Battles, Burials and Bars

Culloden Battlefield is a short drive from Inverness, and there we went for another Outlander site. But it was so much more. The Cullloden Battle, though the actual fighting lasted only an hour, was pivotal in World History at the time. For hundreds of years, the French and English were in a somewhat constant state of war, vying for control of the seas and all their colonies. Had the Jacobite Rebellion succeeded, as the French hoped, life today could have been very different.

The visitor center at the battlefield was informative. The walk around this historic site, sobering.
Hospital house
Memorial for so many killed
Placque at base of monument
The Fraser stone was the only one with chains around it. Guess why!
blue flags mark the Jacobite lines
Barley growing adjacent to the site
Only a few paths for tourists

After Culloden, we drove to another cairn. This one was constructed 2000 years before Christ, used again about 1000 years later, then again about 500AD.

We wandered around Clava Cairns for a while. Five distinct cairns were accessible, two with entrances inside (but tiny areas to explore).

The stone mounds were different from ones we saw previously because the rocks used were rounded, previously weathered, not angular.
Stone split along foliation
Fences must honor the stones!
Petroglyphs on this rock may be a map
The exterior stones were aligned with the setting sun on the Winter Solstice.

Later, we wandered around Inverness.

Inverness Castle is undergoing a long renovation.
This pub is tiny!
Old building
Blackfriars Pub
So many whiskies (69) – yet Brian could not find the one he wanted to try.
church
church next door
Catholic Church on other side of the river
Another church adjacent to the river; Inverness has over 200 churches
Pedestrian bridge
River Ness
Monster propaganda
War memorial at a church
Old memorial at church
This statue was sponsored by the YMCA.

In the evening, we again found music, again two gentlemen, this time with a guitar and a violin (or fiddle). They taught some adventuresome visitors the moves to some Scottish folk dances. Some of the dancers were pretty good!

Leave a comment