Inverness is the gateway to the Scottish Highlands. 'Inver' means 'mouth of' and 'Ness' refers to the River Ness. Wahlah! You now know where the city got it's name. This charming city is often referred to as the "Capital of the Highlands."
What did we do?
Walking Tour: We booked the "Walking Tours in Inverness City Centre" on Trip Advisor. Our tour guide was Cath and she was so fun and experienced. She took the time to talk to and get to know everyone in our group. We strolled through the historic streets and saw the Inverness Castle (from a distance -- it is being repaired), the Victorian Market, and Old High Church and graveyard.
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| Inverness Castle from afar |
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| Victorian Market |
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| Me listening intently. Sharon wishes I would listen to her the same way. 😁 |
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| Old High Church |
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| It's for sale! Only £150,000 |
Two stones in the graveyard were used to execute prisoners. The prisoner sat on the stone on the left while a musket was placed in the grove of the other stone. Outlanders fan probably already know this.
Bus Trip: Time for another Timberbush Tour past Loch Ness to Eilean Donan Castle and Isle. This one was MUCH better than the one we had taken the week before. We stopped at Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich, crossed the Skye Bridge to the Isle of Skye and stopped in the capital of Skye, Portree. After that, the Cuillin Mountains to see awe-inspiring vistas. It was a long 12-hour day but well worth it.
Our first Coos they are so ugly they are cute.
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| Whatcha lookin at??? |
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| Yeah I'm talking to you.... |
Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle
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| Urquhart Castle |
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| Can you see Nessie? |
Isle of Skye - Sligachan Old Bridge. Legend has it, you are to splash your face with the water from Sligachan River for an age reversing affect. Dogs playing in the water are known to come out as puppies. Fo' real
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| Water was freezing 🥶 😫 |
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| Collie and MacKenzie Statue |
Portree
Bride's Veil Falls
Lealt Falls Viewpoint
Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls Viewpoint
We stopped in Broadford for a bathroom break and souvenir shopping but of course Sharon wanted to have a Drambuie in the place where it all began. I gave in.
Random pics from the day:
Caledonian Canal/Muirtown Lock Flight: We enjoyed walking up and down the canal. There are five consecutive locks to raise and lower boats transiting the canal.
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| Hope they don't open the lock while I'm standing on it! |
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| Whew! That was close. |
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| The sailboat starts pretty high |
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| Water level is lowered |
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| More boats in the lock |
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| From acrossed the canal it looked like a half boat. |
Ness Islands: We walked along River Ness and crossed a bridge to the Ness Islands. They are interconnected with bridges and a nice way to cross the river.
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| This could have ended badly. |
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| I got a timeout |
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| Her warrior pose... I think 🤔 |
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| Oohhh look... another swing. |
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| Never to be out done. My turn |
A few pics from around town
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| Inverness Cathedral dedicated to St Andrew |
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| Inverness War Memorial |
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| Faith, Hope and Charity |
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| Balnain House 1720s |
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| Abertarff House Oldest home in Inverness 1593 It was built as a townhouse for Clan Fraser of Lovat |
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| Outlanders Dunbar Hospital Built 1668 |
These two pictures have a story!
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| Yes I went back for a beer |
1st pic) We check into our AirBnB and shortly thereafter the smoke detector goes off (no David your mother was not cooking). Sharon is like, "What the hell is that?!?" as I slowly unlock the safe, get our passports, grab my toothbrush, pack up my backpack 🎒. The alarm is blaring and finally we start out the door and Sharon says everyone is outside (there are 8 units) but us. She then realizes I'm not even behind her. I come walking out with a beer in my hand. I think everyone else was wishing they had one. BTW we were not the last one out and the alarm was set off by someone steaming rice.
2nd pic) We head out for dinner and notice there are a lot of people, police and emergency vehicles by the waterfront. Sharon gets excited. She thinks we are going to see some entertainment. Well, as we get closer we see firemen and a life preserver being thrown in the river and then we see a body floating tango uniform (tits up). The firemen were not going in after him and the life preserver is not even close as the current is moving him downstream. Two young men jump in and try to save him. As one reaches him he starts coughing up water. The three continue floating down the river, firemen are trying to coax them to the riverbank, the police arrive. Finally the three guys just stand up water. It's only waist deep. They were still in the water when we left to have dinner. We think he jumped off the bridge. At low tide. To save his phone. Dummy
It is not a visit to Scotland without a bagpipe video
After our walking tour we went to Grazey Days located in The Victorian Market for lunch. Different and very good.
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| Goat cheese & caramelized onion Macarolli with side salad and Grazey Days coleslaw What is a Macarolli? Cheesy macaroni rolled in puff Pastry |
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| Mince & Haggis served on mashed potatoes with a malt whisky sauce. (My first haggis!) |
The Waterfront Restaurant was the closest sitdown restaurant to our AirBnB. The service and food was really good.
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| Us being Us |
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| Scottish Salmon served with mixed vegetables |
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| I think they could have put the veggies on the plate with the salmon, just sayin. |
What could be better than drinks, pizza and a salad at the Black Isle Bar.
Nar a Mediterranean Restaurant. So much food and it was good!
Where did we stay? An AirBnB, "Heather Lodge/Donald's Place". It was nice but more like a hotel room with no separate bedroom. It had the best towels -- big and fluffy!
How did we get here? Train (Scotrail) from Glasgow. We had reserved seats and a table which was really nice.
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| Perth Train Station |
When did we visit? 14-19 August 2023
We really enjoyed our time in the highlands! The scenery is breathtaking and the locals so very nice.
"My favorite thing to do is go where I've never been. "
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