Loch Ness, Culloden, Inverness and Nairn

Left the Isle of Skye and travelled to the edge of Loch Ness at Fort Augustus. Found a good site in the village and had a lovely day looking at the boats coming off the Loch and into the Caledonian Canal for the passage across from one side of the country to the other. The canal was built by Thomas Telford in the 1790's and is still used today via a series of locks for small boats, yachts, barges, long boats etc.
Fort Augustus is a haven for the rich with their yachts and the local pub reflects that - we went out for a drink at the local pub in the evening and paid over £8.00 for half a beer and a glass of wine! We moved on the next day up the side of the loch - it's enormous.

Just north of Fort Augustus - a clog shop

Arrived at Culloden just a few miles outside Inverness where we were booked in for a couple of nights. We visited the museum of the battle of Culloden and the battle fields. It was the final battle that changed the path of history and had a real impact on me - fascinating history and worth a visit.
We spent a day in Inverness, a modern city and looked around the shops and yet another museum showing the geology of the area - how the mountains were formed and the role of the clans in shaping the future . At one point I tried on a traditional kilt - you had to lay on the floor to put it on - it was so bulky I don't know how they managed to do anything let alone fight.

Inverness castle

The following day we moved on to Nairn - we were not staying there, just visiting. What a fabulous place, it's on the Moray Firth and has a great sandy beach with rock pools, lots of parks and they were just setting up their Highland games for the next day. I wanted to stay but had already pre-booked the next site, so we decided to make it a priority visit next time in Scotland.

Nairn rock pools - I think these birds are Dunlins - red beaks and legs

We moved on to Huntly - the home of many of the whisky companies. The area is completely different there, quite flat and agricultural. It had lots of sports facilities but the town looked quite run down and presume it has suffered from the recession. We moved on to the Aberdeen area the next day