| St. Andrews | Edinburgh |
Eilean Donan and Loch Ness - June 18, 2003
Wednesday morning was nasty, rain and wind and cold, typical Scottish weather. We got breakfast in the hotel and walked around the corner to a coach loading area. Donnie then had to stop by each of the B&B's to load people and luggage, so I suspect he got a little damp and cold (wearing his kilt no less). We then took the bridge off the island instead of the ferry.
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Our first stop is the most photographed castle in Scotland - Eilean (which means Island in Scot) Donan Castle. Because it was still raining, not everybody got off the bus, but I got several really nice pictures. |  |
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It actually stopped raining before we left, but I managed to get this picture up Loch Duich while the weather was pretty dramatic. |
| After a short wait to fill up coffee from the snack bar, we drove east until we got to Loch Ness. This is the largest body of fresh water in all of Europe. Nobody saw Nessie however. |  |
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On the shores of Loch Ness is the remains of Urquhart Castle
which dates back to about 1200. It was not destroyed in battle, but
by the defenders during the Jacobite uprising as they were afraid the
Jacobites would come back and use it. They had been under attack,
the repulsed the attack, the Jacobites left and then the defenders
destroyed the castle and abandoned it.
They have a very nice history video that helps to put this all in context. |
| We stopped for lunch in Inverness, the capital of the
highlands. I wasn't very impressed, but who am I to judge.
After this we visited the Culloden battle site - the last battle fought in England and the site that ended the Jacobite uprising. It wasn't much to see, but the British members of the tour were very happy to go there. It's like Bull Run, if you know what happened there it might be interesting to see it, but if not, it looks like an empty field. |
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We then drove south (in a very zig-zag fashion as the roads to not go over the mountains, but rather around them) to Kinloch Rannoch were we found the Dunalistair Hotel. We actually stayed in this hotel for 2 consecutive nights so managed to avoid having to pack one morning. |
| It's an older (US standards) hotel that was built in 1857. They've managed to keep it in good shape but still in a style that looks "old" (I'd guess 30's ish). Our dinners were French Menu style (fixed menu, pick one item from category 1 (starters), one item from category 2 (main course) and included dessert and coffee. |  |
| St. Andrews | Edinburgh |
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