We wandered to Edinburgh Castle which was amazing. There ... read more