Urquart Castle & Culloden Battlefield

After packing we sauntered through Dornoch and visited the simple beautiful church and admired the various blooming dooryards. In an art gallery we bought a  watercolor painting with a coastal view of Iona like the view from our tent in Fionnphort. When I saw the painting the first time I was fascinated how the artist caught the special light and colors of this wonderful landscape. Now the painting hangs in our bed room and every Sunday morning when I wake up I enjoy looking at this painting and going back in my mind to the sandy beaches of Scotland.

Starting in Durnoch we drove to Urquart Castle over Dingwall and Beauly. Simone demanded to see the probably most famous ruin of a castle in Scotland because they did not had any recollection from our visit there ten years ago (see: Urlaub 1993). However, its fantastic location on a peninsula in the mysterious and beautiful Loch Ness is a reason enough  to come back there every time. Since our last visit they built up an interesting exhibition about the history of the castle. And in the castle we met with the procession of a Scottish marriage - really impressive with bagpipes and all men in kilts and the two men with a long sword in front and ...
Once following historical tracks we visited the Culloden Battlefield. In 1746 the Scots under the command of Bonnie Prince Charlie where beaten by the English troops within few hours in that swampy land. Thousands of soldiers died cruelly. Even though or therefore Culloden is for the Scots one of the most important memorial places in their history. During our sightseeing the weather was going bad. Starting as a gloomy background for this depressing place now it began to rain heavyly. Although we sprinted to our car we reached it very wet. 

To stay overnight we drove back to the coast again. The campsite in Findhorn near Forres was untypically overcrowded, but we found a small gap. After pitching our tent we went into the village for dinner. There we entered a cosy restaurant (overfilled, too) at the quay and although we had to wait a long time for our dishes the meal was excellent.