Girls trip to Inverness

Well here it is the first of April and we had some friends visiting from Florida.  Katelyn had been to visit with us last fall and has returned with her friend Sadie to see a bit more of Scotland.  Since John was working, CJ was on her own to give the girls a "Taste of Scotland" tour.  

Our first stop was to pick up our friend Lynne, (our Scottish native friend) for an all girls adventure!  
We stopped in Fort William for lunch, a very cute quaint town.

Our next stop was Inverlochy Castle in Fort William, because it's just not a Scotland road trip without a castle or two. 

The Inverlochy Castle was built around 1280 and is now a ruin, it is unusual because it has remained unaltered since the castle was built in the reign of King Alexander III. 

Our next stop was The Bridge of Oich.  We had stopped here before and thought the girls might find it interesting.  

The Bridge of Oich is a suspension bridge across the River Oich built in 1854 by James Dredge.  Dredge's design broke new ground in bridge architecture, incorporating a unique double cantilever chain support system anchored by huge granite pylons on either shore.  The main chains supporting the bridge were formed of wrought-iron links about a meter long.  At each junction of the links, the two outermost cast-iron bars were taken down as wires to support the deck, so reducing the number of separate bars in the link by one.  The bridge was in use until 1932 when a bypass road and bridge were built, now it is used solely as a pedestrian bridge. 

On the road again, we stopped at Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness for a few pictures. and to look for Nessie.

Our Last stop of the day was Inverness, where we checked into our hotel, then set out to explore the town, have dinner and some drinks. 

Inverness Castle, The Columba Hotel and The Ness Bridge.

We had a lovely dinner and stroll through town, it was very quiet as it was a Tuesday night.  

The trip would not be a traditional Scottish tour without some Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with a Whisky sauce.

The next morning we had a full day of exploring on our way back home.  Our first stop was the Corrimony Chambered Cairn.  The Cairn is thought to be built some 4,000 years ago.  The passage-grave consists of a central chamber within a larger cairn accessed by a narrow passage with 11 Standing stones encircling the cairn.  The cairn is remarkably well preserved with the roof still intact over the passageway.  Katelyn and Sadie managed to crawl through to the center, on hands and knees.  (but I promised I wouldn't post those pictures)  

What a great site to see and a great start to our day, but it was time to hit the road for our next destination.

Our next stop was Plodda Falls.

We thought this was stunning, then we walked out onto the viewing platform overlooking the falls and were completely blown away.  The water plunges over a drop of 151 feet.  Simply breathtaking!

The pictures don't even do it justice, its an AMAZING sight to see!  This video gives you an idea of how powerful and loud the waterfall really is.

                     

The Falls were absolutely amazing, we all instantly fell in love.  This definitely goes on the "Most Stunning Places in Scotland" list.

Although we really didn't want to leave, it was time to hit the road.  As we were driving home we saw a sign for the Commonwealth War Graves, so we decided to stop and check it out.  We were greeted by the friendliest sheep we have ever seen, they came running when we approached the gate. 

As we were exiting the horses decided that they needed some loving also. 

 Back on the road again we were determined to find some Highland Coos to make the trip complete.

We had a great road trip and saw some amazing sights along the way.

  Castles, Bridges, Ancient Burial Sites, Lochs, Mountains, Falls, Cemeteries, Sheep, Coos and Horses.  I think we truly got a great taste of Scotland in 2 days.  Well that was it for our all girls adventure road trip, Katelyn and Sadie hopped the train to head back to England the next day.  Thank you for coming to visit us, we hope that you had as great of a time as we did.  A big thank you to Lynne for joining us and helping with the drive, and letting us take you on your first ever all girls trip!

Look for our next blog about our Mediterranean cruise with John's parents.

Cheers and Love to all,

John and CJ