Inverness - Scotland
Late July 2020
Amy and I have had quite different lock-downs. Amy, being an essential worker with the NHS, has basically not stopped working for the last 5 months. I on the other hand, haven’t been able to work at all since March. Due to both circumstances, a weekend away was overdue, so we decided to make our way up to the highlands to celebrate Amy’s birthday in late July.
Inverness is generally considered the “capital of the highlands” due to its location and the general ease of seeing the north of Scotland if you are based here. Although Inverness proudly defines itself as a city, it is at the end of the day, a small place far from the rest of the world. For reference, its population is approximately 50,000 – whereas there are a million people between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Regardless of its size, it is an idyllic and gorgeously located town that is worth a short visit – even if it is only on your way to other places.
Easily reached by train from Glasgow, we departed early on Friday morning, with Amy having taken the day off. Watching the countryside roll by, we arrived 3 ½ hours later. We stayed at the centrally located Royal Highland Hotel to keep things simple. Having been unable to eat anything due to the ongoing COVID19 restrictions, we quickly made way to the Castle Inn for lunch.
Located across the road from Inverness Castle (now repurposed as a rather ornate courthouse), it was a great way to start our weekend away in the unusually stifling heat. Simple but enjoyable food, a great location and an excellent selection of local ale makes the pub an easy recommendation. The care for social distancing was also appreciated – an odd note to make, but one we take seriously these days.
We then decided to walk the River Ness, heading eastward to Beauly Firth. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t the nicest walk through the north-eastern part of town, as it took us through a mix of estates and industrial areas, so we decided to turn back and simply walk along the river past its many churches.
Feeling the need to see more, we decided to walk further West along the River Ness, which turned out to be a wonderful idea, as it took us past Inverness Cathedral and down towards the Ness Isles – a beautiful collection of small islands that were previously only used by the more affluent residents of Inverness. Now open to everyone and only accessible by the locally made wrought-iron bridges, they have remained gorgeously well-kept and have a peculiar assortment of imported trees, including some enormous Californian Redwoods. It was lovely to sit along the river and listen to the tree boughs move with the wind.
After a short period of time resting back at our hotel room, we decided to heed a local’s recommendation and have dinner at the Black Isle Bar – a local brewery and pub. A fantastic recommendation, there was a good mix of inventive pizzas and excellent craft beers – including a selection of Lambic and dark ales that I didn’t expect to find. We were very well cared for and it was a treat. Absolutely worth heading to if you’re in town.
The following day, we went on a bike tour of Inverness. Due to COVID19 it ended up being a private tour, which was fantastic as we had a passionate guide by the name of Allison who did her very best to show us around. Cycling along the Caledonian Canal was a particular highlight, especially when it reached the aforementioned Beauly firth, where the fresh waters of the Ness reach the sea. Although later the weather turned quite badly later on, it was for a time serene.
The Caledonian Canal itself is quite a feat as it was built to allow shipping through Scotland, by using the very lochs it is so famous for – as opposed to forcing ships to move around the Cape of Wrath, which is about as safe as it sounds. Using the natural features of the Great Glen, a natural fault line that divides country, it allows boats to quite literally sail across Scotland. You can easily imagine it yourself if you pull up a map and draw a line between Fort William and Inverness and take notice of the series of 4 lochs in a more-or-less straight line: Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. During our time in Inverness, we noted the various signs advertising The Great Glen Way; a famous hike that runs this very same path, and couldn’t help but think may be our next big trek.
My birthday is coming up, after all…
After an easy late lunch at Velocity Café and a time spent chasing the sounds of a pipe band around the suburbs, we spent a slow afternoon around Inverness, enjoying the old architecture and slow pace of things, prior to meeting our friends from Glasgow; Dave and Emer, who had been driving and camping around the Highlands for a few days prior. We met at Gellions Bar for a few pints before returning to the Black Isle Bar to continue to work through their extensive beer list. It was a delightful evening that ended around midnight.
The following day began with an early breakfast and us picking up a pair of hire bikes. Our plan was to ride down the waterways to Loch Ness and the small town of Dores. The day started altogether dreich, but it steadily improved to long periods of sun and blue sky. Four seasons in one day and all that. The turn of the weather made winding along old roads, past farmsteads, and through forests all that much better. Sure enough, we eventually turned a corner and there was Loch Ness in all of its splendid grandeur.
It’s just one of those things you should see for yourself.
I couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of human connectedness as I stood on the shoreline, thinking about all the people throughout history that have stood somewhere along this gorgeous feature and felt the exact same sense of wonder and awe.
Moving on, we decided to cycle along the shore to a nearby woodland and considered going off-road for a bit, but alas, that wasn’t to be, with Amy suffering a punctured tyre. This turned out to be strangely well-timed, as Amy has a multi-day cycle trip coming up and she needed the practice. With the tyre fixed and the weather turning again for the worse, we decided to stop for lunch at the Dores Inn, a spectacularly located pub that sits on the water’s edge.
The wind howled for a time, but eventually things settled and we were able to enjoy a nice socially distanced lunch together. It really is wonderful that experiences like this are so easily found in Scotland – catch a train north for a few hours and you’re in another world. That’s not to say that isn’t true for anywhere else, but I feel that people in this country tend to forget the beauty that lies on their doorstep. The news on the BBC certainly supports this, with one of the top stories at the moment being the genuine frustration (and seeming outrage) of most Brits that they can’t take their annual trip to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Riding back with the wind at our backs, we soon found ourselves back at the Ness Isles, where we couldn’t help but slow down again. We stopped at the foot of Inverness Castle soon after to enjoy the view. It was just so pleasant to intentionally go slow and be in the moment.
With the weather turning for the better, we caught the train home again after briefly bumping in to Emer again in the town centre. I ended up reading a book or napping most of the way home, but occasionally looking out the window at the rolling hills and raging rivers was sublime.
Even amongst all the uncertainty with lock-down and COVID19, we’re lucky to be here.
JC
"I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move."
Robert Louis Stevenson
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