Lossiemouth, Scotland, United Kingdom
Sadly it is time to leave Aberchaldy and the Lundie View Inn. We were up earlier than usual so that we could make our final packing and have breakfast--coffee, tea, fresh baked croissants, jams, cheese and fruit. We talked with Collin about any distillerys we might visit and before we left Daniela gave us each a small bottle of whisky and some Scottish cookies and told us to be sure and return to visit them.
We then headed north toward Inverness stopping at Drumnadrochit, a small village on the west side of Loch Ness at the foot of Glen Urquhart. We turned west here for a few miles so we could visit Corrimony cairn. Corrimony Chambered Cairn is considered to be a "Clava type" cairn that is in a remarkable state of preservation including many of the passage roofs. The cairns here is a prehistoric beehive stone circular buildings with a standing stone circle around it. The cairn and standing stones are then surrounded by birch woods and cultivated land. The cairn was excavated in the 1950s and a woman was found in the grave circle.
Speculation is that there was a prehistoric settlement near by but no one has done excavations to find out. It was a very interesting place that is not on the top of most visitors' list, so we wandered around by ourselves. This is the best way to do this. So if you like prehistoric ruins and don't like crowds be sure and put this place on your list of places to see.
Next we drove past Inverness and headed east toward Nairn and Elgin. Our next stop is to tour Cawdor Castle--famous (or should I say infamous) for being listed as the castle in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (even though it really wasn’t). It is still in the private ownership of the Dowager (widow) Countess of Cawdor who lives there in the winter and opens it to the public in the summer. It also was a fascinating house--her deceased husband wrote the informational brochures in each room and they were both informative and sarcastically witty--which we of course thought made it much more interesting. Even though it has turned really cold (I’m wearing a down jacket, wool sock cap, scarf, and gloves) we walked through the walled garden, and saw the maze!.
Before we left here we stopped at the cafe for lunch where we had pots of tea, and hot smoked salmon and prawn salad. Yum!
Next stop was the town of Lossiemouth and to find the Stotfield Hotel where we are staying tonight. Lossiemouth, called the "jewel of the Moray Firth" is a town on the northern edge of Scotland that was originally a port belonging to the town of Elgin. It has been a fishing port for over a 1000 years although the present day town is only about 250 years old. The town was called a “resort” town in the late 1800s and early 1900s so there are cool stone houses right on the street and the water (the Moray Firth and the North Sea). And is it ever cold up here!!!!! The wind is whistling in from the north! EEEK!
The Stotfield hotel is like a slightly fancier Faulty Towers--I love it!! It has an ancient rotating front door, blocks of Scots plaid on the walls, and leather Chesterfield sofas in a front lounge area. We have sea view rooms and it is all grey and windy as we look out at the sun beginning to set and the seagulls soaring over the waves! In between us and the sea is also a golf course which would be a neat place to play if we played golf--as an aside this town is considered to be a golf-oriented resort! Once we put all our belongings in our room we did a quick walk on the beach to hunt for seashells and seaglass but the tide was coming in, so we’ll try again tomorrow.
We walked on to the Beach Bar, a former bath house, to have an afternoon snack of crisps and beer for all but me who had another pot of tea and some cookies. Then we trudged back through the cold to our hotel where I took the computer to the main lobby to check emails--the internet was very bad in our room.
About 6:30 p.m. we headed down to have dinner tonight in the hotel dining room. We had made reservations earlier as we just didn't want to leave the hotel tonight. We were seated by huge windows overlooking the sea which was gorgeous. We decided to all share a bottle of Chardonnay to celebrate making it all the way to the North Sea, a first for all 4 of us. Sandy and Dennis each chose the catch of the day (cod) cooked en papillote with vegetables. I had the grey sole on tagliatelle with peas and broad beans in a cream sauce, and Mike had the pork chop on mashed potatoes. The food was very good.
After dinner, Sandy and Dennis went back up to their room, but Mike and I walked all the way from the West Beach (where we are) through the town and to the South Beach. It is a fascinating town with row upon row of stone houses. And to top the craziness of going out on a windy cold evening, we had an ice cream cone on the boardwalk at a place called Miele's! Then we walked back and went to bed early as we are tired and tomorrow we’re heading to Culloden Battlefield and maybe a drive along the north beach of Scotland.
2025-05-23