(A) I want to take a moment to highlight something that has made this summer the wonderful adventure that it has been: Kim’s driving.
As you know, Kim has been doing all of the driving since we got to the UK. That means operating a manual-transmission car (something she hasn’t had to do in several years), driving on the left side of the road (I won’t say ‘wrong’ because it’s all relative), following road signs that are unfamiliar and confusing, sharing the road with fast, impatient drivers (who think they are Mario Andretti)… and doing it all on roads that, in many cases, are penned in by hedgerows or stone walls that are taller than the car and are wide enough to reasonably accommodate one-and-a-half cars (to say nothing of the delivery vans and semi trucks).
On top of all that, parking at our rental house in Scotland involves parallel parking, between cars that leave very little room for error.
To all these challenges, Kim has proven equal. More than equal, when you consider today’s journey. We woke up early and headed for the Highlands, because when you’re in Scotland, you want to see Loch Ness And Culloden Moor!
We stopped at Greggs for a sausage, bean, and cheese toastie, and then drove toward Inverness. Along the way, we passed through the Cairngorms National Park, which is the largest national park in the UK.
We got to Culloden to find that we weren’t the only ones there. There was as big a crowd as there had been at Stonehenge… but at Stonehenge there were enough parking places for everybody. Anyway, Culloden is the site of a battle in 1746 between the English and the Jacobites. The Jacobites were a group of people led by Charles Edward Stuart who attempted to regain the English throne for his father (James Francis Edward Stuart), whose own father (King James II) had been deposed in 1688 for being a Catholic). If that all seems like a lot to keep track of, that’s because it is. All I know is that the defeat of the Jacobites pretty much squashed the hope of Scotland‘s independence from England. As such, it’s a pretty serious and meaningful place to visit.
There is a big, well-designed visitor center that houses a museum, a cafe, and a gift shop. There are trails running throughout the battlefield, and there are flags indicating the lines of opposing forces. There are several plaques located throughout, which explain various different significant locations. And there are stone monuments honoring members (around 2,000) of the different clans who died for Scottish independence. It’s a pretty powerful and moving place, even for someone without any Scottish ancestry (like me).
From there we drove through Inverness to Loch Ness. We got onto a boat with nine other people (including the captain) and puttered around the loch for about an hour. Along the way, the captain shared lots of facts and information and stories and anecdotes. It was a really calm day and the weather was perfect.
We got up close to get some good views of Urquhart Castle (what’s left of it, anyway), which has been home to many notable people, including Robert the Bruce, Edward I of England, and the Earl of Huntly. It was a favorite target for raiding by the notorious MacDonald Clan. Like the fast food chain that bears a similar name, the MacDonalds had very little regard for human health and welfare, and they often raided the castle for its supplies. The castle was partially destroyed in 1692 in order that it couldn’t be used by Jacobite forces, and since then it has slowly crumbled to the ruins that visitors nowadays can crawl over, around, and through. (Can you see the guy hanging on the wall near the top of the tower? He must have been doing some maintenance or conservation work. Either that, or he was a tourist who wanted to have an experience worth the price of admission!)
Culloden and Loch Ness visited, we headed back to the Lowlands and our rental house. It’s been a long but enjoyable day.