The Ham Nomads

11 Jul 2014. <GB-SCT> Kyle of Lochalsh; Drumnadrochit (by Loch Ness); Culloden, & Ardersier, Inverness —

Woke up overlooking Loch Alsh and the Skye Bridge. One of the best views one could hope to see! Took our time having breakfast and getting ready — we were reluctant to leave this view!!

Our plan for the day — Culloden. Anything else would happen if there was time.

On the way to Inverness and Culloden we stopped off for a few minutes at Eilean Donan Castle. Why? Because last time we were here, it was in the afternoon — this time it was the morning, abd the sun was in a totally different position for photographs.

After Eilean Donan, we retraced our path back through Glen Shiel — just as spectacular from the other direction! We decided to leave our old path just after Loch Cluanie and continue in the A887 through Glen Moriston — not as spectacular as Glen Shiel, but still a joy to drive through!

And then, from Invermoriston, we were driving alongside Loch Ness, the largest loch (by volume) in Scotland, with plenty of room to hide a remnant of the prehistoric age if you are inclined to that kind of thinking! What we did was to call in to Drum Farm at Drumnadrochit (a town that has made an industry of the Loch Ness monster) to buy some mints at a traditional Sweet Shop in the Farmyard Court there — we had gone through all of out mints, and were suffering from withdrawal symptoms! Do you know how hard it is to find the hard "extra strong' mints here in Scotland?? We then continued on straight through Inverness to the Culloden battlefield.

This site of the 1746 battle, the final unsuccessful chapter in the attempts to reinstate the Stuarts on the British throne, has been used for logging until 1983, and only then has the National Trust been able to do anything about the conservsation and restoration (to its 1746 state) of that part of the battlefield it now has control of — less than half. Today you can trace and stand in the footsteps of the southern halves of the Jacobite and Government lines, but the northern half of the battlefield is still in private hands and under cultivation. Nevertheless, what is in place is enough to give you a real feel of the battlefield, and the way the audio guides work, with GPS positioning so you always know where you are standing, and with audio cue points all over the battlefield to let you know what was happening at that point and at what time in the battle. The battle itself lasted only an hour, but in that time around 1,250 Jacobites were dead, a similar number wounded, and 376 prisoners taken, whereas there were only about 50 fatalities on the government side, with about 300 wounded. A brutal, bloody, one-sided affair, which effectively broke the power of the clans in the highlands and put an end once and for all to the Jacobite cause.

Warren on top of Visitors Centre

The visitor centre has wonderful audiovisual and computer presentations, and there are on-site "learning officers" who give most animated and interesting talks on aspects of the battle throughout the day, and take groups on guided tours through the battlefield (although, as usual, we decided to fend for ourselves, with the aid of the audio guides issued to us as we went out of the visitor centre and onto the battlefield itself).

Culloden was a direct consequence of the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland 56 years earlier, and so we have been following the Jacobite Rebellion from the point where its back was broken in 1690 through to its death knell in 1746, a most sobering pursuit!

After about 4 hours at Culloden, there was little time to do much else, so we drove out towards Fort George, a fort built as a direct result of Culloden, with construction started in 1748. It is still a functioning British Army base, and is in a state of perfect preservation.

We stopped off in a little common in Ardersier just short of the fort, sharing the space for the night with a campervan with a charming French couple ... and watching 'les trois lapins' who visited our campsite ... we can see how Beatrix Potter found her inspiration!!

Distance driven — today, 101 miles ( 162 km ); to date, 4,019 miles ( 6,478 km )