We got up early and caught the ferry back to Ullapool. The Minch wasn't as choppy as it was on Tuesday so it was smooth, uneventful cruising. I bought Janet a book of traditional folks songs from the Isle of Lewis - all the songs were in Gaelic so that meant I would have to get her an English-Gaelic dictionary.
We made it to Ullapool safe and sound. We wandered around town and did a bit of shopping. I was able to duck into a bookstore and I got Janet a beginner's guide to learning Gaelic and an English-Gaelic dictionary. Score!
Some random pics of Ullapool:
After grabbing lunch, we headed back to Inverness. The landscape reminded Janet of something Neil Gaiman wrote in Fragile Things about the remoter parts of Scotland "...where the bones of the Earth show through, and the sky is a pale white...".
Bones of the Earth showing through looks about right.
We were almost in Inverness when we saw signs for the Black Isle Brewery. Black Isle Brewery is an organic brewery and their bottle conditioned wheat beer is delicious. We stopped for a tour and J and one of the brewmasters talked shop.
So far in our trip we had seen Inverness, the River Ness, and Port of Ness. But not Loch Ness. Thursday night we would be staying at Loch na Beiste, a nice B&B situated on the shore of Loch Ness.
We checked in, J and Kitty rested for a bit while Janet and I went to go see Rebekah Allan's pottery studio. Rebekah is the daughter of Eric and Helen Allan from the Highland Music Trust.
Views of Loch Ness from the drive to Rebekah's studio.
And some sheep!
That evening, we headed into Inverness to partake in as much of the real cask ale we could stand at Castle Tavern. We then headed to Hootananny to see who was playing. You guessed it - Schiehallion. Several of the locals we had met the previous week asked us about the wedding and the band played a wedding song for us - Lovely Stornoway. J and Kitty had a blast. It was a memorable evening.
Our B&B hosts were wonderfully pleasant and the breakfast was delicious. A view from our room:
April 10
Friday we bought tickets for the 3 hour Loch tour which included an hour stop at Castle Urquhart. Yes, you read that right - a three hour tour, a three hour tour. The weather was windy and the clouds were rolling in and rain would be coming soon. Some would say the weather starting getting rough and our tiny ship was tossed, but I digress.
Loch Ness is the second largest loch in Scotland by surface area, and the largest by volume. Considering its size, it's considered to be relativly fish poor so poor Nessie must be very hungry indeed. Maybe we'd spot ol'Nessie on this boat trip.
Nope, no Nessie.:(
The boat ride was uneventful and we soon reached Castle Urquhart. Castle Urquhart has been around since the 1200's and was destroyed in 1692 by Williamite troops in order to prevent it from becoming a Jacobite stonghold.
Wait, what's this? Janet spots Nessie!
I have contacted several leading cryptozoologists offering them that pic but they have all refused to return my phone calls. Woe is me.
The tour boat took us back, we bought some Nessie stuff, and headed to Culloden battlefield.
The road to Inverness.
We arrived at Culloden.
The Battle of Culloden, Blàr Chùil Lodair for the Gaelic speakers, took place in 1746 and was the final battle between the Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government in the 1745 Jacobite Uprising. The Jacobites were defeated.
The battlefield.
In 1881, Duncan Forbes erected headstones marking the mass graves of fallen Jacobite soldiers. Here are some of them.
After the Culloden visit, we stopped by Bogbain Farm for lunch. Mmmmm...wild game pie. We bought a bottle of Heather cream and some other odds and ends and hit the road for Edinburgh.
But first, a stop at Carrbridge. Carrbridge is a highland town about 30 miles South of Inverness. The town's claim to fame is the carrbridge that was built in 1707.
We got back on the road and saw signs for Dalwhinnie distillery. Sadly, we arrived 5 minutes before closing time so this is all I got.
We finally made it to Edinburgh and checked into our lodging - Pillars House. Our host recommended we check out Suruchi Too, the Indian restaurant next door. The food was delicious but the most interesting thing about the restaurant was that the menu was in Scots!
A sample of the Scots menu:
Oor North Indian kitchen has a gey queer amount o vegetarian dishes. Ae yin is cookit in a different sauce an has a wheen o different combinations o spices. India is, efter aw, maistly vegetarian an in this swatch we gie ye some o oor popular dishes. Popularly, awbodie thinks that we juist pit curry paste in awthing, weel, there's nae sic thing as curry paste in oor kitchen. Ae dish has it's ain list o precious ingredients an its ain wey o being cookit.
Shabnam ( mild ) 7.50
Caller mushrooms an sappie peas mak a sonsie combination. This is a mild, smooth and reamy dish fae the fithills o the Himalayas.
Bhindi Bhojpuri ( mild) 7.50
A weelkent North Indian dish. Caller okra saut ed in a delicious blend o coconut an ingan.
Baigan Bartha ( medium) 7.50
Tender aubergines roastit in the tandoor an panfeenishit wi green chillies an ginger on medium hot spices.
Chana Masala ( mild) 7.50
A rare trait fur yer taste buds. Sappie chick peas cookit wi spices in a rich tomatay an ingan sauce.
After dinner, we went back to Pillars House and crashed for the night.
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