From Fort William in the morning we drove north along the Loch Ness shore. Our first stop was Urquhart Castle. It used to be one of the largest castles in Scotland. It is mostly in ruins now and very beautifully situated on the water. Many Nessie sightings are reported from here and we intended to see her. I want to tell you that we did see her, so I will. We totally saw the Loch Ness Monster!! And that’s all I have to say about that. It was very windy that day and when it was blowing it was freezing. Every once in a while the wind would cease, however, and if you were standing in the sun it was really rather nice. There was a large group of French tourists mingled into the many other people. Large crowds are interesting because they really do just follow the person in front of them. To get outside you have to walk through the huge gift shop. There are two doors leading outside and everyone seemed to be filing through only one door. So I went through the other door and accidentally bumped into a woman. My reaction was to excuse myself and apologize in French because I’d been hearing the language all around me. The woman did not respond however and Daniel let me know she probably didn’t understand me. I hope she at least understood my sentiment. We wandered around the massive grounds and did a little dancing at Heather’s request before taking off to our next site.
We drove up toward Inverness to Fort George, a big military base that is still in operation today on the Moray Firth. Built in the mid 1700’s George the second created it in the hopes it would become the strongest artillery fortification in Scotland. That hope still stands. When we arrived the wind and rain was so powerful I could only keep my head down and run into the building for cover. As soon as we had our passports stamped and went out to brave the weather again, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and everything looked lovely. We lost Jeremy right at the beginning, we usually do, and Heather, Daniel and I walked the grounds quietly, secretly watching the military boys perform certain rituals. We went into the chapel which was really warm so we walked slowly in there taking pictures and videos. Then we went up to see the cannons and water views. The three of us had a fun time exploring and wondering where Jeremy had gone. A few days ago I noticed in a picture that he was actually directly underneath us walking about the same pace as we were. I wonder if he could hear us up there and was staying close or if it was just a coincidence. At one point Heather jumped up onto two brick walls straddling the walkway and it made me very nervous. There was very little earth on each side of her and I didn’t care to see her fall into the water. I squeaked at her a little bit and after she got photos and video of her bravery she hopped back down. Phew! In the small gift shop Jeremy bought another stuffed Highland Coo which happened to be a puppet. He hadn’t known when he picked it out. They named him Rhubarb. As we crossed the motte bridge to leave we glimpsed some baby seagulls huddling together and walking around their moms. It was so cute. We stayed and laughed at ourselves for loving everything small on this trip, fully aware that when they are grown, we think of them as dirty and annoying. As babies, though, they are brown, fluffy, and we wanted to hold them!
Next we stopped into a small town called Forres for some lunch. We ate in a funny little café where Heather and Jeremy shared a sandwich and each had a pint, Daniel ordered nachos that were… different and a mocha, and I ate a salad and a smoothie that was supposed to be mango raspberry and instead tasted like strawberries. We had a few minutes to stop by Sueno’s Stone which is a Pictish class three stone cross standing at about twenty one feet tall. It has carvings of vines, soldiers, horsemen and Celtic designs on it. It is dated as far back as the 9th century. So this was the oldest sighting we observed.
The Dallas Dhu Distillery was a place Jeremy was very excited about. At home, Jeremy makes his own cheeses and breads, he loves to cook, he brews his own beer and he and Heather even have their own British Pub in their backyard. Also, they love scotch, so this was an intriguing stop for them. We made our way through the rooms and listened to our hand held speakers about the history of the gigantic equipment therein. After our self guided tour we went in to have a sample and watch a historic film about the distillery. Again there was a French family ahead of us watching the short documentary and I did my best to listen to the volunteer behind the counter give us information instead of picking out French words and phrases from the movie. In Gaelic, Dallas Dhu means, Black Water Valley. The distillery was built in the early 1900s, destroyed by a fire in 1939, rebuilt and then shut down in 1983. I’m not much of a hard liquor drinker, yet it was neat to try something that had been aged for so long in a wooden barrel.
Our last stop that day was the ruined cathedral of Elgin. The structure is from the 11th century and sustained two fires which badly damaged it one hundred years apart from each other. It was also attacked a handful of times and was finally abandoned in 1560 after the reformation. The graves there were beautiful and intricate. I sat alone in the chapel where they had soft music playing and easily meditated for five minutes before Daniel found me. I say easily because it is not always easy for me to meditate with my eyes closed. There was some kind of calm energy in there that allowed me to enjoy the silence inside myself. Outside of the small chapel however I felt a little unease with all the graves so I sat in the sun out front and waited for my friends.
Heading south again along the river Spey via the whiskey trail and then driving through the Cairngorm National Park we again ooh-ed and aww-ed at all the pretty views outside our windows. We spotted a really neat castle across Loch Laggen which happens to be a castle where a soap opera is filmed; Heather knows the show. We made a full loop back to our cabin at Roy Bridge where I’m sure we went up to the pub for internet and a little nosh after our very full day.
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