The previous few days of lots of walking (to which my legs were unaccustomed), followed by lots of driving (in a car with an awkwardly small accelerator pedal and no cruise control), had left me a bit achy. I had booked a massage to iron out some of the kinks, so had a few hours to kill between checking out of the hotel and my appointment at noon.
I explored one of the Poundland shops (there are two, one at either end of the mall), and bought a BLT sandwich, a brolly, a doohickey to mount my phone in the car (for use as GPS), and some bandaids (blister on my heel from my sandals yesterday), (each £1) and a plastic bag (5p) for separating the laundry in my bag. I had a hangover-soothing chocolate milkshake (actually a Starbucks mocha frappucino, a tolerable substitute), and a bit of wander.
After my massage, I collected my car from the hotel, and headed north of Inverness, to Culloden Moor. I'll fill in more of the details later, but I have a requisite photo of the Fraser memorial stone, and a sense of the why the battle was so utterly doomed.
[pics to come of Culloden moor]
I then went across to Fort George, built shortly after Culloden, to guard the heads of the Moray Firth, and therefore sea access to Inverness. As it was built after last stand of the Jacobite rebellion, and has been occupied continuously since then as a garrison, it is in outstanding condition. It also offers glorious views across the Firth.
[pics to come of Fort George, including stained-glass bagpipe-playing angel]
As this is the Saturday of a bank weekend, accommodation was rare and expensive. I'd found a somewhat cheaper place 30 minutes out of town (or 50 mins from Fort George).
Strathpeffer was once a massively popular spa town during Victorian times, and it has a good half dozen substantial hotels "dripping with faded grandeur" (per Lonely Planet), including mine, the Highland Hotel. With accommodation over four floors, and a commanding view over the valley (strath = valley) for those willing to pay for a premium room. My small single room did not have such views, but it did have a bath, and I enjoyed an extended soak after dinner.
Dinner was served in the massive dining room, which occupies the ground floor of one of the wings. I was originally only going to have the two courses, but was still a tad peckish, so chose to also have a third course. Those on FB have already seen the, ahh, unusual cheese selection offered as one of the third course options. I have not ever had a processed cheese (mini Babybel) included as one of the 'selection', nor been warned off the "green cheese" by my waiter ("very bad"). (It was actually a perfectly reasonable Stilton, or similar, but he would not be persuaded.) The other two cheeses were a small serve of an unnamed cheddar, and a reasonable sized wedge of an immature brie. Plus a Jatz cracker, a Sao cracker, a digestive biscuit, something that might have been an oat biscuit, and a little bit of 'celery'.
I explored one of the Poundland shops (there are two, one at either end of the mall), and bought a BLT sandwich, a brolly, a doohickey to mount my phone in the car (for use as GPS), and some bandaids (blister on my heel from my sandals yesterday), (each £1) and a plastic bag (5p) for separating the laundry in my bag. I had a hangover-soothing chocolate milkshake (actually a Starbucks mocha frappucino, a tolerable substitute), and a bit of wander.
After my massage, I collected my car from the hotel, and headed north of Inverness, to Culloden Moor. I'll fill in more of the details later, but I have a requisite photo of the Fraser memorial stone, and a sense of the why the battle was so utterly doomed.
[pics to come of Culloden moor]
I then went across to Fort George, built shortly after Culloden, to guard the heads of the Moray Firth, and therefore sea access to Inverness. As it was built after last stand of the Jacobite rebellion, and has been occupied continuously since then as a garrison, it is in outstanding condition. It also offers glorious views across the Firth.
[pics to come of Fort George, including stained-glass bagpipe-playing angel]
As this is the Saturday of a bank weekend, accommodation was rare and expensive. I'd found a somewhat cheaper place 30 minutes out of town (or 50 mins from Fort George).
Strathpeffer was once a massively popular spa town during Victorian times, and it has a good half dozen substantial hotels "dripping with faded grandeur" (per Lonely Planet), including mine, the Highland Hotel. With accommodation over four floors, and a commanding view over the valley (strath = valley) for those willing to pay for a premium room. My small single room did not have such views, but it did have a bath, and I enjoyed an extended soak after dinner.
Dinner was served in the massive dining room, which occupies the ground floor of one of the wings. I was originally only going to have the two courses, but was still a tad peckish, so chose to also have a third course. Those on FB have already seen the, ahh, unusual cheese selection offered as one of the third course options. I have not ever had a processed cheese (mini Babybel) included as one of the 'selection', nor been warned off the "green cheese" by my waiter ("very bad"). (It was actually a perfectly reasonable Stilton, or similar, but he would not be persuaded.) The other two cheeses were a small serve of an unnamed cheddar, and a reasonable sized wedge of an immature brie. Plus a Jatz cracker, a Sao cracker, a digestive biscuit, something that might have been an oat biscuit, and a little bit of 'celery'.
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