An Autumn wedding was the perfect excuse to renew our auld acquaintance with Scotland despite a 10 hour drive to Inverness. With our horses happily grazing on the bonnie banks of Loch Ness, we were free to explore.
I was amazed to find that even the Scottish hadn’t mastered Highland dancing. They gallumped about the room in various attitudes of disarray and abandon, the floor vibrating to the rafters where the disembodied antlered heads of past Highland denizens gazed down on us in astonishment.
It was quite a wedding! They had started off in the soft outdoors under copper beeches, a clear skinned young couple whose vows were centred in the earth and the wind around us, a paean to nature and the timelessness of the mountains which rose above the valley.
The serious stuff over, the local village hall put on a fine feast and a brilliant evening; I had forgotten quite how much fun Scotland could be. With a firework finale ringing in our ears we threaded our way home through autumnal lanes and over the sparkling Kessock bridge to Inverness and the dark skies beyond on Loch Ness.
We stayed at an old equestrian centre just above the loch and almost immediately opposite Urquhart Castle. The nearby hamlet of Dores has a bijoux beach which provides a stunning view to the west over Loch Ness, the clarity of the big skies and dark water reminding me of the Beagle Channel.
It also has a friendly pub on the waters edge with a food truck on certain nights. I can see renovation to come but at the moment there are only drinks and scones at the bar.
With the horses we followed the Dores beach northwards, skirting the loch’s edge through fragrant pine forests to the remains of an old jetty. The picture postcard fairytale castle of Aldourie was next, all pretty in pink. It is available as an exclusive rental with 12 double rooms.
A Scottish epic is currently being filmed there: in Laird, Kenneth Branagh plays a laird defending his ancestral home from an American billionaire – slightly ironic as the castle was bought by Anders Holch Povlsen, the Danish billionaire and the largest landowner in Scotland, in 2015 for £15 million and is now one of his 12 Scottish estates!
A London heavy was guarding the perimeter, looking rather lost, but kindly opened a gate for us to continue our ride. We returned to Dores on the South Loch Ness Trail, a 36 mile route which starts at Torbreck to the south of Inverness and runs to Fort Augustus.
Our route followed forestry trails and open moorland back to the loch where the trail followed the edge before climbing into the woods again.
On another day we continued south to the little village of Inverfarigaig, crossing Fair Haired Lad’s Pass whose 304 m elevation gave us superb views over Loch Ness with Urquhart Castle huddled on its shores.
It was peaceful riding through mixed forests and plantations, pausing to pick chanterelles or picnic, and gave us an entirely different perspective on the area. The southern side of the loch is much quieter and we saw few people.
However, we were also in a great location with lots to see within a short drive, so fitted in visits to the following iconic sites.
Urquhart Castle
People always ask if this is the ancestral pile and sadly I have to disabuse them – we may have been running around the glen in bearskins but that was as close as we got! Nevertheless, it added an extra frisson to our visit and amusing photo ops!
From a distance, Urquhart Castle is quite hard to see, over shadowed as it is by the surrounding mountains. Even close up, there isn’t a huge amount left to see bar a truncated tower and low walls, but it is all about location, location, location: nestled into a peninsula on the sides of Loch Ness, it provides a viewpoint over some of the loveliest Highland scenery.
It has the typical Scottish history dating back to the 13th century: hundreds of years of Scots fighting Scots, of English fighting Scots, of raiding parties from the Western Isles – in the Great Raid of 1545, the MacDonalds drove off 3,337 sheep and 2,355 cattle, as well as ransacking the place down to its locks, an honourable family tradition dating back 200 years.
In 1509 James IV granted the estate to John Grant whose family carried out repairs and remodelling up to 1623. When James VII was deposed in 1688, the loyalist Grant of the time sided with William of Orange and garrisoned the castle with 200 soldiers. They were able to hold off a Jacobite rebellion and siege until 1690 when the Jacobites were defeated at Cromdale.
At that stage the defenders decided to blow up the gatehouse to prevent the castle ever been used by future Jacobites and abandoned it to its fate as one of Scotland’s great romantic ruins.
The legend, the history, and the Loch Ness Monster are a potent force. As we gazed out over the loch, at its deepest opposite the castle at 230 metres, the wind stirred waters hid all monsters.
An American next to me reassured her friend:
“You do realise it is not real?”
The most charming spot is the little beach, which is quite hidden below the Water Gate. A weathered tree and smooth red pebbles invited lingering, so much so that as we wandered in the shop our motorbike registration number was called out on the tannoy.
Visualising it having been knocked over or some such we made ourselves known for what turned out to be a Welfare Check – we had stayed for so long they were worried about us!
Most people either arrive in tour buses or on the loch cruises and their time may be more limited: I say enjoy the views, wander the walls and viewpoints at leisure and who knows, that monster may yet surprise you!
Culloden
This is another place that could disappoint – it is just a simple field with only a huge stone cairn to break the monotony, yet in the annals of Scottish history, Culloden changed everything. It broke the power of many Highland clans and destroyed their culture; the playing of bagpipes and wearing a kilt were forbidden – ironically the only place one could do it was in the army!
The battle only lasted an hour yet on that ordinary swathe of grass on 16th April 1746 the dreams of the Jacobites died along with 1,500 of their men. James VIIth had been overthrown by William of Orange decades before and there had been three previous attempts to restore a Stuart monarch to the throne
His son, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, launched the fourth when he landed in Scotland on the Isle of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides on July 23rd, 1745 – so far removed from everywhere that it was some time before the Government learned of his landing. With only 7 supporters, the local Clan chiefs were sceptical, but when he raised his standard at Glenfinnan on August 19th, 1745, clans started to join him.
In the ensuing months, early victories gave the army the confidence to march on London, until, with little sign of the promised French support, their nerve ran out at Derby and they retreated back to Scotland.
Pursued by the Duke of Cumberland, the armies finally came close to the north east of Inverness. On the 15th April, the Duke celebrated his birthday in camp near Nairn with extra rations for the troops. The Jacobites had thought of a surprise attack in the dark but got lost and demoralised as they tried to make their way to the Duke and retreated back to Culloden.
Even then there were voices against a clash but Bonnie Prince Charlie decided to fight, despite many of the army being absent in Inverness and the remaining men generally exhausted after their abortive night march.
The first cannon were fired by the Jacobites at about 11 am and after a 20 minute bombardment from the Government troops they finally charged. Wet weather had made the heathland boggy and their swashbuckling style of firing their guns then throwing them away and charging with their broadswords and shields was not wholly effective against men with muskets who held their ground.
A new innovation also saw the Redcoats switch their attack to the man on their right, rather than the one in front, so being better able to make contact with their new bayoneted rifles.
By noon, 1,250 Jacobites were dead, many killed in the ensuing flight. Only 350 Redcoats died. A heather and turf cottage to one edge of the battlefield served as their field hospital. Nearby a solid giant cairn stands in memory of the Highlanders and scattered stones mark the resting places of the dead clans. Shetland cattle graze peacefully and there are skylarks in the air: it is hard to imagine what happened there.
There is a looped path with informative panels around the battlefield and flags show the positions of the two lines. It is possible to visit without paying anything other than £5 for parking (if you are not a National Trust member) but if you want to visit the Visitors Centre it is £12.50 plus another £4 for an optional tour.
The centre is fairly new and there is a good view of the battlefield from it’s roof. Underneath it does a good job of explaining the motivations of both sides and includes a Bonnie Prince Charlie sword. I found the immersive film experience rather overrated. There is an excellent cafe and a well stocked if totally overpriced shop.
Charlie managed to escape back to France in September 1746, leaving us with the (rather later) Skye boat song and Flora McDonald. He must have retained enough loyal followers that no-one turned him in for the £30,000 bounty on his head. He was to die in Rome in 1788 and is buried in St Peter’s Basilica with the Old Pretender (his father) and his brother, the Cardinal Duke of York – a statue of weeping angels by Canova marks the spot. It is frequently bedecked by flowers from Jacobite sympathisers.
Clava Cairns
I have to admit that I had never heard of Outlander. The first episode dates back to 2014, the last episode was aired in the spring of 2026 and it appears to be some sort of time travelling Scottish romance.
It was the Clava Cairns that triggered it all apparently, but they would be worth a visit anyway, the Bronze Age standing stones and huge stone circles being scenically sited amidst old trees.
There seems to be some dispute as to their purpose but no one was going to build a house with walls that thick, and given that they are aligned with the midwinter solstice, I think it is a fairly safe bet that there was some kind of worship involved.
5 minutes walk further up the road there are more rather meagre remnants which aren’t really worth the effort. However when you turn around to head back, there is a splendid view of the Culloden Viaduct filling the Nairn Valley. 549 metres long with 29 red sandstone arches standing 40 metres high, it is Scotland’s longest railway viaduct – designed by Chief Engineer Murdoch Paterson and opened in 1898, it says something for the skill of the builders that it still carries the Highland Main Line today.
It is worth the short drive around to get close to the soaring arches. The central arch is 100 feet wide and spans the River Nairn, the flanking ones are 50 feet wide. One can ascend on the road above it for another angle; a short walk from the car park there drops to the Dalroy Waterfall, a hidden gem and a popular swimming hole.
Fort George
Before Robert Adam became famous for such beautiful country houses as Syon and Harewood, he was building forts in darkest Scotland – indeed it was the money earned from the construction of Fort George on a flat peninsula to the north east of Inverness which allowed him to study in Italy for 4 years.
Fort George was a direct consequence of Culloden on 16th April, 1746: seeking to prevent any further Jacobite uprisings George II commissioned Lieutenant-General William Skinner to design what was to be the largest fort in Britain.
As it was the Jacobites had been so soundly thrashed that there was never any need for the fort, which was built between 1748 and 1769. It saw no action and today stands just as solidly as when it was first built, a superb example of 18th century military engineering.
It has been used by the British Army for over 250 years and today is home to the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland – you are quite likely to see soldiers wandering around the place on your visit.
It isn’t quite a classic star shape due to the constraints of the peninsula but a one kilometre walk around it’s ramparts will reveal stunning coastal views over the Moray Firth (look out for dolphins and seals) as well as the huge array of cannon which defended it. The little guard towers on the corners are known as pepper pots!
Various buildings are open to the public, including the Garrison Church (thought to have been designed by Robert Adam), and the Highlander Museum which has artefacts from the Highland regiments through the ages as well as 16 Victoria crosses. War booty includes a magnificent Boer chest and a box used by Hitler for his personal papers.
The Seafield Collection of Arms dating back to French revolutionary and Napoleonic war times is on display in an old gunpowder storage area. Sir James Grant, a local MP, used them to equip the local regiments. In 1810 all the clothing was sold off (there could not have been a huge market for 2nd hand shoe buckles and knapsacks) and the remaining muskets, pikes and swords were stored at Castle Grant until their rediscovery in the 1970’s. It is an amazing weaponry time capsule.
Sadly the army is moving out in 2032 and the fort’s days as a military garrison will be over. Of more concern now is coastal erosion as the seas batter against its walls; due to slippage we were not allowed to access the dog cemetery, one of only two in Britain.
We thoroughly enjoyed ambling around all the nooks and crannies and finished our visit in the coffee shop, a pleasant enough spot although without a view in a casement.
Inverness and Heading Home
We didn’t see a huge amount of Inverness, just passing through it on several occasions, but my impressions were favourable. With the River Ness running through it, there are river banks lined with some austere yet handsome Northern architecture, various bridges and a lively feel to it.
We did stop at Leakey’s Bookshop, a must for any bibliophile. Housed in an old chapel, there is a vast selection on every subject.
After a week we turned for home. It had been a rather mad idea to drive 400 miles to Inverness in a horsebox for a wedding, especially with the price of diesel at that time, but it had all been great fun.
The return drive to Buxton took 14 hours although we did manage to fit in a good lunch at the Tebay Services on the M6 near Penrith – owned by local farmers, there is a farm shop and all sorts of food options that you actually want to eat – if only all motorway services were like this!
