Inverness - Day 1

Saturday, 21 September 2019

Oy...it was a very early morning.  Tim got out of bed at 5:10 AM which at least gave me another 45 minutes or so to sleep.  We showered, dressed,  packed up the car, and were ready to leave just after 6:30 AM.  We have to check into the 7:45 AM ferry by 7:15 AM.

We made it by 7 AM and loaded onto the ferry just before 7:30 AM.  Unlike the ferry we came over on that had very little people on it, this ferry was filled with teenage boys rugby teams.  We managed to find a seat in an area with only a few of them.  Tim slept while I played with the phone. It was only a 1 hour ride and we arrived back to the main land before 9 AM. 

We disembarked the ferry and headed east 5 miles to John O'Groats that marks the northeastern corner of the Isle of Britain with the other end being Land's End, 874 miles to the southwest in Cornwall.  By the way, we plan on being in Cornwall in about 1 month.  Here at the end, is a signpost that tells you how far places are.  New York is 3,230 miles and Edinburgh is 273 miles.

Here is another sign near-by that states we are at the end of the Isle of Britain.

Although this spot has the glitzy sign, the actual end is Duncansby Head Lighthouse, just up that road.

Here we are...at the actual end.

Rick Steves mentioned 1 mile hike from here to the Duncansby Stacks.  We had no idea what he was talking about, then we walked over a rise and there they were.

Getting closer....

Wow...pretty cool.

We made it.  It was a bit windy, but well worth the 20 minute walk.

Here is Tim enjoying the sites.

We made it back to the car and headed south towards Inverness, the stop for tonight.  The road south wasn't as scenic as the road we took to to get to the north, but it was beautiful plus a two-lane road, so definitely easier to drive.

Just before Inverness, we stopped at Black Isle Brewing Company and had some tastes.  It was really good beer, so we bought four of them to take with us.

Black Isle Brewing Company, Munlochy, Scotland

This brewery is set on a farm where they grow their own ingredients. It was a really nice setting.

Onward to Inverness.  But, before we check into our AirBnB, we decided to check out Loch Ness and see if we can have a sighting of Nessy.  By coincidence we wound up here on the same day as there was a meetup started on Facebook called "Storm Loch Ness, Nessy Can't Stop Us All."  This was obviously an answer to the Area 51 raid planned in the United States.

Is this a sighting of Nessy?  Is this one of Nessy's teeth that Tim found on the shore?

Who knows...but I do know that Loch Ness, is beautiful and Nessy picked a great place to hang out.

We then drove a few more miles up Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle.  Like other castles in Scotland, we didn't go inside, we just enjoyed the amazing view.

We then drove the 25 minutes back to Inverness and checked into our AirBnB.  As soon as we entered Tim loved it.  He said this is his favorite AirBnB we have stayed in during this trip so far.  At this point he only saw the TV and the leather sofa / recliner...ha.  It wound up that this is a really nice place, so I'll give it to him that this is one of the nicer ones.

After checking in, we walked to town.  It winds up that the brewery we stopped in at the way here has a taproom in town that serves their beer on tap and pizza.  So we went there, had a few pints and a couple of pizza, went next door for gelato, then returned to the AirBnB.

Since we were up just after 5 AM this morning, we made an early night of it.  I went to bed around 9:30 PM and Tim soon followed.  Tomorrow we spend the day exploring Inverness.  No rush to get up, so it should be a relaxing morning.