Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdomaug 27 Mardon Guesthouse 37 Kenneth St Inverness Scotland
Marilynn's alarm rang at 7 am so we could be ready for the 8 am breakfast we had selected.
I had smoked salmon & scrambled eggs on scone with coffee and a bowl of fresh fruit - very good. There was a young woman from Glasgow named Pauline who was having breakfast at the same time. She has been following the Park Runs which are 5k runs all around the world on saturday at 9:30 am or something like that. She said her times had worsened as she continued the runs, until she had another good one. We wished her well. She was so nice, like all the Scots that we have met so far. She said she had just gone around Inverness that day and was planning on going down the river to where there were porpoises and dolphins and other wildlife. She told us that she likes dogs and other animals.
Marilynn and I gathered our things and walked to the bus station to catch a bus for the Culloden Battlefield at 9:15 or something like that. The bus traveled from the city center, through some suburbs with shopping centers, then the university campus and then finally to farmland. The bus then dropped us off in the Cullodon Battlefield parking lot.
Once we got our tickets, we were informed that there would soon be a guided tour of the battlefield. We worked our way around the museum exhibits until we were rounded up for the tour by Andy, our young guide with long hair in a clasp. He was quite dramatic and showed us the red and blue flags that marked the front lines of the government and the Jacobite forces led by Bonnie Prince Charlie.
We heard about how the Jacobites had been successful but had retreated because his followers were cold and tired. I have forgotten how it was that they came to fight on the fields of Culloden because it was boggy and muddy. They had about 5500 men and the English had 8000, some of whom were Scots and Prussians and Hanoverian. Bonnie Prince Charlie had some French allies with him I guess. The English troops were trained in musketry and cannon fighting. The Jacobites had just gotten cannons. The Jacobites used their usual winning strategy of hand-to-hand combat but when they charged forward, they ended up running into the bog and were quickly surrounded by the government troops who slaughtered the ones they surrounded. The government troops continued with their advantage and the battle was over in 45 minutes or an hour. Then the Earl of Cumberland pronounced that no one could leave the battlefield for 3 days. That meant that any injured or living Jacobite was doomed to die of exposure since it was winter. Anyone trying to assist the Jacobites would also be killed so that is why there are woman and also children who were killed and buried in the mass graves on the battlefield.
Later a nobleman bought the property and donated money for monuments to the various clans. These are more symbolic than accurae because no one can really tell who is buried where. The English reported only 50 casualties but historians have found evidence of at least 75-100 deaths. There was also a cairn built there and heather in bloom around it. I was very excited to see heather in bloom and I think I also saw some Scotch broom that had brown seed pods.
When we got back to the visitor center, we checked out the gift shop but there were no new interesting postcards. Marilynn got directions to the Clava cairns.
We set off through he parking lot, went right, then right, and ended up in some construction debris site. We walked around looking for signs. Marilynn said the direCtions she was given said we would end up at some buildings we could see. There was a path or road in that direction so I suggested we take it. Marilynn said the path was supposed to be between two stone walls so she tried another path but that did not lead anywhere really. We tried asking several passers-by, then Marilynn went back into the visitor center to check the directions. We ended up taking the path... toward the buildings. It turned out to be OK and once we passed the buildings, we came to a corner where there was fianlly an arrow pointing toward the cairns. We followed that road and saw a big bridge which we were to cross, we saw some cows in one field, then we finally saw one hairy coo, but it was in the shadow of a hedge and lying down so not the best position for a good photo.
We continued and found that we were to cross a different smaller bridge which we did. This road had a lot of traffic and invariably two were passing in opposite directions when they came next to us so we had to hop off the road since it was not very wide. A bus came as we were on the bridge and we had to rush to get off it so the bus could go by and not crush us. I can't remember if we had another turn, but eventually we arrived at the parking lot for the cairns.
This Clava Cairn site was maintained but more informally. There was no charge and no one in charge. We walked around the various stones, read the signboards and took photos. Marilynn asked me to take a photo of her next to a stone so I had her take one of me as well. After I looked at the 3rd cairn, Marilynn told me she wanted to catch the next bus and it was in45 minutes. I thought that we had gone over 2 miles (one sign said it was 3 miles between the 2 sites) and I doubted that we could make it in time but Marilynn still wanted to try. We had a rather long hill to climb back up as well. According to Marilynn, we only averaged 17 min/km rate on the hill and 12 km/hr for the flat. Well, we made it - Marilynn said we still had 13 minutes when we got to the bus stop. I kept trying to calculate all the numbers in my head because I still did not think it was possible. But we did get on that bus. It was nearly empty so we took separate seats and Marilynn got into a long conversation with a Scottish gentleman in the seat in front of her.
When we got off the bus, we went in search of lunch. We looked at a number of restaurant menus and rejected them for one reason or another. A few only offered us a fish and chips alternative that we might want. Then Marilynn found one where I would choose roasted salmon as the only acceptable choice. She had a pork loin roast. I desparately wanted to eat outside since the sun was shining and it was warm...and soon it will be fall and getting too cold...or rainy for the rest of our Scotland stay....anyway, Marilynn agreed to the idea but there were no tables empty outside so we had to eat in again. I had an Orchard Pig cider that was good. ,
After lunchwe went for a short walk along the river Ness toward Loch Ness, but not anywhere near Loch Ness. We went over another bouncy bridge and then Marilynn's knee was hurting so she sat on a bench and I went on and returned in 15 minutes. I saw some kind of festival along the path and a section of river with a bit of rapids. We stopped at Tesco for snacks for tomorrow's tour.
We got back and got train tickets for the day after tomorrow back to Edinburgh. Then I started on photo chores. I uploaded the Nikon photos and sent out some phone photos. I started my blog on notepad because I could not get onto the internet with the password in the guesthouse hall. I had to put on my down jacket and hat since the room was too cold with my sweater and linen jacket. Marilynn has now increased the heat but told me I should get acclimated to the cold, or something like that. She put on the TV and there were some mystery shows to watch before the usual 8 pm.
2025-05-22