Culloden, Clava Cairns, Distillery
We began this day fairly early BUT... a car on fire delayed our trip to Culloden by about 3/4 hour. We eventually arrived. To tell tourists little known facts about the battle site, there was a "True/False" Trivia game. It so happened that our team consisted of several other Canadians. The most interesting fact that I did NOT know was that the Jacobites DID indeed have muskets BUT they took much longer to reload than the British ones so the Jacobites suffered from yet another deficit in battle.
When I went outside to the actual battle site, it was hard to imagine that such a peaceful place was once the site of so much bloodshed. The Jacobite line was shown using blue flags and the British with red. The ground was much too level for a small force such as the Jacobite army to gain any advantage. I wondered why they didn't take advantage of the hills not too far away. A large cairn commemorating the battle lies between the two lines. It was interesting to see that several local people were using the field to walk their dogs. Inside, there were many relics of the battle.
Upon leaving Culloden, we went (not too far) to Clava Cairns. Two burial cairns with a ritual cairn in between were surrounded by tall stones, Stonehenge style. Across the road from the cairns were agricultural fields. The grasses and flowers were healthy and abundant. After posing for pictures with Ian (in yet another kilt), Marcin drove us to Inverness.
We were let out at the corner of Bank Street (Castle Road) and Bridge Street (High Street). Several people went to eat. Some went to shop. Roberta and I took a walk over the bridge to "The House of Fraser" which was a company making tartan cloth and stitching traditional Scottish garments such as kilts. We paid a small amount for a lesson on "how a kilt is made" and when it was over, we were able to watch a gentleman hand sewing a kilt and a lady machine stitching a skirt. This shop is where Roberta bought Alma some tartan ribbons as a souvenir.
When we exited the shop, we continued down Huntly Street along the River Ness. There we met Mr. Robertson sporting his clan's tartan. Mr. Robertson's son was living in Canada but recently he was taken ill and Mr. Robertson thought that he might have to go to Canada to help him. One thing that he and I agreed on: the box buildings which hid parts of Inverness Castle were awful. Luckily, Mr. Robertson told me that the buildings were slated to be torn down soon. Thank goodness! When Roberta and I reached the pedestrian bridge, Greig Bridge, we crossed back over the river to get back to where the bus would be meeting us. Views along both sides of the river were beautiful.
Upon leaving Inverness, we travelled even a bit further north to get to Glen Ord Distilleries. We received a lesson in what makes a single malt versus a double malt whiskey (one type of grain from vs a blend of two - or more - grains). We saw how the grain went through different stages to produce the alcohol. It was interesting that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery simply because alcohol permeated the air
It didn't take too long to get back to Aviemore. We were on our own for dinner and our original plan was to go to Glencorms for dinner. HOWEVER, I was more in the mood for "pub-like" food so, after exploring the train station, we went to Macdui's. My seafood pie and toffee pudding was excellent! On the way back from dinner, I noticed a monument of some kind. It turned out to be tribute to those (I assume from the Aviemore area) who had taken part in the Olympics or Special Olympics. When I was taking the picture, I had to quickly duck out of the way of a bunch of birds. several bluish coloured birds were attacking a black one. I assume the black bird had been getting too close to a nest?
