Family Time: Day 4

Posted by Kalie on November 29, 2009

Wednesday we woke up very early to get to Inverness (3 hours away) and make the most of the short amount of daylight.  One of the things Shawn wanted to do most was go to Loch Ness, so he and I took a bus to the Loch where we then took a boat ride to the Urquhart Castle ruins.  The day was very rainy and windy.  The boat ride was cut short ten minutes because the wind was creating 10-15 foot waves in the middle of the loch.  Shawn enjoyed both the boat ride (it was his first time on a boat) and the castle.  We met my parents back in Inverness, did some souvenir shopping, then began our journey back.  On our way to Aberdeen, we stopped at the Black Isle Brewery.  It’s one of the smallest breweries in Scotland.  There were four men working: one putting on labels, one filling the bottles, one capping the bottles, and one who stopped whatever he was doing to give us a short free tour.

Not far from the brewery was the Culloden battlefield.  We stopped for just a bit to have a look around.  I was interested in this stop because I’ve learned a lot about the Battle of Culloden from my Gaelic Culture class.  The Battle of Culloden took place in April 1746 between the Jacobites and the British government and was the battle war to take place on British soil.  The battle essentially ended the traditional Highland clan system and was a stepping stone for the Highland Clearances that happened later in the 1800s.

That evening we headed downtown to the Prince of Wales pub.  We met up with my flatmates Sarah and Lizzie, as well as three of Lizzie’s friends.  It was cool to have my parents and Shawn hang out with my friends and some real (as opposed to fake?) Scottish guys.

Filed Under: Uncategorized - Comments: Be the First to Comment



top