Blogs from Culloden, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Nach einer Woche Wandermodus gewöhnt sich der Körper langsam an den sehr anderen Touristenmodus. Erster Stop des Tages: Culloden Battlefield, wo 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie den Krieg gegen die Britischen Regierungstruppen verlor. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlacht_bei_Culloden Es gibt ein Visitor Centre, das auf gegenüberliegenden Wänden die Geschichte vor, während und nach der Schlacht aus beiden Perspektiven erzählt. Das ist eine tolle Idee! Zudem gibt es einen Videoraum, indem man die Schlacht erleben kann. Film läuft auf allen Wänden und man steht praktisch zwischen den Fronten. Auf dem Feld selbst gibt es Gedenksteine der unterschiedlichen Clans und die Truppenpositionen sind mit roten und blauen Farben markiert. Es ist erstaunlich, wie weit die Armeen zuerst auseinander standen und wie weit die halb verhungerten Jacobites nach einem Marsch in Regen und Kälte, der die ... read more

Todays trip takes us up the Great Glen. 2 lochs split Scotland diagonally from Fort William to Inverness. Another beautiful day. First stop is the Urquhart Castle ruin on the side of Loch Ness. Massive visitor center here now. Large museum and theatre display the long history. Site dates back to 12th century with the current building starting in the 13th. After being destroyed by retreating Government forces in the late 1700's the castle was left in ruins. We are off to the Culloden Battlefield maintained as a war cemetery. 4 or 5 hours to properly view all of the presentations and museum artifacts. It takes a lot of reading to understand the root causes of this confilct. It was a lot more than just a group trying to put a King (James) back on the ... read more

The sun came out today and brightened our spirits considerably. Our first visit was an interpretive centre near the site of the Last battle between the Jacobites and the Government Forces. Here is where Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army of Clansman that he gathered up from the Scottish highlands met the Government forces for their last battle after an exhausting march and a lack of food had already made them weak. It was a bloody battle and the Jacobites fought valiantly but exhaustion and bad conditions on the battlefield split their forces and the government forces were victorious, though many were lost. The government forces chased down every one of them who could still flee and killed the ones laying wounded on the field. Next we headed to Pitlochery for lunch, then up out of ... read more

DAY 4, JUNE 25, 2010, FRIDAY After a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, sauasage, scones with homemade marmalade, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms ( standard English breakfast) we left by car for Cairngorms, Britians largest national park. it is a living, working landscape with the wild tundra of the high mountain tops at its heart. We stopped many times on our way to the railroad to take amazing pictures of wildlife, birds, the reindeer centre (Santa was not there) and scenery. It is famous as Scotland's top winter destination for skiing. We took the CairnGorm Mountain Railway to the top of the hill for viewing and pictures. It is a paradise for hikers but we were unabler to do thisd activity. Kirk bought himself a fancy cane. Always raising cane! We left a 4pm for our 1/2 ... read more

Monday November 20, 2006 - Today Steve and I drove to Culloden after he made breakfast. This boy is domestic! Last year I read a series of book that took place in Scotland, in the Highlands, that my friend Kari gave me to borrow. I absolutely fell in love with the books and the characters, gave them to my friend Lynn for Christmas, and ever since we have been wanting to go to Scotland. The main character fights in the war that took place in Culloden against the English, when Bonnie Prince Charlie was trying to reclaim the Scottish throne. Well, the English won out but at least I got to visit the battlefield where my fictional character fought a fierce battle. We walked around the visitor's center while it was raining, and I did some ... read more