Sunday,
August 25
Leaving
Edinburgh, the ship headed back up north to the heart of the Scottish
Highlands—Inverness, which is the home of the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Legend insists that the celebrated Loch Ness
Monster inhabits a cave beneath the picturesque ruins of Urquhart Castle. And that is where our tour group is headed
today. We are a small group of just 8
cruise critic rollcall members and we quickly leave the ship as soon as it is
cleared and find our driver/guide for the day.
The
countryside is absolutely beautiful. It
was truly and completely what you would expect the Scottish Highlands to look like
-- green and peaceful with rolling hills full of cows and sheep. Our first stop
is at the Caledonian Canal, which connects the lochs in the huge valley called
the Great Glen.
Pictures
from the van are blurred, but this one turned out pretty well.
We
board the boat that wll take us through the canal, into the river that then
flows into the Loch Ness. Of course we
are to keep our eyes open for any sighting of “Nessie” but the scenery itself
is what captures our attention. It is a
beautiful cruise. Just a quick
factoid: Loch Ness is 23 miles long,
less than a mile wide, the third-deepest in Europe (754 feet) and contains more
water than in all the freshwater bodies of England and Wales combined.
 |
| Friends Butch and; Jo from Minnesota! Butch went to the same high school I did in Minneapolis! |
The
Caledonian Canal was built in 1803 to allow ships a safer passage between the
North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is
60 miles long and has 29 locks to help lift boats to the right level. We had to go through one of the locks.
Years
ago the Bona Lighthouse kept vessels on the loch safe with the aid of a simple
paraffin lamp at a bedroom window. At one time it was the smallest manned
lighthouse in the UK.
After
about 90 minutes of cruising the Loch Ness, we arrived at Urquhart Castle. The site was originally settled at least 4000
years ago. Perfectly placed to scan the
length of Loch Ness in both directions, traditionally the occupiers of Urquhart
Castle controlled the Great Glen area.
Over the years the castle changed hands between the Scots and the
English.
The
castle is in ruins as the previous owners blew it up to keep the Jacobites (the
Highland clans’ resistance against the English) from taking it.
Our
guide/driver met us at the castle and we resumed our tour in the van. Not too far down the road we spotted……
Legend
has it that the deep, dark waters of Loch Ness harbor an elusive creature which
the local people call “Nessie”. The
story started way back in the year 563 when St. Columba drove away a “water monster”
with the sign of the cross. Since then
there have been many stories of sightings.
The
famous photograph of the “Loch Ness Monster” was taken in 1934 and may be the
longest enduring hoax of the century. A
small group of fun-seekers built an 18-inch model of a sea serpent, mounted it
on a toy submarine, and took a candid snapshot.
The truth was revealed in 1994 by one of the participants.
After
all that excitement, we headed to the city of Inverness for lunch and a drive
through the city. There’s another castle
there—this one is currently in use as a courthouse and jail.
This
sheep farmer was having a hard time corralling his sheep into a truck. One by one they slipped away and ran in all
directions. Our driver stopped the van
and we all watched the sheep outwit the farmer but after a few minutes, the
farmer motioned us to leave as he saw no amusement in the situation.
After
lunch the vote in the van was no more castles…..we’ve seen enough of them. So Cawdor Castle was scratched from the itinerary
and our driver headed over to Culloden Battlefield at which the battle of
Culloden took place in 1746. This battle
marked the end of power of the Scottish Highland clans (the Jacobites) and the
start of years of repression of Scottish culture by the English.
We
didn’t have time to go through the extensive museum but we were able to wander
about outside on the battlefield and stopped to photograph a Scotsman in period
dress who explained to us how the weapons were used in the battle.
It
would have been a great museum to visit to learn more about the struggle of the
Jacobites against the English rule. The history is complicated but one needs to
have a bit of an understanding in order to appreciate what you are seeing. In
short, Charles Edward Stuart aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, was raised with a
single purpose—to restore his family to the British throne. Though Charlie was not Scottish born, he was
the rightful heir directly down the line from Mary, Queen of Scots.
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| This house was at the battlesite. A cannon ball was removed from its wall about 100 years ago. |
The
battle was lost and it was the end of 60 years of Jacobite rebellions, the last
major battle fought on British soil, and the final stand of the Highlanders.
An
interesting note is that IF Bonnie Prince Charlie had preserved and taken the
throne, he likely would not have plunged Britain into the Seven Years War with
France (his ally). And increased taxes
as a result of that war led directly to the American Revolution. So, if the Jacobites had won….the American
colonies might still be part of the British Empire today.
Okay,
time was slipping away from us and our driver had one more stop he wanted us to
see—the Clava Cairns. These are burial
chambers dating from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.
They simply look like giant piles of rocks and rocks standing up in a
circle. The entrance shaft lines up with
the setting sun at the winter solstice. So there’s a mystery surrounding these
stones, just as with Stonehenge in England.
My excitement about the entire area of the Highlands of Scotland is connected to a series of books by Diana Gabaldon that I have read. The series starts with the Outlander book and is historical fiction taking place in the 1700’s. The castle in Edinburgh, the Culloden Battlefield, and stone formations like these play a central part in the books and a visit here was like the books were coming to life for me. Very, very cool! (The driver got an extra big tip today for including these last two unscheduled stops in our tour).
So our
day in Scotland came to an end and we sailed away. We had another most welcomed sea day on Day
11 – Monday, August 26.
And
then the next port is…..Le Havre, France!
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