Day Five: On the Road to Glencoe

This morning, we got up early and took pictures around Inverness. It was too late last night to take any good pictures, and we also left our camera in the hotel room on the way to dinner. There wasn't really much to see in Inverness. It is mostly a fishing town. We did see some fly fisherman on the canal, but they were gone this morning so we weren't able to get a picture.

 This was Inverness Castle right across from our hotel room. We were not allowed to tour it. :(

The following pictures are taken from a window in a big shop. The shop sold many different tartan patterns (pretty much any that you could ever imagine), but if you look closely (I have provided some close up pictures for you...) you will see that the tablecloth, women's skirt and man's pants are all made out of the Baird tartan. The lady at the shop said the Baird tartan was one of the most popular. Steve bought me a Baird tartan hat (also called a tam) and a scarf (which will appear in many pictures later)...I love them...especially the hat! :)

 Yes, they even have McDonalds in Scotland....

After leaving Inverness, we were off to Culloden Battlefield...time for another history lesson. :) If you will remember, I talked about Robert the Bruce and then James IV, V, and VI that all came from his line. Well, James VI was also known as James I of England and he actually ruled both countries. From his Scottish line, there was a man named Bonnie Prince Charlie. From his English line was a man named George. Anyway, as you know, England soon gained complete control of Scotland and when Bonnie Prince Charlie grew up, he decided that he wanted to try and rule Scotland again. He rallied a huge group of Jacobites (people loyal to the Stewart family (Mary queen of Scots)) and decided to try and take Scotland. He actually did quite well and won every battle against George, the leader of England (who was also a distant cousin). Then he got a little greedy and decided to take the fighting to the Highlands where he figured the Jacobites would have the upperhand against the English since they knew the harsh boggy conditions well. They were pretty evenly matched except Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites were exhausted. Instead of waiting for them to rest up and rebound a little bit, he greedily marched on and was destroyed at the battle of Culloden. This was the end of anymore Scottish uprisings and they remain under English control to this day. I really think he could have taken the English if he were just patient. Bonnie Prince Charlie did escape and eventually died in Rome after being expelled from France. He died penniless, alone, and an alcoholic....obviously devastated by the outcome of the uprising. The National Trust of Scotland has done a really good job with the battlefield. There is an outstanding museum full of great artifacts, drawings, and visual representations of the battle. Then for the actual battlefield, they have an excellent audio guide that has "interviews" with survivors from the battle and flags showing where each line began. Of course, they have a cafe and gift shop as well. We ate our favorite lunch in Scotland of a cranberry, turkey, and bacon sandwhich and a scone here at the Culloden Battlefield.

 Steve loved these natural rock walls....they were everywhere in Scotland.

 There were a few Bairds that fought at the battle of Culloden...they may have been buried under this rock.

A little farmhouse on the battlefield. Look how beautiful the sky is and how green the grass is. The weather was absolutely gorgeous...

After Culloden, it was time to find Nessie. They say the best place to look for her is from Urquhart Castle so that is where we headed. On the way to the castle, we stopped at the very touristy Nessie gift shop. While there, we found the best thing ever....an ice cold Dr. Pepper! It might have been the best Dr. Pepper we had ever had...probably because we were craving one so badly. Apparantly there is a bottling company in Great Britain somewhere. Who knew??? The best thing about it is that it was ice cold. For any of you who have been to the UK, they do not really keep things really cold so to find an ice cold Dr. Pepper, we were heaven...we bought one for each of us! :) We also took a few pictures with Nessie!

 A few pictures of Loch Ness (aka Lake Ness)

 WE FOUND HER!!!

 Sweet Dr. Pepper

 We loved how it is considered a "sparkling fruit flavor soft drink"

With our ice cold Dr. Pepper and finding Nessie, we continued onto the castle. Urquhart Castle is actually in ruins. The Jacobites wanted to control the castle and tried desperately to take it over. Even though the castle was pretty much inpenetrable...surrounded on three sides by Loch Ness and having very tall walls....the Duke of Argyle didn't care and decided to blow it up....that way no one could ever take it! I guess it was the idea that "if I can't have it then no one can." All that is left are the ruins....so we walked around and looked where things would have been. Plus there were some really great views of Loch Ness.

 Boats on Loch Ness

 Up in the lights, there were baby bird nests...the momma birds kept swooping in and feeding them among all the people...no fear at all.....

The Honeymooners :)

After leaving Urquhart castle, we stopped at a waterfall suggested by one of guide books. It was absolutely beautiful.  A little difficult to find, but we are so glad we perservered and kept hunting for it. We got some great pictures of the waterfall and the neat stone bridge that was near it.

The last place we stopped was the bridge of Oich...nothing special, just looked neat. :)

We finally arrived in Ballinchulish which is a small town right outside of Glencoe. We stayed in Ballachulish for two nights in a beautiful hotel that overlooked the water. Our hotel room actually had a water view. Glencoe was by far the most relaxing part of our trip.

 Our hotel....our window was in the new addition (the lighter colored building...third floor...first room on the left...in the very first eave).

 The Ballachulish bridge that you have to cross over to get to the hotel.

Our view....

We ate dinner tonight in a small town called Kenlochlevin. We ate at a local pub. It was definitely one of our favorite dinners. Steve had Steak and Ale Pie and I had a veggieburger. The people there were super friendly. We told them we were on our honeymoon and they found us a cute votive candle to put at our table. They said there isn't much romance around the town of Kenlochlevin. :) A very sweet place....Here are a few pictures taken on the way back to Ballachulish....