Hello! And welcome to Day 4.5 of our trip to Scotland (does it count as 0 or 1 days when you arrive in the middle of the day??)!
We started this morning with yet another hearty, delicious,
full Scottish breakfast. Ryan is really enjoying his Daily Haggis, while I am just as happy with far less meat on my plate (and two servings of boiled tomato). :) After breakfast, we ventured to the
Tomatin Distillery*, hoping to catch a tour. Unfortunately, they were not producing today, so we opted to watch the
free 7 minute video and drink the
free child-sized samples instead. Ryan said that the Scotch was a 10 year old, single malt whisky. We also sampled something called "Heather Creme" which was pretty good (mmm...
liquid chocolate).
We then continued to drive North to Inverness. We parked about a floppity-jillion miles from the city center and walked in (upside: free parking and a little exercise). We stumbled across this little park-thing with an island in the middle of the river. It was really pretty. Ryan took a video. I took pictures. We liked it.
In city center, we went to a (free) museum documenting the history of Scotland and the Inverness area. It was fascinating.
Ryan's aunt and uncle, Nancy and Pat, gave him (thank you so much! we had a
great time!!) two tickets for a Loch Ness tour. The tour actually started by bus as we drove from the city center to the Loch. The driver, Kenny, gave a fact-filled monologue on the history of Inverness in a deep Scottish brogue (regurgitated below, as I remember it... sorry for any inaccuracies!).
The second leg of the tour was by boat, on Loch Ness. The views were amazing; we could see a rain storm moving in from the South over Loch Ness, and the curtain of mist that proceeded it, while a clear blue sky shined behind us in the North.
The third leg of the tour was an hour free time at Urquhart Castle. That was my favorite part of the day. The castle is in ruins, and the land surrounding it is incredibly green. I wish I could use words or photographs to describe how beautiful it is.
On our return trip to Kingussie, we stopped at the ruins of the Ruthven Barracks, just one mile East of our guest house. As soon as we stepped out of the car, the skies opened and started to pour on us. We made the trek up the hill to the barracks anyway, and were really glad for it: the hill on which the old fort sits offers a beautiful view of the surrounding area. It was totally worth having to sit in soaking wet clothes through dinner (fish and chips again... yes, I ate fish... and I liked it!!).
Alors, the history lessons of today:
1. The world is very old.
2. So is Scotland.
3. Inverness and the surrounding area used to be full of Picts, but was officially "founded" in 560AD by Saint Columba, Inverness got a royal charter from King David I in the 1100s and became a city in 2001 (um, apparently we saw this charter at the Inverness museum today... I don't recall this, but Ryan says it is so, thus it must be so).
4. The current Inverness Castle is pretty new, having been built in 1836. It is currently being used as a court and sheriff's offices, serving much the same purpose for which it was built. I wanted a look-see around the building, but the only way in seemed like a bad idea.
5. Bonnie Prince Charlie was born in exile in 1720, but tried to stage a rebellion against the British throne for the Scottish throne (which he believed belonged to his father, who would have been James III of Scotland/James VIII of England and Ireland... he was declared king of England/Ireland/Scotland by his cousin, Louis XIV of France... those countries, however, recognized his siblings Mary (and her husband/cousin, William d'Orange) and Anne as heirs to the throne during that time due to speculation about a baby-switch at James' birth and the usual Catholic vs. Protestant problems).
6. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite uprising failed in 1746 and following the Battle of Culloden he was forced into exile in France.
7. Bonnie Prince Charlie's commander, Lord George Murray**, tried to continue the rebellion after BPC's lame abandonment but the Jacobites were again defeated at Ruthven (1 mile from Allt Gynack).
8. Urquhart Castle (a stop on the Loch Ness tour) was given to the Grants by "the crown" in 1509, who owned it until 1912. The Macdonalds often attacked the castle, as did the Jacobites, though I'm not quite sure whether they were in cahoots with each other or not. The Grants (some relatives of the 18th president of the US, apparently) eventually destroyed their castle so as to keep the Jacobites/Macdonalds from using it.
9. The Macdonald Clan (a Irish-Norse hybrid of people) liked to invade and destroy. A lot. The local sept was eventually sent to the Carolinas by the king, but judging from where we ate our midday snack yesterday, I think they snuck back in...
10. The entire Loch Ness area (Inverness, the Moray Firth, Loch Ness) is situated directly above the most active fault line in the U.K. It is partially because of this that Loch Ness is so freakin' deep (~800 feet). This makes it a perfect hiding spot for Nessie, but alas, the Loch Ness Monster is probably a myth. It is sad, but true. Still, I wouldn't go swimming in that lake. Just in case.
I'm sorry this turned into a novel! Ryan will probably insist on being the blogger tomorrow! :) The babbling brook outside the window has turned into a raging river thanks to the torrential downpour earlier today. I am going to try to let it lull me into a deep and restful sleep. I hope you are all well! :)
~meg :)
PS-we have lots more videos but our internet connection is unfortunately a bit slow. I guess the weather can really affect the connectivity. Anyway, sorry about the lack of videos!
PPS-sorry about the weird spacing. I can't get anything centered the way I want it.
*Ryan said he read that the Tomatin Distillery was the first in Scotland to be Japanese-owned.
**Perhaps these Murrays of Atholl are ancestors of my McMurrays?? 1746 is a bit recent th
