Month: May 2026

Inverness day 2

Friday morning we drove a few miles outside of Inverness to the Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Center.

What happened at Culloden is well described on the map they gave us at the visitor center:

“Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain – 1,500 of them Jacobites.”

I thought the visitor center was excellent. The battle was described from the perspectives of the government and the perspective of the Jacobites. The visitor center had a fascinating presentation about how the soldiers fought and were armed.
The blue flags showed where the Jacobite clans and soldiers were and the red flags showed where the government troops were.

From Culloden we went to a grocery store and bought food for lunch. Then we drove up the Ness River to Loch Ness and had a picnic.

Picnicking at Lochend Beach

When we got back to our hotel we played cards, then walked to Urquharts Restaurant for dinner.

Gayle and I each had steak pie and Duke and Roger each had seafood pie.
For desert we had banana pavlova.
Inverness Castle as we walking back to our hotel.

To read tomorrow’s blog post click here.

Macduff to Inverness

Thursday morning when we woke up at Knowes Hotel we could see one of the fishing boats heading out from Macduff harbor. At breakfast we had a great conversation with a guy who grew up in Macduff. He suggested that before we leave we shouldn’t miss seeing a couple of small fishing villages further east along the coast.

A fishing boat heading out from Macduff harbor
Knowes Hotel
Gardenstown, the first fishing village east of Macduff

There is a footpath along the cliff face east from Gardenstown to Crovie an even smaller village. Roger walked to Crovie from Gardenstown and the rest of us drove.

The footpath from Gardenstown to Crovie
The road down to Crovie was very steep and narrow. This truck had to back up to let us drive down.
Crovie

From Crovie we drove to Inverness. The restaurant where we ate dinner is right next to the castle which overlooks the River Ness.

Walking to dinner. That’s Inverness Castle in the background.

To read about our second day in Inverness click here.