The Highlands of Scotland

24 Oct

Written By me 2

I’ve always wanted to go to Scotland and I thought I’d start somewhere famous like Loch Ness. I loved it! Definitely helped having a hire car to get around and as it had a lot of driving assists and satnav things that was very handy as I didn’t know the roads. A lot of places are now 20 mph speed limit in the highlands - which also helps when you are looking for a turn! I loved Chanonry point to see dolphins and seabirds, the Loch and its Castles and weather but most of all the road to the isle of Skye along the great Glen and then Skye itself with its mountains, rain and many rainbows.

This is Glamaig on the Isle of Skye with rainbows. There is an annual running race up and back its 775 metres. It’s deemed one of the harder races on the Scottish running up and down mountains calendar :)

The Highlands - Coo's and Nessie!

Nessie lives in the garden

Aye Stay - a really good place to stay in Inverness

Inverness Centre - the Catherdal

Inverness Castle - the current building is Victorian but it dates back much further as a site.

A statue of famed patriot Flora McDonald at the castle

The street signs in the Highlands are all dual language

Aye Eat - owned by the Aye Stay folks - really good - Haggis, Tatties and Neeps, steak and burgers, tunnocks tea cakes and more.

There is kind of a Nessie theme :)

These are reproductions of 5th Century Pictish Wolf carvings in the centre of inverness

The River Ness by night

The castle by night

The Moray Firth. I was supposed to be on the dolphin watching boat but it was too choppy so I went to the shore instead.

Chanonry Point lighthouse

Starlings sheltering from the wind

They eat the big red berries that grow by the beach.

It was windy but lovely and sunny.

Dogs love a beach :)

Guillemot

Red Breasted Mergansers

Female Long Tailed duck

The gulls are good at fishing here. This is a small fish called a Sculpin

The Bottlenose Dolphins at Chanonry - they come quite close to shore!

Drumnadrochit Hotel is now the loch ness experience narrated by a famous Scottish person :)

This sub was actually used to explore the deep of the loch

You can vote for what you believe about Nessie

The Nessie here represent the votes - beleiving in Nessie as a real monster is leading

They have some great exhibits from the various expeditions to find Nessie

Do you believe in Nessie as a Plesiosaur?

Later the Highland Coo Tea Room by the Loch

Silver

Silver indicating where to put Coo treats - carrots

Thorin the boss Coo signalling he's ready for more treats :)

Dundreggan rewilding centre. Its part of a huge estate there.

Purple heather

It poured down whilst I was there - good weather for waterfalls!

This is deffo a buzzard

This may be an eagle but it was so far away its hard to tell. It was circling where they live according to the rewilding staff. The cafe does a great Haggis roll too!