Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness - Return Inverness

On arrival at Urquhart Castle I was debating which bus to come back on. I had arrived 4.40pm and the next buses were hourly at 5.02pm or 6.02pm. Did I need to spend an hour and a half at castle ruin or could I run back to catch the 5.02pm saving an hour?

Summer Blossom

Scotland Pass

Entrance was 14.50 pounds and he asked if I had the Scotland Explorer pass. This was not explained properly to me. For 44 pounds I would have had access to all the castles I was going to visit but I had already paid to visit Edinburgh Castle. I said no and paid for the entrance but now when I look on their website I would have had access to almost all the places I wanted including in Orkney so I still would have saved money by buying it even though I had already paid for Edinburgh

Loch Ness

Path to Castle

It is not close to the bus stop and I wouldnt have been able to run back for the 5.02pm bus. First you go down stairs to reach the grounds which are by paid entry only.

The castles are in ruins so there is not much to explore but it does make scenic spot on Loch Ness for lots of photographs of the ruins

It was still quite busy considering it was late in the day and must be even more crowded earlier when all the tour buses come

After exploring I still had 30 mins to wait for the bus as the hour gap between buses was more than enough

I was impressed by the design of many of the standalone stone houses in Scotland. We have brick in England

Road Signs

Drumnadrochit Tourist Village

Stone Home

Stone Architecture

On return in Inverness it was also surprising looking at house prices in Estate Agents windows as houses seemed to be quite reasonably priced compared to the rest of the UK or overseas

I had some time in the early evening to see Inverness though most places were closed now after 6pm on a Sunday

Inverness Castle is closed for repairs and Inverness Cathedral a short walk away was also closed for the day

There was not much on cheap food offer except for a Chinese take away. Surprisingly Tesco was still open so I stocked up on more goodies. These quiet residential streets reminded me of places like Ilford near where I grew up.