The Scottish Highlands

Hello again! Apologies for my absence but I've been away on holiday - Jamie and I went to Scotland to visit some of our relatives as part of his birthday celebrations and golly what a lovely time we had!  We travelled by train to Gatwick and flew on to Inverness, staying there for four days to hook up with my sister who had flown across from Orkney and met up with my niece and her husband and my nephew and his partner and their son who all live in the area.

We were keen to do as much sightseeing as possible within our brief visit and were delighted to find that Loch Ness wasn't too far away. The day was fresh and stormy, very atmospheric, giving us a true feel of the wildness of the Highlands and the loch therein. There's nothing like a stormy day to whoosh you up and make you feel alive!

And talking of making you feel alive - there were three women swimming in the Loch that morning! The Saturday Morning Club meets up weekly so I took a moment to chat to the ladies about the conditions and how many of them take part. Aside from the three swimmers there were four others who had come along to act as support and to join in the social part of the post-swim. The temperature was about 13 degrees which is about the same as on Tresco. They did ask if I wanted to join them but luckily I'd omitted to pack my kit...

Next stop was the pretty little village of Beauly where we meandered through the small churchyard which led us onto the Old School, now a beautifully converted shop. The school rooms were each recreated into bright spaces housing the most most stylish of wares from clothes and household items to books, toys, toiletries and jewellery, not forgetting tartan goods of the most upmarket kind. I fell in love with a fabulous velvet dressing gown but as it retailed at just under £200 I gave it a miss. The other one I fancied was called the Teal Exotic Dressing Gown - see here. I did buy a couple of gifts for the family though; you can never go wrong with some delicious chocs!

We all gathered for lunch at Dalmore Farm and Cafe. The play area and petting farm are a popular tourist attraction, particularly for my great nephew Finlay. We milled about between cafe and sand pit and farm area taking turns to be on duty or catch up on family news. It was a super way to spend the afternoon.

Next day's trip was to Fort George, again another historic sight not far from Loch Ness. My knowledge of Scottish history is greatly lacking and something I feel I need to address before old age properly sets in.

The mizzle drifted in and out that morning, again lending an atmosphere to the ramparts where we stopped to admire the view and consider the life of those who had and still do serve at Fort George. It took 22 years to build - what an undertaking!

A quick bit of supermarket shopping in between sightseeing and this was a joyful discovery for me indeed! Mutton pies were part of my childhood, a weekly treat, topped with baked beans and heated up for a savoury lunchtime dish. My dad was a butcher, but I seem to rememeber that we bought our pies from Johnson's the Baker or even from Frostie's the bakers near our house. Happy days!

Sunday afternoon was all about the train set. It was another fluid situation with various helpers drifting in to assist otherwise eating, drinking and chatting were taking place elsewhere. 

Goodness knows if the family knew they were posing to be featured on my blog - I may not be invited back again after this!

On Monday morning we headed off to Culloden - this was a very busy tourist attraction with lots of coaches in the car park. 

The battle lines were heartbreaking to see; to imagine the bloody battle where over 1300 men died and were subsequently buried. On a lighter note I was pleased to capture the obligatory man in a kilt who was giving a guided tour of the battlefield.

By Tuesday lunchtime we were heading home again. We had travelled over 1000 miles by boat, train, aeroplanes and car during our week off work just to give us four days in Scotland, but it was definitely worth it. 

                                                                Anna x