Inverness

Inverness. It's a large city. To get to Thurso, we had to fly into Inverness and then drive the rest of the way. There are other options: train or bus. It is only 119 miles away, but it took us 3 hours to drive it. That seems like a lot of time, you say. Well,...the roads. They are mostly 2 lanes (one each direction) with no shoulders. And I am sure the lanes are smaller than what they are in the US. Mike actually is driving 60 mph most of the way.

But I guess there is something about all those curves. Not quite "The Road to Hana," but curvy. And, I have to admit, we found a nice little coffee shop that offers all kinds of homemade baked goods to go along with their wonderful coffee, which just happens to be at a public parking lot. So, we made a 20 minute stop. (Actually, we discovered it on the way up last week, so we sort of planned to stop on the way down).

We needed to drive to Inverness this weekend for a couple of reasons. 1. We needed to return the rental car. 2. We needed to pick up the car Mike just bought. And 3. We needed to pick up the biometrics cards at the post office there. (Biometrics are basically fingerprints and a photograph (without jewelry) and are like a US green card for the UK). Mike was told they would be there last Wed.  So, since we are driving ALL THE WAY to Inverness, we might as well stay for the weekend and start our sightseeing, right? So, I got the name of a B&B that Leah and Dave stayed at, called The Gun Lodge Hotel. More on that later. We drove to Inverness.

Back up. Mike bought a car. Online. AND paid for it - without even driving it!!! 

And we met a man we did not know in the parking lot at the airport.  !!!!  Seriously? Who does this? And over coffee, inside the airport (which, by the way, is smaller than the Pasco airport), they did all the paperwork and passed on the title, etc. And the very nice driver, Giovanni, who is from northern England, got on an airplane and went home. And we drove it away.  I will admit that it is a nice car. And it drives nicely and is quiet inside and has some power behind it (which is good to have when your heart is racing like crazy as you pass a semi on a two-lane, curvy road with no shoulder - on the wrong side of the road).  And so, we just drove away with a new-to-us car. Weird.

Then we proceeded to the post office in downtown Inverness. To make a longer story shorter, the biometrics cards were not there. Yes, really. Even though they were supposed to be there last Wed. MAJOR disappointment. And frustration. AND the realization that we will HAVE TO COME BACK to get them!

It took a while for Mike to let that go. If he actually did. And we moved on to looking around the shops. I saw a Mark and Spencer's, which Julie Coppock told me I must go to when we got to London.

So we went in and had a look around. And I bought a sweater and some gloves. Then we headed to the Inverness Cathedral. Wow. Amazing stained glass windows. And woodwork inside. Just wow. They really don't make things like that any more. Then we walked along the River Ness and decided to go into a castle to look around. Because we could!

And then we decided to head over to the B&B. We passed a local creamery that I would like to check out another time, but it was closed when we went by. I think the cows in the fields around it were the contributors!

The B&B was great. It was Scottish and known for it's chef of 30 years who specialized in  Scottish foods. So, while I could have gotten a rib eye steak, I decided on the attitude, "when in Rome." and ordered something I would not normally order. Scottish Game Casserole.  And it was surprisingly good! (thankfully, no shot - but it sure made the eating part even more interesting).

After a really good night's sleep with room-darkening shades, and a nice, Continental breakfast, we headed off to explore Fort George. It was interesting, even for me, who is not a history buff.

We headed back into Inverness, where we checked out the local "Home Depot," called "Home Base," and got some lunch. Let me pause here a moment to say that we ate at a pretty popular Italian place and ordered pizza with BBQ sauce as the base, but only after we saw that pizzas either had a BBQ sauce or pesto base, so we ASSUMED that BBQ base meant pizza sauce. No. It does not. It means BBQ sauce.   But it was good.

So, then we drove to Urquhart Castle, which is on the Loch Ness. No, we did not see Nessie, but we sure saw a lot of tourists. And those tourist busses sure move on those little, two lane, windy roads! Mike had to pull over into one of those pull-out spots to let one pass!

So, all in all, we had an enjoyable weekend in Inverness. However, we decided that the next time we go down, which might be as soon as next weekend, we are going to take the train. It is not much longer than the drive down and we can get off downtown and explore there next time. I want to go to the indoor market. I must remember to bring my shopping bags.

Inverness - from the top of the castle