Found a souvenir I want.

Tuesday 31st July

We are staying in a bunkhouse for 3 nights so no pressure to pack and move on. At least we can save a little money here as we can cook our own meals. We have discovered microwave meals at the supermarket and they are very cheap and quite good so they are the go for the next couple of days.

Today was a visit to Culloden Battlefield - scene of the Jacobite uprising in April 1746. The battle only lasted one hour and resulted in the death of 1500 of the Jacobite forces. I imagine it would have been pretty cold and bleak in April, as the wind whistled across the field. Not many tour buses there as we were nice and early.

Culloden Battlefield 

They have erected 2 lines of flags representing each side.
The red flags were the British and blue flags the Jacobites.
You can't see them in the photo but they weren't very far apart.  

These memorial stones were erected in 1881 and are scattered around
with the clan names on them.
We didn't see the clan Fraser one so not sure that Jamie is here.

This cairn was also erected in 1881.

On to Elgin for lunch and to visit the cathedral. Built in 1200s and mostly destroyed in the 1700s during the Jacobite wars. What is left was pretty impressive - how majestic this would have been as a whole.

Looking into the cathedral from the top of one of the towers.

Spynie Palace was nearby and was the home of the bishops. Another ruin but to imagine it in its hey-day it would also have been magnificent.

Spynie Palace

That was enough history for one day and it was dinner time by the time we wound our way through Inverness peak hour traffic.

Wednesday 1st August

We planned a quiet day today starting with dolphin spotting in Moray Firth - we could stand on the point and look for them. The Scots don't miss an opportunity to make money - it costs £2 to park for the 30 or so minutes that the dolphins are around. The parking that gets to me though is when you arrive at a tourist attraction that you have to pay to visit and they also charge you £3 to park.

This border collie was also dolphin watching.
Cold and windy on the point. The days start out looking ok
so we put on short pants, but they don't stay that way.
Jeans tomorrow - I'm giving up on the idea it is a warm summer's day.

We then visited the city of Inverness which was really quite lovely. It had a pedestrian centre where there was a busker singing opera - he was very good. And of course being in Scotland there was the obligatory bag piper. We had lunch at a pub in the main street - fish and chips and little peas. The peas tasted great - why do they go and ruin a flavoursome pea by mashing it?

This used to be the local market
but they have turned it in to speciality shops.

Unicorn statue in the main square in Inverness -
unicorns have some significance but I'm not sure what it is. 

A quick visit to Fort George, an attempted drive by shooting of Cawdor Castle (they hide the castles behind huge trees - the only huge trees we've seen in Scotland),  and then we visited a farm to see working sheepdogs. Highlight of the day. He had about 10 dogs of different ages and all very friendly. Amazing to see them work the sheep - quiet and steady. I wanted to buy a souvenir puppy to bring home - so cute and cuddly. There was one Trafalgar tour bus at our show and as we were leaving 3 tour buses arrived for a show at 5pm.

Entrance to Fort George - built after the battle of Culloden
as a secure base for the army of George II.

Thought this was pretty clever.

Shearing demo with hand shears. 

 

I'll just slip her inside my jacket.

Or maybe we'll take this one.

The Cairngorm mountains we could see from the farm -
yes the weather was getting worse,
in fact it rained as we drove home.

Tomorrow we leave here for Aberdeen but hope to first visit the local show.