Another beautiful day. Sunny all day.
Today we leave the Castle for three days in Culloden staying at the Dromossie Hotel.
With Kerry working today and Barbara staying in for the Gas Man we decided to take a cruise on Loch Ness. Started the day with coffee at Drumnadrochit and look round the local farm shops. Booked the cruise for 2pm leaving time for a short walk round Drum'. Mini bus dully picked us up from the car park for the short drive to the landing stage. With full sun, calm water, what could be improved for this afternoon cruise. It was brilliant, interesting to see Urquhart Castle from the Loch, magnificent view. Forgot the Loch was where the speed record was broken by John Cobb and also of course where he met his untimely death.
Once cruise over it was time for afternoon tea at the Loch Ness exhibition centre. The exhibition was of interest as I had always thought Nessie was just a figure of imagination, how wrong can you be.
It was now time to pick up Kerry for an evening meal at The Snow Goose in Inverness with Barbara, Sarah, Lauren, Nathan and David. A good family gathering, meant a lot to me and hopefully we can achieve such an evening again when we visit again in May. I appreciate the youngsters making it tonight as I am sure they would have been doing other things on a Friday night, good on ya kids.
Picture 1 - Dromossie Hotel.
" 2 - Loch Ness.
" 3 - Urquhart Castle from Loch Ness.
" 4 - Drumnadrochit.
" 5 - Nathan, Lauren, Sarah, David at The Snow Goose.
" 6 - Whole family on leaving Snow Goose. A brilliant evening.
A stunning day, full stop.
After saying our good bye's to Lulu and Clive after breakfast (they were off to JOGs today) we made our way to Culloden to meet Barbara (widow of my dear Cuz, Ian who so sadly died two years ago). After a reflective period with Barbara we made our way over to Drumnadrochit to meet up with Kerry (Ian's sister). Again, a little break before visiting Urquhart Castle. Kerry is a paid guide at the Castle so was the ideal person to show us about and of course allow us to take advantage of her staff discount. Thanks Kerry.
With Kerry knowing the area we relied on her to guide through the last part of the afternoon visiting Invermoriston water falls and bridges built by Thomas Telford with a final stop at Fort Augustus for evening dinner. FA has a six lock system from the Calodonian Canal to Loch Ness. Very impressive.
After a good meal we re-traced our steps, dropping off Kerry and then to Culloden for Barbara and finally the Castle for a good nights rest. Another enjoyable day and of course meeting up with family again.
Picture 1 - Urquhart Castle.
" 2 - Lorna, Kerry and Barbara at the Castle.
" 3 - Invermoriston from the car park.
" 4 - Bridges over the water falls at Invermoriston.
" 5 - View of Loch Ness from the locks at Fort Augustus.
" 6 - The Locks under floodlight.
What a day this was. Stunning in the extremes. Bright sun, mist, horizontal rain and wind. Four seasons in one today depending how low or high you were in the mountain regions.
I achieved what I set out to do making our way over to Applecross and back down to Lochcarron and over to Achnasheen en route to Dingwall. The scenery on this chosen route was the wildest it could get. Heard some wonderful weather and history tales from locals on the few stops we had before reaching Applecross. Enjoyed a good fish & chip lunch with a pint of brown ness at the one pub in this area. Little did I know the route now would become more scary, the wind was so strong that waterfalls were captured in a U where the strength of the wind was blowing the water back up. It was also raining as hard as you can imagine but there was no need to use the wipers as again the wind was creating a horizontal rain pattern. I was unable to open the car door so sadly no photographs of this extraordinary event.
The weather returned to sun and blue sky again once lower down. A fantastic experience of the Highlands.
And what an evening. Louise and Clive were on holiday driving from Lands End to John O Groats in their rare MG booking into the Tulloch as a late birthday treat for me and Clive. Lulu had also arranged a birthday cake with the hotel. It was just surreal meeting them like this. It was a great evening.
Picture 1 - Drive over to Applecross.
" 2 - View opposite pub at Applecross.
" 3 - Drive on way to Lochcarron.
" 4 - Clive delighted with a birthday pressy, a model motor bike made from scrap bikes.
" 5 - Me blowing out a few candles.
" 6 - Family all together.
" 7 - Clive's MG and my little Fiat 500!
Another stunning day, warm, sunny and dry.
John O Groats today, the most beautiful scenery again. Surprised to see a harbour at JOGs, used mostly these days for pleasure boat trips to the Orkney & Shetland Islands. A little breezy here but nothing like we had been warned about.
Stayed long enough for lunch, haggis again and a pint of dark ness this time.
On return trip stopped and walked to a Clearance Village Brora, this was a long steep walk almost to the waters edge. I had not heard of these Villages before, important part of Scottish history. The small islands surrounding Scotland were also affected.
Picture 1 - John O Groats.
" 2 - Clearance Village.
" 3 - Early evening at Brora.
" 4 - Tulloch Castle dining room.
" 5 - Describing the Clearance Village history.
A beautiful day, dry, sunny and mild. Is it to much to ask that the rest of the week is like this?
Hire car arrived prompt at 10am, well done Focus for the efficient service. Being a little early to book in at the hotel we thought why not visit a distillery? This we did at the Glen Ord distillery near Invergarry. Hidden away in some of the finest scenery you could wish to see. We were the only visitors so enjoyed a one to one guided tour which included a warehouse of aged oak barrels still maturing. Most at currently 15 years old. Day would not be complete of course without a purchase of a bottle!
Next stop was the village of Beauly to the Bobroy Pub for lunch of Haggis Burger and chips and a pint of light ness. Set up now for the rest of the holiday.
Once rested we found our way to Dingwall and Tulloch Castle, home for four days. What an incredible find. Just hope the service is as good as the look of the castle. First signs are good, friendly welcome, brilliant room. No lifts so not suitable for the infirmed.
After a welcome cuppa I made my way to the bar while Mrs.T enjoyed a cat nap! The bar was a disappointment, no local real ale. Very surprised at this. Made do with Bass.
Evening meal very good with background Scottish music playing, a good end to the start of the holiday proper.
Picture 1 - Fiat 500 hire car.
" 2 - Gen Ord distillery.
" 3 - Castle frontage.
" 4 - Castle entrance showing grand staircase.
Mild, dry but overcast morning. Departed Kings Cross 10am and arrived in Inverness at 9pm after several delays. Weather from York onwards was just brilliant, sun until dusk with a beautiful sunset as we passed Aviemore.
Although late Premier Lodge treated us well and made sure we enjoyed a good meal. Hope the hire car arrives on time tomorrow.
A good day for packing and organising documents, camera etc for the Scottish holiday. Early start tomorrow.
