Europe: Inverness

After a rather unwilling departure from Edinburgh, I travelled further north and arrived at the town (ahem, I mean city) of Inverness late afternoon. It was colder and fresher – green mountains a stone’s throw away from the main street across the River Ness which ran fresh and clear over a pebbly bottom.

I spent a day not doing very much except walking – up along the river through the bridges connecting the Ness Islands to the other side of the river, walking on through St Andrew’s Cathedral and beside Inverness Castle. The highlands were stunning, just that little bit more Scottish than Edinburgh, with the Scots flag flying proud and not a Union Jack in sight.

I joined a small bus day tour, which was hands-down the best day of travelling I have had on my almost-five-month long trip, to date. I sat down afterward and tried to figure out how to explain why, but decided it must be like childbirth – I could describe every detail of the mountains, which looked as though God Himself had looked down on the crags, black as night, and decided to sprinkle on green for decoration; could describe the beauty of the sun sparkling on the Loch’s, the castles and red deer, and the very highland tour guide with his gorgeous kilt and not a sentence spoken withouth a wink, an ‘Och’, or an ‘Aye’ – but you know, it just wouldn’t do it justice unless you expereinced it yourself.

We started at the battlefield of Culloden, where the Jacobites (mostly Highland Catholics) fought against the English (mostly, um, English Protestants) in 1746 – the Scots taking a crushing blow, the last of many which would affect their way of life, and their pride, to this day. We parked on the field a long way from the visitors centre (‘Och,’ said our tour guide, ‘The visitors centre is placed on the side of the victorious English. I always arrive on the side of the valiant losers. You start watching Scottish football and you get used to losing after a while, aye?’) and spent some time on the field, looking at the clan markers and British graves that holds thousands of bodies from that bloody battle.

With a few scenic stops in between, we then stopped at Loch Ness, home of Nessie the monster, and of an old Englishman who has set up his caravan by the river and spends his days trying to solve the mystery of Loch Ness (‘Ach, he just likes the old ladies bringin’ ‘im tea’). Though we didn’t see Miss Nessie, the secery alone was well worth the visit. Tragically the self-proclaimed ‘monster-hunter’ in the caravan hasn’t spotted her either, though lots of locals have. Allegedly. I’m a believer.

The day was filled with stories of the highland clans, of fairies and the ‘good people’, of battles and fishermen, of mountains and Lochs – with a good dose of dry Scottish humour thrown in (‘You part of the MacGregor clan way back then, aye?’ The guide said to me. ‘Cheeky buggars, always geting in trouble and dissapearing right when it suits them, and never getting caught. Everyone else was fighting at Culloden and those boys were up north on a secret mission to do with the gold sent from France. They were no fools then, aye?’ I kind of rolled my eyes with a ‘That’d be right’).

We saw small villages and magnificent waterfalls, bridges still standing after 350 years, and mountains and valeys with not a living soul in sight. By the end of the day, I was waiting for the guide to stand up and say ‘So, who wants to marry me and live in the highland mountains and never see a city ever again?’ so I could stand up and scream ‘ME!!!!’ so loudly that everyone would think we were being attacked by highland goats and run for their lives, and I would never, ever, have to leave.

Sadly, this didn’t happen, and we head back to Inverness, my only comfort being that I still had a week and a half in Scotland. And that Harry Potter was being released tomorrow. I guess highland mountains don’t have bookshops, hey. Maybe best I stay single for a while.

-Sarah

PS The tour guide was gorgeous. Just to make that clear, in case you thought the mountains and fresh air, Scottish accent and kilt had affected my taste, aye?