Tim leaves at 6:30 to shoot some birds with his camera. He spots various waders, among which a curlew (wulp) and a redshank (tureluur).
The rest of the family wakes at 7 and enjoys the luxury of the caravan: chilling in bed, taking a shower and a cup of tea. We recharge from the intense camping adventure of the past 1,5 week. And we wonder if we feel strong enough for another 3 weeks of camping. The weather seems to improve, but still, a kitchen, shower, couch and bed is also super nice. We will enjoy it for two more days!
We leave to visit Inverness, capital of the highlands. It feels like the starting place of many tourists going to the Scottish highlands and islands, with kilt, whiskey and camper shops.
We pass the city council and rendez-vous cafe where the Beatles (Silver Beetles back then) gave their first concert on 21 May 1960, to first visit Abertarff house, Inverness’ oldest house built in 1593. Only the two downstairs rooms are open, not much to see here.
We buy new gas for our upcoming camping trip, and visit the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. There are two floors. The first one is focused on archeology and natural science, with beautiful carved Pictish stones and stuffed native animals some of which can be touched.
The second floor contains art, weapons and social history. The clouds disapears and the sun warms the city to a nice 18 degrees (we know there’s a heath wave on the continent, so we enjoy our coolcation). We check-out the outside of the Inverness castle and the river Ness (coming from the next door Loch Ness). We also check out the Kilt Visitor Center, which is more of a shop than a visitor center, so we cannot recommend it.
We drive 20 minutes to try the Culloden Battlefield Museum instead. We visited it also last year, but it was extremely busy so it deserves a second try. It’s again busy.
The site memorises the final battle on Brittish soil, taking place on 16 April 1746. Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British throne, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland’s government troops. In less than an hour, around 1,600 men were slain – 1,500 of them Jacobites.
The Culloden Visitor Centre stands beside the battlefield, and features artefacts from both sides of the battle and interactive displays that reveal the background to the conflict. The kids are more interested in the interactive displays and trying the pistols and dressing up. We’re also not quite sure we it attracts this many visitors, by far the most of any place we have visited so far, but then we’re not Scottish or of Scottish descent.
We do some quick « bonus » groceries, to get some snacks and a muffin kit for the kids. We spend the afternoon swimming in the sea, reading books, playing in the play ground, baking muffins and hunting more birds.
