This was our first trip after the Covid pandemic and as international travel was still banned we decided to try a staycation and see some parts of Scotland that we had never visited before. We had both had our 2 Covid injections so we were quite happy to venture on holiday and enjoy some freedom after the lockdowns. The weather was a bit hit and miss - some spells of sunshine with rain and hail showers in between.
Day 1
We left Edinburgh and drove up the M90, A9 and A82 and arrived in Inverness about 3 hours later. The Travelodge let us check in an hour early at 2pm so we put our luggage in our room and went to move the car which was in a loading bay outside with 20 minutes parking allowed. After unpacking we went for a walk to get our bearings and took a stroll up to the castle which is currently closed due to lack of visitors at the moment.
There were however story boards with lots of information and a statue of Flora Macdonald.
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As it was coming on rain we decided to have dinner near our hotel and then call it a night.
Day 2
After breakfast we set off for the Black Isle (not an isle at all but a peninsula!) We stopped for a little while in Avoch (we discovered later after talking to someone that the locals call it Och 😏) and admired their marina and beach
then travelled on through Fortrose to Chanonry Point in the hope of seeing dolphins and seals.
We stayed for an hour and although there were a few people there, some with very long camera lenses, who we decided were the experts, there was no sign of any marine wildlife!
Day 3
After breakfast we booked a slot at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery. There was lots of information on Bonnie Prince Charlie and other Scottish people from history plus costumes, weapons and musical instruments from various eras. We then set off for Drumnadrochit and Urquhart Castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urquhart_Castle We didn't go into the castle but took some lovely photos of it from the side of the road.
We then travelled back and called into a place we had noticed on the way there called Jacobite Cruises and found that you could do a cruise from there to Loch Ness.
We then decided to visit Whin Park and the Botanic Gardens in between heavy hail showers again. In Whin Park we crossed over one of the foot bridges onto one of the Ness Islands situated in the middle of the River Ness.
The Botanic Gardens were very small compared with their counterpart in Edinburgh and some of the greenhouses were closed but we enjoyed our look round.
When we returned we booked a cruise on the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness for 12 noon tomorrow.
Day 4
The weather forecast was for showers again but we were lucky during our cruise that it only rained for a short time and the limited number of people who were allowed on board due to the pandemic had all descended into the covered area so we sheltered under a canopy behind the captain. Social distancing was very easy on this boat 😂
The cruise took us through part of the Caledonian Canal and onto Loch Ness and we sailed all the way to Urquhart Castle before turning round to sail back.
The sun came out as we were returning to the dock so we decided to venture to the Culloden Battlefield to finish off our holiday. The Visitor Centre was only open to people who had booked online so we decided just to walk out onto the battlefield for a quick look as the sky had turned very dark at this point.
Day 5
We travelled home through the stunning scenery once more and passed fields and mountains covered in snow.
All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our short holiday in the Highlands even though the weather could have been better plus we learnt a lot about that area of Scotland.
This was our room at the City Centre Travelodge. It was very reasonable, very clean and the bed was very comfortable 😀
