Exploring around Inverness

After driving up and exploring parts of the east coast of Scotland and staying in Aberdeen for the night, we drove towards Inverness. We spend the next two nights in Inverness, and did a lot of exploring around Inverness. Read on to see my recommendations for a short stay in Inverness.

About Inverness

Aside from MacBeth and Outlander fame, Inverness is often referred to as ”the capital of the Highlands”. It is located near the infamous Loch Ness. There have been settlers here since the 6th century, when it was ruled by the Picts, an ancient tribe.

The town of Inverness is really cute, and we enjoyed walking around the town, taking in the sites. There is a great pedestrian area with shops and restaurants, and the river Ness cuts through town.

My favorite places in Inverness

• Leakey’s bookshop– a used bookshop (the largest in Scotland) that is based in a former church. In addition to books of all kinds, they also had rare, antique prints, maps and more.  It has been in business since 1979. Look how cute it is- wall to wall books, I could stay here forever!

• Down the street from the bookstore, and worth a quick peek, is the Old High Saint Stephens Church. There are actualy two churches (the Old High and the Free Church of Scotland) that overlook the river, with the cemetery belonging to the Old High church in between. This church is the oldest in town and the cemetery was fascinating.  Included here is a stone that was used to rest a musket for executing Jacobites following the battle of Culloden.

Distilleries in the Highlands

There is no shortage of disilleries in the Highlands. And no trip to Scotland would be complete without learning about Scotch Whisky. I have been to many Bourbon distilleries in Kentucky, so I was eager to learn the difference between the two whiskeys.

Glen Grant Distillery

First, it can be difficult to find a distillery tour without an advance reservation. Luckily I was able to email Glen Grant and get a tour for the next day.

The distillery was established in 1840 by James Grant and his brother.  James died and his son (also James, but called ‘the Major’) took over.  The Major had innovative ideas- like the type of still used to make the lightest type of Scotch whisky and bottling on site.

We got a full tour, and learned all about the production of scotch whisky.

Scotch Production

Scotch starts from barley, which is boiled until it becomes malt, and then ground to a grist. Then it goes into the mash ton, yeast is eventually added, and then it makes into into the spirit and wash still.

After, its time to put the Scotch into barrels. Scotch goes into Bourbon barrels (which can only be used once for Bourbon) which are shipped from the US and reassembled at a cooperage. They also can use sherry barrels. Then they sit for years, before we get to taste them. Which we did after our tour. Visitors are given two samples at Glen Grant (or two sample bottles to take back if you are the driver). Erin and I enjoyed them both (though me later, though you may enjoy my fake drink photo below).

Tomatin Distillery

Another distillery we visited while exploring around Inverness was the Tomatin Distillery.  In Scotland there is zero tolerance for drinking and driving, so at both places, because I was the driver, they gave me a to-go bottle for tasting, while Erin was able to do samples of the whisky.  

While our other distillery tour may have been more beautiful, this one did give us some more information, and something I have never done before on any distillery tour (including the Kentucky bourbon tours) was to stand in a mash ton.

I’ve seen them from above, so it was cool to see what actually goes on in them inside.  We also got a better look at the barrels. Some dated back over 50 years!

This distillery has a “peeted whisky”, which was smoky and delicious.  It was really great to tour two distilleries to see the difference between the two.

Culloden Battlefield

Near Inverness, and perhaps one of its most popular things to see, is the Culloden Battlefield. This is the site when the Jacobites took on the ‘government soldiers’ and lost. Many people have heard of it more recently because of the TV show Outlander. 

There is a visitor center with loads of information, but we had just begun touring when an employee invited everyone to come see a demonstration of fighting techniques.  He showed how the Jacobites, who had won every battle thus far, would fight using muskets (but only once before throwing them down) and then using a broad sword, shield and dagger to fight. 

This battle was not successful for them due to many reasons, including the boggy terrain which was detrimental the Jacobites usual strategy. There was also a panoramic “film” about the battle that was quite graphic. 

Touring the battlefield

The museum offers a free tour of the battlefields, which we took advantage of. During the tour we learned about where the Jacobites and government (usually referred to and thought of as English- though this army was actually made up of mostly Scottish men too) lined up to battle, marked by red or blue flags.  

We saw the stones that served as markers for the graves of the clans (who lost over 1500 lives compared to the 50 from the victors). The stones have the names of the clans on them, the most famous of course being the stone for the clan Fraser.  

Horribly, the victors wanted to prove their dominance and stated that there would be no mercy shown, all bodies on the battlefield were either killed straight off, or let to die slowly- no one was allowed on the battlefield for three days following the fight.  Then the grave markers were laid out on the road that people used to get into town- a sign of what rebels would face.  There is a large cairn in memory of all the Jacobites who died.

Other sites on the battlefield

Also on the battlefield is a large stone marking where the ”english” are buried. This is actually wrong for a few reasons. a) As I mentioned, it wasn’t actually the English who were fighting the Jacobites, b) they haven’t found any evidence that anyone is actually buried at that location. Further down the path we saw an example of a cottage that may have been used as a hospital.

 The Culloden museum and battlefield was very informative and eerie, much like Gettysburg (click here to view my blog post about that battlefield). I definitely recommend it when exploring around Inverness.

Clava Cairns

Next on our agenda for the day was going to the Clava Cairns. Here there are standing stones, but also something I’ve never seen before- these circles made up of smaller stones.  

This site was a big hit with a lot of people because apparently in Outlander, these are similar stones to the ones the character is able to time-travel through, and this is where the series takes place.  Personally I enjoyed the standing stones a lot last time I traveled through the UK with my mom so I was thrilled to see more of them.

The cairns are basically a cemetery dating from the Bronze Age, dating back over 4,000 years. The area was again used as a cemetery 2,000 years later.  This site, which is open every day, and is free to visit, has ring cairns, kerb cairns (a ring of cairns which is filled in) and standing stones. 

Loch Ness

Inverness is located just north of Loch Ness, the largest body of fresh water in the entire United Kingdom.

And of course, you’ve probably heard of the famous Loch Ness monster- Nessie. So I felt it was fitting to make a stop at the Loch Ness visitor center.

Loch Ness center and exhibition

The Loch Ness center and exhibition (which cost 9 pounds admission) is in a beautiful building. The museum sends visitors through in small groups. We traveled through 5 rooms all with videos about the Loch Ness and Nessie.  The rooms explain the history of the area dating back to pre-Pangaea times, the 1933 Nessie sightings (with a room talking about all of the possible things that may have been sighted in the Loch to explain away Nessie).  Another room is about scientists exploring the Loch to find Nessie, and another about conservation work going on in the Loch.

There were also displays containing old newspaper clippings of articles of Nessie sightings and other monster sightings around the world.  The museum also had a real one-man submarine that was used to explore the Loch (cue ”Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles).

The whole experience was about 45 minutes long.  Complex included other attractions such as a gin distillery, gift shop, and cafe.

Urquhart Castle

Located near the visitor center and looking over Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle. Admission is 12 pounds online, or 13 at the gate.  Parking is included with the ticket if purchased online in advance, which proved important since the car park was full when we arrived.

Built around 1230, when you first enter the complex there is a small museum section about castle life with a brief history of the various owners of Urquhart Castle. There a model of tjr castle, which is helpful since the castle is now in ruins.

In the late 13th century ownership changed hands several times. In the late 1600s, the final owners set a gunpowder explosion in the castle to reduce it to ruins rather than let the Jacobites take control of it.  There is a short film detailing more history of the castle, then you walk outside to explore the grounds and castle ruins.

As soon as you walk outside, the views of the castle with Loch Ness in the background are beautiful.  You can peer into a prison cell, climb Grant Tower, see the remnants of the great hall.

There is also a full sized working trebuchet just like what was used during one of the sieges against Urquhart.

It was really beautiful- the castle ruins, which happen to be some of the largest in Scotland- and of course the views onto Loch Ness.

Where to stay in Inverness

I would be remiss to not mention the adorable B&B that we stayed at two nights at Inverness. It is a really charming space with lots of garden decoration and nice touches inside. Its not traditional in the sense that the owner left us food to make our own breakfast, but she also left us a bottle of wine, chocolates, and there is even an ”honesty bar” (pay for what you take).

We spent two days exploring around the Inverness area and it was a lot of fun, its a great place to spend some time in Scotland. Next we traveled the North Coast 500, so check out that blog post, or my other blogs about visiting the UK.

-Catching Katie