Invergordon – Gateway to Loch Ness

     After a good sleep we were ready to head to Inverness for a look around the Scottish Highlands. Our first impression was ok where are the highlands. I guess we had a mental picture of Scotland and although there are some low rolling hills, we did not see Highlands as such.

    The port is about 15 miles from Inverness and the only way to get to town was a transfer. They did not have a local train and the local bus takes hours. We opted for and Inverness on your own with the plan to take local transport to Loch Ness. The bus driver that we had did not seem to know where he was going. We drove around a few times before he figured out the drop point which was right next to the Loch River. Go figure. By the time we got into town and figured out the bus schedule, we would have had only a short time at the Loch. All the tours from town had already departed by the time we got there. We decided rather than taking a chance of not making it back to our bus, to just stay in town and do a walking tour.

Inverness Selfie

Along Loch River

The local tourist information office had maps prepared that showed the 25 or so buildings and places of interest within walking distance.

Book Store In Old Church

     We stopped at the local museum for a very nice overview of Scottish history and then went to the Castle of Inverness. It is not that old and is now used as government offices. There are some interesting old buildings in the town and we did visit a number of the old Gothic churches and the chapel cemetery. The most interesting place we visited was the old Gaelic church. It was the first church built for Gaelic worship in 1694, rebuilt in 1702 and in 1792 became the Greyfriars Free Church. It isow a second hand book shop. Stacks and racks of books in an old church. The photo gives a better idea of what it looked like inside. The church is not that big.

Scottish Pub Lunch

      We wandered along the Lock River for a few blocks and then went back to Church Street where we found a nice pub for lunch. We had a nice lunch, a nice cider for Judy and a pint for me. We sat and watched the locals. I'm sure they were watching us as well. The Ruby has only been coming into this port since May. We also had a chance to see some of the British Open. Finally we wandered along the river for a bit and ended at St. Andrew's Cathedral. It was finished in 1869 in the Victorian Gothic style. It was suppose to have spires but they were never added.     We were back on the bus and back to the ship in late afternoon. They had a Scottish music and dance troupe in (very small) for a pre sailing show. Dinner and a show by a Canadian magician ended the evening.