Kim and Peter's UK Adventure: Inverness

We make our way from Skye to Inverness where we are staying for just one night. We have decided to stop on the way and do a Loch Ness Cruise as we have the time before we arrive at our accommodation in Inverness. We arrive in Loch Ness and have some lunch in the cafe near where we are to get the cruise. But not before you walk through the most over the top gift/souvenir shop we have ever seen and believe me on this trip we have seen a few. There is so much kitschy stuff to do with “Nessie” it is unbelievable! Then factor in lots of other Scottish stuff and you have it, right down to clothes, scotch whiskey, jewellery and anything else you can imagine. It is an interesting walk around. I do see something here which I know Adam will appreciate but unfortunately I can’t get it in his size, so will have to keep an eye for it in other Scottish souvenir shops.
We made our way down to the dock to board the boat and it is cold!!! I am so glad for my coat and my beanie which I threw in at the last minute as the wind is whipping up the loch and it is shrouded in mist. It is definitely the way I thought Loch Ness should look.

We board the boat which is a very nicely appointed one, think something along the lines of Captain cook cruise boat in Sydney. We make our way to the top open deck because what can you see from the inside, not much. The sun is breaking through and it isn’t quite as cold now so the beanie has come off. We tried to take lots of photos along the way in the hope that one might have the mysterious Loch Ness Monster in it but alas it was not to be.

Sun breaking through to reveal lovely countryside

Included in the cruise is a visit to Urquhart Castle on the banks of the Loch. It is another one which has held a formidable position over hundreds of years. It is quite an extensive site with a lot of great interpretation. The ruins that we visited today date from the 13th to the 16th centuries, playing a part in the Wars of Scottish Independence and came under control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots. This is a name that we will hear more about in coming days I am sure. Urquhart is one of the largest castle sites and is visited by thousands of visitors every year. We wandered around the site and it had impressive views both ways up Loch Ness. While we are there some young men decide to climb on the walls which makes a couple of the guides there yell quite loudly at them and then have a few words with them. They are constantly keeping an eye on things as they walk around. I know exactly how they feel having had to do things like that myself when visitors get out of line. It has been in public hands since 1913 an impressive record of maintaining an important part of Scotland's history.

Urquhart Castle from the water

At the top of the Tower

The Moat

Where the drawbridge would have been over the moat

Back on the cruise and decided we would stay indoors for this journey back. All in all a pleasant way to spend a few hours that otherwise we wouldn’t have really known how to fill in.

We continue our travels to Inverness and our accommodation for the Glen Moriston right by the river in Inverness. This is another lot of accommodation that we have changed along the way as the one that was booked was a bit dodgy when Peter researched it a bit further so it is much nicer than where we would have been which was also a bit out of town.

We checked in and then went for a short stroll around the riverside and had a look at the outside of Inverness Castle as it is not open to the public just the grounds are. There were a lot of bunnies chewing on the grass verges leading up to the castle which was an unusual site being that it is in the middle of the city.