(this narrative began from when I first landed in London on September 3, 2016)
Friday
September 23, 2016:
Today, because we were staying in Inverness,
Scotland another night, we didn’t have to get our baggage out the door by a
certain time. So, we were headed out by
9:00 am (a little later than usual) instead of 8:00 am for the Cullodan Centre
(pronounced Cullaadon Centre). This
centre is an exhibition designed to describe and illustrate the battle between
the various Scottish clans under the command of Bonnie Prince Charlie, as he
was popularly known then, and the forces of the British government. This battle that resulted was an extremely
bloody one for Prince Charles’ men due to the following facts: they were exhausted from trekking through the
night non-stop to the battle site; they were hungry because rations were too
low; and, they had fewer weapons than they needed because French troops were
supposed to support Prince Charles’s men in this battle and didn’t arrive on
time. Also, Prince Charles’ troops had
been undefeated in their battles so far in northern Scotland and he thought
that they could win again, but he was wrong.
This battle was very bloody as a result, due to the fact that the men,
tired, hungry and without adequate weapons, could not defend themselves
properly against the ultra-vicious attack that followed by government troops
against them. Most of the clansmen
(1,500 or more) died in just a few minutes in the Battle of Culloden and this
battle became famous for that reason.
Our next stop was at Cawdor Castle, a place that
Lady Cawdor (a.k.a. Lady Campbell) still lives in – alone with no spouse or
children. But, she makes her home
accessible to tour groups, especially in the summer months, probably because
she needs to maintain this estate and support herself. It really is a beautiful place with multiple
bedrooms (at least fourteen) and two kitchens – one modern, which is used, and
one very old, which is not. I took some
pictures of the inside of the castle, but when I looked at them later, they
weren’t that clear. However, the ones I
took of the outside of the castle and the grounds and garden were much clearer
and, therefore, much more appealing.
After we left Cawdor Castle, we were driven back to
our hotel and we then had the afternoon off unless we were signed up for the
Loch Ness excursion, which I was. That
excursion included a visit to the Loch Ness exhibit, which included a series of
videos describing the facts, as well as the myths and legends of the Loch Ness
monster. After leaving this exhibit, we
were taken to Urquhart Castle to see the ruins of what was once a great
stronghold. While at Urquhart Castle, we
were waiting to catch the boat cruise on Loch Ness, a cruise that would last
only half an hour and we thought that, because of the overcast weather, we
might actually get chilly on this ride.
However, that turned out not to be the case. The weather did not become windy or rainy
and, in fact, was rather pleasant on the boat.
After we docked on the other side of the lake, Joe, our driver, was
there to pick us up and take us back to our hotel.
Finally, we were on our own to get dinner at the
restaurant of our choice near the hotel, so I went to a place called Bella
Italia, a restaurant I’d seen earlier. I
didn’t go for dinner though until I had typed up my journal notes from
yesterday. The pasta dinner I had
tonight was excellent and I enjoyed it very much.
Tomorrow morning, we have to wake up early
again. We have to have our baggage out
the door by 7:00 am, have breakfast at 7:00 am or earlier, and hopefully, be
ready to leave by 7:45 am, according to John Hood, our tour director. I will put in a wakeup call for 6:15 am just
in case, so that I have enough time to get ready and pack my suitcase
again. We are headed for Edinburgh,
Scotland today where we will spend two nights.
Neither of those nights includes dinner at the hotel because there are
two more excursions scheduled, one per night in Edinburgh, and each of these
includes dinner. I only signed up for
the excursion on the first night….more details tomorrow about this excursion.
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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