Five of my favourite things from my first trip to Tuscany

(…aside from meeting my partner’s family of course!!)

Always a good thing to have a local help you plan your trips

I recently came back from my first trip to Tuscany. The eight days I spent there were jam packed with sightseeing and family time, and if I’m honest, it was such a whirlwind I think I’m still processing it! I’ll catch sight of one of my polaroid’s, skip past an Instagram photo or put on my facemask that somehow still smells of Italy (yes, I have washed it!) and I instantly get the warm and fuzzies. I’m already looking forward to going back. With so much happening it was difficult to know quite what to write about, but I’ve settled on five of my favourite things from this first trip.

Michelangelo’s David and Prisoners

Michelangelo’s David must be one of the most famous statues in the world. It seems to be one of those places that’s high on a tourist’s tick list even if the renaissance isn’t their jam. When you walk into the Accademia gallery, Michelangelo’s David stands at the end of the hall almost dominating the space. It’s easy to rush straight over to him, ignoring everything else in the room to marvel. It is really worth holding back a moment to admire Michelangelo’s Prisoners on the way though. The Prisoners are unfinished and have been named ‘The Bearded Slave’, ‘The Atlas’, ‘The Young Slave’ and ‘The Awakening Slave’ by scholars. As they’re not finished the Slaves or Prisoners appear to be trapped in the marble, trying to fight there way into existence. They are incredibly evocative and like all ‘good art’ they inspire conversation. Rather than inspiring conversation David himself is so astonishing he left me speechless. I’m often disappointed by what I see as overly popularised attractions, but David in no way disappointed. Even down to the veins in his hands he is just perfect…which is somewhat surprising considering Michelangelo created him from discarded marble. One man’s trash really is another man’s treasure!

Rapolano terme

I had a sneaky suspicion we’d be going somewhere ‘spa-like’ when we were in Italy as I’d been told about the hot spring area of Tuscany and my partner told me to bring my swimsuit with me! What I didn’t expect was two nights in a lovely spa hotel, with two treatments and breakfast and dinner included. We stayed at the 2 Mari hotel (two seas hotel) in Rapolano Terme where we had a hammam treatment and a 30-minute massage with honey infused oils. We also had two sessions in the saltwater pool and spent ample time amongst the hot tubs and saunas. I also took one quick dip in the frigidarium (cold water pool) too, but once was enough! When I say we had two sessions in the saltwater pool, I don’t just mean we floated about in saltwater for a while…2 Mari have three hydrojet massage stations within the pool that pummel you for about ten minutes each. Each station targets different areas and each station feels SO good in it’s own unique way. I cannot fully express how relaxed I was after each session. It only took 30 minutes and I was practically floating out of the pool and onto my next treatment. Both the hammam and oil massage were equally pampering. I haven’t felt my muscles loosen so much for a long time. I spent many moments whilst we were there wondering if we could find a spa back in Aberdeenshire that would fill in for us before we can return.

Gunè

After Rapolano Terme I didn’t expect anymore big treats, but my partner had plans to take me to Gunè. I’d heard this name being thrown around and his family talked about it as if it was kinda special, but we’d been to lots of nice places and eaten lots of great food already, so I didn’t really think much of it! Gunè however is not a normal restaurant, it’s fancy! When we arrived and I had my first peek inside, I had this sudden sinking feeling of ‘I have severely underestimated this’, ‘I do not belong here’. But within minutes of a warm welcome those feelings were gone and I realised that Gunè was fancy but definitely not snooty. We started our meal with a series of surprise ‘welcomes’, like little amuse bouches and an elaborate bread box. Then for the starter which was romantically called ‘the departure’ I chose nigiri maki from Podolica and my partner had tongue peposo. This was followed by the ‘first discovery’ (or primo / 1^st main) which saw us both having ravioli with a Tuscan-Lucanian soul. The ravioli had bardiccio and pezzente sausage with milk foam and Casentino ham powder. That was without doubt our favourite savoury part of the meal and when I think about it or look at the picture I took of it I can genuinely still taste it. My taste buds do not want to let go of that memory! You can also have a ‘second discovery’ but I jumped straight into dessert (my partner, Mattia, went for another cocktail). As we both work on honeybees I couldn’t resist the semifreddo pudding with honey in it. I can’t find it on the Gunè website and I can’t remember what it was called or what exactly was in it but whatever its name it entered the pudding hall of fame for me! The honey flavour was so strong, but it was balanced by the creaminess of the semifreddo. There was also some sort of light cream or milk poured on top with green tea ‘crumbles’. It just all worked so well. On top of this, we also had a ‘goodbye’ or a ‘departure’ a bit like the ‘welcome’ which was a series of tiny desserts! Each one of them was outstanding in it’s own unique way. (My mouth has been watering the whole time I’ve been writing this!) I also had a different wine with each course, which I let them choose for me and Mattia had a couple of cocktails tailor made to his tastes. I have practically zero experience of restaurants like this so I have little to compare it to, but I honestly had the best time and I think it will go down as one of my favourite memories…and meals!

I focused more on eating the food than taking good photos, but you get the idea!

Vie cave and tombs

Whilst we were staying in Rapolano Terme we had a day trip to see Tomba Ildebranda This is the main attraction of a series of tombs and Etruscan roadways which form part of the parco archeologico known as ‘Città del Tufo’. What we had failed to consider however was that we were visiting in the middle of the week during ‘off-season’, so when we got there we were greeted by big gates and a bigger closed sign! Luckily for us though, there is part of the park that is non ticketed and open all the time. Tomba della Sirena (the tomb of the siren) and the San Sebastian vie cave are on the opposite side of the site. Although they aren’t part of the ticketed park this doesn’t mean that it isn’t a spectacular area. As we went at such a quiet time it also meant that we spent several hours exploring the area completely on our own, which definitely made it more atmospheric. I didn’t take a picture of the English sign for Tomba della Sirena and I’m struggling to find basic information about it online in English (I can’t speak Italian…yet) but I have enclosed a picture. What I can tell you is that there are a series of tombs, one of which (shown below) is very ornately decorated. The others are simpler, but I’m sure no less full of significance and there’s even a tomb that you can shimmy into. There are also a series of vie cave. These are pathways which were hand carved out of the soft tufa (tuff) rock. They are around 20 metres deep, about 3 metres wide and 500 metres in length. As they lead to necropoli it is thought that the Etruscans carved these pathways to allow them access to sacred sites, or perhaps the pathways were also sacred themselves. As they form a cold subzone the pathways are also full of ferns, lichens, mosses and liverworts which is super cool. It feels like you’re stepping into another world. I guess considering the Etruscans existed between the 8^th and 3^rd century BC and started building the vie cave around the 3^rd century I guess it was another world back then!

Discovering Clet

Clet Abraham is a French street artist living and working in Florence. Among other things he takes traffic signage and playfully alters them using customised stickers. It’s really fun wandering around the city spotting Clet’s work. There’s already a lot to look at and admire around the streets of Florence but the chance of spotting another Clet had me paying even more attention to my surroundings and looking in different places. The contrast between renaissance Florence and Clet’s urban street art just did something for me. If you want to find out a little more then I really liked this short article by The Guardian.

So, I’ve called these my top 5, but honestly, I could have picked so many moments from my trip. From eating schiacciata in the Santissima Annunziata, discovering medieval walled towns like Pitigliano, Certaldo and San Gimignano or gazing out over Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. I can’t wait to go back and make more memories.

Hidden Gems: Aberdeen to Balmoral in Historical Sites.

This blog took way longer than I imagined! In October, whilst I was looking at the driving route to Loch Muick (I want to walk around it at some point) on my trusty OS map I noticed just how many tiny little markers there were along the roads that indicated ‘places of interest’. I decided it would be a great idea to visit every one of those, probably underappreciated, sites all the way from Aberdeen to Balmoral. I thought that we (my partner and I) would be able to knock it out in a day. 12 places of interest, 1 day, blog ready in time for my November post. Fool! That was a bit optimistic, to put it lightly, especially with that quickly fading Autumn light. A lot of the sites were difficult to find and once we’d taken the time to locate them, we wanted to linger and enjoy them rather than hurry off. I’m glad we didn’t rush it.

So, with a few months delay I’m going to tell you a tiny bit about those sites! Most of them have tricky parking, as in you just need to find somewhere as safe as possible along the side of the road and just go for. I also think it helps having an OS map, whether that’s on your phone or a physical copy, because most of them are literally just dots on the landscape with no signage. I think that’s part of the fun though. Just seeing something marked on a map and exploring until you find it.

1. Binghill Stone Circle.

This was the first stop for us, and it was a great way to start. To find it we pulled over and parked out of the way on the side of the road near Milltimber woods on Contlaw Road, and then walked through some gates with ‘private property’ signs and asked for some help in locating the circle. We spoke to a super helpful chap who owned the land and he said he thought it was easier to park and access the circle from Binghill Road…something I’d definitely suggest trying if you want to check out this site. In terms of directions once you’re off the road all I can really say is walk uphill into the woods and search around the area marked as “Recumbent Stone Circle” on Google maps. You really just have to follow your gut instinct and have an explore.

Once you get there only 3 of the stones are still standing, including the recumbent, although some of the smaller kerb stones are also in their original position. By ‘recumbent’ I mean that it is, as the name suggests, lying down…on purpose! The recumbent is flanked by two tall stones and then the other stones follow around in a circle, graded in height. Apparently, these recumbent stone circles are unique to Aberdeenshire, in Scotland and Cork and Kerry, in Ireland. They’re not quite sure what these recumbent stone circles were used for, but they think they could have been used for ritual purposes related to the moon. By ‘they’, I guess I mean historians! This stone circle is dated as Neolithic/Bronze Age, so around 3000BC. It’s hard to fathom anything that long ago!

History aside, this place just feels magical. We sat here for quite a while just chatting about the past, wondering what things might have been like, how the land might have lain, where people could have lived, what relationships were like…just pure conjecture and wild imagining!

2. Park House Symbol Stone.

Hmm, this is an odd one. To start with, I still have no idea where you should park if you want to see this. I struggled to understand the access to the area (coming from England, I still sometimes struggle to understand access rights and I get scared). We ended up parking precariously off the side of the road and scrambling up a bank onto the Deeside Way, and then walking onto the Park House Estate. There must be better ways of doing this!

Anyway, at Park house is a Pictish symbol stone which is thought to be early Middle Ages (5^th to 10^th century AD). The symbol stone is actually sat on top of a replica (an apparently inaccurate replica). This shows what it ‘should’ have looked like in its heyday with a mirror and a double-sided comb, a notched flower, a crescent and a V-rod. I have no idea what that all means!

3. Gibbet Stone – Mill of Dess.

This large mill stone shaped stone is easy to see from the road, but I would have had a hard time guessing what it was before reading about it. For parking you just have to find some vaguely okay space on the side of the road to stop! The same goes for most of these sites. This gibbet stone is thought to be the place into which a gibbet tree was inserted. What’s a gibbet stone, gibbet tree or indeed gibbet I hear you ask? Well, there’s no nice way to put it, a gibbet is something you hang somebody from/in. Whether that’s as a punishment (i.e. displayed in a cage but not left to die), directly as a method of execution (hanging by the neck or starvation in said cage) or as a warning (by leaving or placing a body there until it fell down – you can imagine what a state that would’ve been). So, a gibbet stone was what you stuck or fixed the gibbet tree/gibbet into. Gibbets or gibbet trees didn’t always require a stone, but it was thought that this particular gibbet stone was placed and used on the nearby Gallows Hillock.

I’m a fan of dark history so I was looking forward to seeing this one!

4. Aboyne Stone Circle.

This was one of the sites we spent the most time trying to locate, and then once we found it we wondered why it ever took so long! Parking in Aboyne is easy as it actually has carparks and safe places to pull over. Wherever you stop in Aboyne (it isn’t big), the stone circle is easily reached after walking past one of the local cemeteries (possibly belonging to St Margaret’s) and up the main path through the woods. On google maps the street is called ‘Aboyne Stone Circle’ and I think there is a sign directing you vaguely the right way, so it’s not totally hidden. At some point there’s a track that trails off left (North West) into the woods and the stone circle sits not far away from a field. If you’ve reached a farm gate on the main path then you’ve gone a bit too far, but head left (West) into the woods from that point and you should be alright. I appreciate it’s a fairly poor description, but it’s better than what we had!

The circle, once you find it, is very, very small at about 2.5 metres wide. This alone makes it pretty interesting. Apparently one of the stones, although firmly situated, might not be in it’s original place. My incredibly untrained eye couldn’t tell you which one though! The circle is dated somewhere in the Bronze Age (2200 BC – 800 BC) and the thoughts are that it could be a four poster stone circle. I’ve just learned that means there are four (or sometimes more) upright stones in an irregular quadrilateral. The circle is either this or a transition from a four poster circle to something else!

5. “Stone”!

So, this one outfoxed us for far too long! On the map it’s just a black dot that has ‘stone’ written next to it and I was therefore convinced it must be a standing stone. It’s marked as being right on the side of the road, so every time we drove through the area I’d peer intensely out of the window looking for it, but I never caught sight of it. Anyway, it came time to stop and look for it, so we stopped at the pull in next to the big ‘YOU ARE NOW IN THE HIGHLANDS’ sign. We walked up and down the road several times, scrubbed about in the bushes and even asked a lady coming out of her house, but we couldn’t find it. She said that her mother was interested in local history and had never mentioned a standing stone nearby. Eventually, it dawned on me that the ‘YOU ARE NOW IN THE HIGHLANDS’ sign is the stone marked on the map!

6. Loch Kinord Crannog, Castle and Castle.

So, this is a little off the direct Aberdeen to Balmoral road but I counted it as part of my route because I can do what I want! Plus, it’s a nice walk around Loch Kinord. There are 3 historical things of note there. Firstly, the crannog. A crannog is a manmade island constructed from wood (and presumably other bits) and this one was built around 2500 years ago. There would have once been a hut on top of the island but now it’s just the island itself, and you would 100% think it was natural. Secondly, is Kinord Castle. Okay, there’s no castle there anymore, just another island…but, you can imagine! Kinord Castle was burned down in the 1600s but as far as I know it had stood for about 600 years up to that point! Thirdly, and finally, is the Kinord Cross. Kinord Cross is a kite-shaped pink granite stone with an elaborate cross carved into it. This Christian monument was made sometime in the 9^th century. It was moved to Aboyne Castle in the 19^th century and then finally moved back to the loch in the mid-1900s.

I can’t imagine any of these sites will change your life but, as I say, it’s a nice walk around Loch Kinord.

7. Tullich Church and Souterrain.

Tullich Church is a great place to park for the souterrain, and it’s worth checking out too. This is a ruined medieval church (built on the site of an even older church) and it has a collection of very cool Christian and Pictish stones held safely behind glass. There’s a great information board all about the stones so I’ll let that do the talking if you decide to visit.

We actually visited for the souterrain though (not the church) and found it on our last trip along this route. I kept putting it off because there were always cows in the field and I’m super wary (read scared) of cows! Luckily on the last visit there were no cows around and we strode confidently across the field to a rocky/scrubby area and located the souterrain. Unfortunately, you can no longer get inside but we shone torches into the cavities and imagined what life was like around 0 AD when this was thought to date back to! The souterrain is an underground space, but it’s not really known what they were used for. Storage for grains? A place to hide? Or a bit of both? What do you think?

If you want to visit a really cool souterrain that you can crawl inside, I definitely recommend the Culsh earth house near Tarland.

8. Abergain Castle

I wasn’t expecting much from this ruined castle but this was definitely a hidden gem! We pulled off the ‘main’ road and parked on the side of a farm access road (out of the way of farm traffic) and then walked across some sheep fields and up into the woods. Abergairn is what remains of a small tower house built in the early 1600s and because of its small stature it was thought to be a hunting lodge. It’s a stunning area. We went whilst the Autumn colours were at their peak, which definitely made everything look beautiful, but there was a stillness and peace there that made you want to linger for as long as possible.

9. St Manir’s Standing Stone.

To visit this stone there’s a super handy forestry commission carpark just down the road. From the parking area you just need to hop over a stream and a fence and then you’re at the standing stone. A very mini adventure! As well as the stone this is also apparently the site of a burial ground and a church but little/no evidence of that remains to someone like me (i.e. not an archaeologist). Apparently, the 6^th century chapel that used to be situated here used this standing stone as a reading desk and much later, unbaptised children were buried here up until the 19^th century.

In the comments section of a random Aberdeenshire history post I also read that from this standing stone you can see the hill on which the last Deeside witch was burned. I have no evidence to back this up, but I choose to believe it! That’s my ethos for many a historical tale!

10. Abergeldie Castle.

Abergeldie Castle is a 16^th century tower house which prompted me to enter the lottery more regularly. I spent the whole time walking around this area deciding which bit I’d turn into an Airbnb or a granny flat for my parents, what I’d plant where, where I’d put the barbeque, what I’d use the pit prison for etc… (Probably wine to be fair). Not long after we got back from our day trip I asked Twitter whether anybody knew the status of this house. There were lots of incredibly old private signs that made it seem like it probably wasn’t private anymore, all gates were open, no lights were on, nobody was around and everything looked very unloved. But, on the other hand, we felt like we were trespassing, there were enough possessions (like work jackets and spades) still around that we felt somebody could have lived there recently or perhaps be thinking about renovating and it definitely had been very loved at some point. It was all a bit mysterious. Anyway, it turns out that the man that had lived there had moved into an old people’s home many years prior and had recently passed away. Which is all a bit sad. It is a really beautiful spot and whoever gets to live there next is incredibly lucky…and wealthy!

To get to this castle we parked by the red phone booth/book swap just down the road, which is worth stopping at anyway.

11. Scurriestone.

This is an easy one to get to. We just parked at a little pull in and then walked into the field where the stone stands. Apparently, it’s thought to mark the spot where “the road diverged to the fords of the Dee and the Muick”, but that’s a little tricky to imagine now. It’s just listed as prehistoric which spans a large wedge of time…basically, it’s very old.

12. Knock Castle.

I think this is now amongst my favourite castles in Aberdeenshire. Knock sits on top of a hill surrounded by larches and it unquestionably pretty.

Knock is a 16^th century tower house, which is full of tragedy. It was owned by the Gordons who had beef with a neighbouring clan, the Forbes. One of the Gordon’s, Henry, was killed by the Forbes clan so the castle went to Gordon’s son, Alexander. At some point Alexander’s son secretly married a Forbes girl, which as you can imagine did not go down well. The father of this girl had Alexander and 7 of his brothers killed whilst they were digging peat. I think there’s some chat about how they were armed and digging peat on Forbes land at the time (so not wholly innocent) but, after this long it’s probably hard to know the ins and outs of it. Anyway, the brothers (including Alexander) were then beheaded and their heads were spiked on top of their spades. Charming! On hearing this news Alexander fell to his death down the Knock Castle stairs and apparently his miserable and tormented ghost still haunts the ruins. The Forbes did not get away with this scot free however, and the head of the Forbes clan was executed by the law, his lands were also taken away and given to Abergeldie.

To get to Knock Castle we parked off the road at a quiet junction and just walked up to it, but I saw that other people had driven much closer to the castle and just parked in the middle of the road! It’s another one of those places where you just have to find a spot that looks acceptable and go for it!

I think if I can conclude anything from this series of excursions between Aberdeen and Balmoral it’s that this county is just packed with history. You can barely move without tripping over some ancient site and because of that I imagine there’s something for everyone. Unfortunately, however, there’s often not a lot of easily available information on most of these places and you end up trawling random sites with numerous search terms just to find a golden nugget of information. But, maybe that’s part of the fun, I guess not everything should be easy and I don’t necessarily think you need to know exactly what you’re looking at to enjoy it. Two of the best websites in terms of standing stones, circles and souterrains were https://www.megalithic.co.uk/ and https://www.canmore.org.uk/ if you’re ever interested in finding out about anything in your area.

Happy exploring!

Exploring Aberdeenshire…without a car!

One of my biggest bugbears is when I move to a new area and people tell me you can’t explore without a car. When I moved to West Wales people told me I was lucky I had a car otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get out and about (which isn’t true) and when I moved up to Aberdeen people told me it was a shame I didn’t have a car because I’d struggle to get out of the city for mini adventures. I admit that in many ways having a car makes things much easier and sometimes I do miss having my own (I sold my car to fund my masters…and my ME was bad enough at the time I thought I shouldn’t drive). BUT it is entirely possible to get out and about using public transport, you just have to plan a little more. So, here are 5 places in the shire of Aberdeen that I would very much recommend and are totally accessible without a vehicle.

Crathes Castle and Drum Castle by bus

(If you’re reading this from the other side of the pandemic then you won’t need to pay attention to some of these details, but, if you’re mid pandemic there’s just the odd statement on how much these sites are open.)

The stagecoach 201 regularly leaves from Union Street and stops pretty much outside Drum Castle and then Crathes Castle, you just have to walk up the drive. When I first arrived here and first took a bus trip out to Crathes (for a beekeeping course) an old Aberdonian lady I’d been chatting to at the bus stop took it upon herself to sit next to me and point out things from her life spent in the area. It was really quite lovely but I can’t guarantee friendly old ladies if you take the 201! Anyway, Crathes Castle, which is run by National Trust Scotland, does castle tours, has a shop and café, a woodland play area and extensive grounds for walking. At the moment, only the grounds are open, but looking at the website it seems like they maybe planning for the rest of it to re-open around the 1^st September. Normally everything’s open all year.

Just up the road, or down the road, depending on how you look at it is Drum Castle. They have castle tours, a café and shop, a rose garden and lots of land to roam on. Currently, only their outdoor spaces are open, this means that their toilets are closed too. As above, I think that they may be planning to re-open some more bits on the 1^st September.

I’m not sure what else to say really. I mean they’re National Trust for Scotland properties, ‘it does what it says on the tin’. Good castle tours run by knowledgeable folk, great cafes, expensive shops and outside spaces humming with wildlife. I feel like you know what you’re getting when you turn up somewhere like this! I guess if you’re really keen you could do both castles in one day but alternately there is enough at each place to spend and enjoy a whole day. Depends what you’re looking for.

Newburgh seal colony and Forvie nature reserve by bus

The Stagecoach 61 takes you to the town of Newburgh and from there you can walk to the Newburgh grey seal colony which is down Beach Road past Newburgh Inn, or you can walk to the North and over the bridge across the River Ythan and enter the Forvie Nature Reserve. Right now the website for Forvie says ‘BUSY – PLEASE AVOID’ and I imagine that is probably also true for the seal colony. I don’t know if it has been busy or if they’ve been expecting it to be or what, but be sensible, obviously! As Nicky S says, if it looks busy, then it’s too busy! I think this is especially true for the seal colony. Just be respectful, don’t approach seals, don’t run around shouting, mind your dog, don’t be a dick. When I’ve been there the seals have been on the beach the other side of the river and in the water, so it’s been easy to just find a cosy spot on the sand and watch them. Forvie also has seals but is known for it’s colony of breeding eider ducks, which is the largest in Britain and the four species of tern that hang out there. The habitat here is really varied so it’s always interesting. There’s always something new to see. My supervisor has even seen a whale off the estuary, I can’t remember what kind…as a wild guess Minke maybe…but that’s certainly a story that keeps me returning to Forvie to scan the horizon!

Stonehaven by train

So, I’ve chosen a poor time to write this. I chose Stonehaven and Dunnottar castle partly because there’s a really quick and easy train there from Aberdeen. Not only is Aberdeen in its second week of local lockdown as I write this (meaning you shouldn’t travel more than 5 miles from the city) but there are no trains between Aberdeen and Dundee until the 3^rd September due to a tragic derailment. There is of course a bus replacement service though. Hopefully even if you can’t go anywhere right now, this might inspire you for the future.

Anyway, Stonehaven is a lovely little town. It has a museum, some cute little shops like ‘My Beautiful Caravan’ and eateries like the ‘The Marine Hotel’, which has a restaurant and bar run (?) by 6° North. …Actually, I’m not 100% sure what the full involvement of 6° North in The Marine Hotel is! Sorry! But I do know that the food and beer is excellent! There’s also a really cool harbour festival every year which I believe happens around August and a yearly new year’s fire festival. I haven’t been to that, yet, but I hear good things. Also in Stonehaven are the Dunnottar Woods, I’ve only been walking there once but they were much bigger and cooler than I expected.

The main attraction in Stonehaven, however, is Dunnottar Castle, which is a 30ish minute walk along the cliffs from the harbour. I’ve been twice, once in winter and once in summer. I’m already biased because I strongly dislike summer and I love winter but I would recommend a visit to the castle in the depths of winter! I first went in February and made sure that I got to the castle as soon as it opened. This meant I had the whole castle to myself for about half an hour. Walking up to that imposing structure on my own whilst the weather was cold, grey and hazy gave me so many feelings. Walking alone around the castle, including into dark little rooms that held witches (aka women!) and peering over the walls and down to the cold, unforgiving sea below gave me even more feelings! When I went in summer, the castle and surrounding cliffs were crawling with people. Crawling. Obviously it’s great people want to visit a historical site and I would never begrudge a place in need of constant upkeep earning £’s over the summer period BUT, personally, busy places are not my jam. Right now (August 2020), during the pandemic, the castle is open but you have to buy tickets online before you arrive.

Cruden Bay and New Slains by bus

Just up the road from Newburgh and Forvie, still on the stagecoach 61, is Cruden Bay and New Slains. Cruden Bay is a nice, well umm, bay, with a long beach… and just a short walk away through a wooded area and past a field is New Slains Castle. New Slains is a ruin resting on top of a cliff and colonised by seabirds. Its free to enter and there are no barriers so you can explore to your hearts content. If you’re feeling fit you can also walk North along the sea-cliffs to the Bullers of Buchan and at the right time of year these cliffs are busy with guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmar. I’m not sure how busy it gets here but I’ve visited before in August and there’s only been a handful of groups/families about and there’s plenty of room for you to avoid each other! I’ve heard that in it’s heyday this Baronial mansion saw the likes of folk like Bram Stoker who took inspiration from New Slains for his novel Dracula. Apparently, the building slowly fell into ruin after the roof was removed for tax avoidance reasons. I love nuggets of information like that.

Peterhead prison museum by bus

Also on the route of the Stagecoach 61 is Peterhead and in Peterhead is the Peterhead prison museum….which is currently open, but, like Dunnottar, I think they’re asking you to buy tickets online before you arrive. This museum is so cool for so many reasons. For a start it’s just interesting to see inside a prison that was still in use until 2013. There are also tonnes of stories about general prison life, a mock up of a dirty protest (which is definitely an assault on the senses) and loads of information on the Peterhead Prison riot back in 1987. I won’t say too much about it because I won’t do the story justice and I’ll definitely get stuff wrong, but the riot saw intervention by the SAS after the prisoners took hostages, including 56 year old Jackie Stuart. 33 years later, at 89 years old, Jackie Stuart is still regularly frequenting the museum and talking to tourists. It was so crazy interesting to meet him and have a chat. A prison might seem like an odd place to take a day trip but trust me, this place is awesome.

I’ve mentioned the Stagecoach 61 three times now (they’re not paying me!!!), and incidentally this bus also stops at another cool place that’s worth a very brief mention. I’ve not explored Ellon extensively but I have been to two places there that are worth visiting; ‘Coffee Apothecary’ and the BrewDog mothership. Getting public transport to one of the best breweries in the UK is obviously a very sensible idea!

So, if you aren’t able to drive or just don’t want to these are 5 great options that’ll hopefully give you some inspiration for exploring the county by public transport. If you are able to drive but you don’t have your own vehicle then I can definitely recommend co-wheels car club. They’re a company that have cars dotted about all over the UK but they have lots within Aberdeen. They’ve got manuals and automatics, electrics and petrols, smalls cars, big cars and vans! I’ve used them a lot for day trips and I’ve regularly decided that I don’t want to come home yet and extended my booking just by tapping a few things in the co wheels app. I’ve lost my access card, called the co wheels number and gained entry with a regular chip and pin in my wallet within minutes. Anyway, I’ll stop trying to sell co-wheels to you now (I don’t have shares!), just know they’re a good option!

Right then, well, happy exploring!

Aberdeen

I love Aberdeen! It’s a bit of a marmite city, I know. The most common negatives I hear are that it’s ugly, it’s unfriendly and there’s nothing to do and I would disagree (and frequently do) on all of those points. I get surprisingly defensive of this city that is absolutely not my own, as in I didn’t grow up here and I haven’t lived here that long!

Now, having said that, when I came up here to meet my now supervisors, I flew and then took the bus into the city from the airport. The stretch of Aberdeen that bus route follows is mostly pretty bleak and as soon as I could I phoned my mum all teary that I didn’t think I could live here. My memory of Aberdeen from my navy days was really shoddy, I remembered bits of the harbour, the maritime museum and the beach but that was it. It wasn’t enough to make me feel better about moving here. Luckily though, I stayed at the Carmelite hotel near The Green and the harbour and walked to the university through old Aberdeen and the Cruickshank botanical gardens. This turned things around an awful lot. I mean, obviously! I live here now and as I said I love it. Now, if my friends fly up I tell them to close their eyes on the bus! When they’re here, at some point in their stay, I take almost everyone on the same walk…or at least portions of it, because altogether it’s a long one. As lockdown has now eased a little and we have some more freedom to move around I thought it seemed a good time to mention my favourite places along that walk. Maybe it’ll give you some inspiration.

Old Aberdeen

The ‘tour’ starts with a solid walk from Mounthooly (because that’s where I live) to Old Aberdeen and that takes about 20 – 30 minutes. I found out very recently that Mounthooly lies on an old leper colony, which was mercifully unnecessary by the early 1600s. Luckily, the bodies weren’t buried along my street so I didn’t have to lie awake at night thinking about that for too long! The first stop on my tour is what remains of the ‘Snow Kirk’ which was originally founded way back in 1497. This is a tiny little Catholic graveyard hidden behind high walls within college bounds. For me, the most exciting thing about this is that barely anyone seems to know it’s there! I don’t really know the ins and out of the reformation but I do know that it wasn’t a great time to be a practicing Catholic. Many held Mass secretly and buried their loved ones in secret Catholic kirkyards in keeping with their faith. The Snow Kirk, or the kirkyard of St Mary of the Snows, was, for a time, one such secret graveyard.

From the kirkyard I take people through Powis gate, which looks like a classic Disney castle tower and towards Kings College. Kings College was founded by William Elphinstone in 1494 and there’s a fetching memorial to him outside. The interesting thing, I think, is that the memorial was meant to be fitted on top of his tomb, inside the chapel. But, when it was transported to Aberdeen it turned out to be too big to go through the door. Doh!

Just up the road from Elphinstone is my favourite university campus café, Kilau. Great coffee, great food, magnificent brownies! This place on my ‘grand route’ is a great time to stop so I normally encourage it!

Sometimes, I take people through the alleyway near Kilau to go and look at the library. It’s pretty impressive and although I rarely take people inside it has a cool internal structure too. I gather there are some mixed opinions about the practicality of this though! Another rare but occasional detour is the Cruickshank botanical garden and rarer still the universities zoology museum. Both are definitely worth a visit though. The gardens are a nice spot for a picnic, I saw my first red squirrel and my first waxwings here.

Seaton Park and the River Don

This next stretch is again about 20 – 30 minutes…obviously much longer with stopping for coffees, taking photos or just generally looking at stuff!

The next ‘stop’ is St Machar Cathedral. To get there you have to walk down the Chanonry. This is a pretty area but it was once terrorised by ‘Spring-heeled Jack’. ‘Spring-heeled Jack’ could silently leap over high walls and breathed fire. He had clawed hands and red eyes and wore numerous disguises. This assailant normally resided in London but appeared in Aberdeen in the late 1800s. People saw him well into the 20^th century. Crazy!

When I first arrived, I read on the internet somewhere that the left upper quarter of William Wallace was rumoured to be buried behind a star in St Machar cathedral. I’d tell my friends this in my best impression of a castle tour guide’s ghost story voice but just at the beginning of this year I found out that was certainly not true. Damn internet facts! Despite the lack of famous historical body parts the cathedral is still worth a visit. The ceiling in particular is pretty astounding.

Just behind St Machar is the enormous Seaton Park. There are areas here where I feel like I am absolutely not in a city anymore. The walk along the river to the beach is really lovely, I’ve seen seals from the Brig o’ Balgownie and although I haven’t seen them here personally, people have reported really good views of otters.

After Seaton Park is left behind (and I’ve taken my friends across a super busy road) the Donmouth nature reserve starts. There are some little paths that wind through the estuary and there’s a small hide just off the road. If I’m honest I find this section a little disappointing but without it it’s a long stretch of boring pavement until you reach the sea.

Aberdeen Seafront

I don’t have an awful lot to say about the seafront. I mean, it’s just nice to be by the sea, isn’t it? Between Donmouth and the Aberdeen Beach Ballroom it’s just you and the sand but after that there’s one or two things I sometimes point out. The first thing is ‘the last tram line’ which is on the Links between the Hilton hotel and the beach there’s a little stretch of tram line still visible. I normally point at them and say “that’s Aberdeen’s last tram line”. That’s it! That’s all I have. I’m pretty sure no one but me has ever thought this was cool. But I’ll keep trying!

Just as a little interlude (because I’ve never taken anyone here), there’s a place nearby called Trinity Cemetery. Within it is the unmarked grave of the Cornish steersman and quartermaster, Robert Hichens, who was on the Titanic. I’ve read somewhere that at the time of the accident he was at the helm…of course steering under the orders of an officer. He survived in one of the few lifeboats alongside an American millionairess, but life wasn’t particularly rosy for him following the tragedy and ended with him being placed in an Aberdonian cemetery without a marker.

Incidentally this cemetery is very near Gallows Hill, which, as you can probably guess is where people enjoyed watching the odd hanging up until the late 1700s. The last fellow to lose his life there was Alexander Morison, who murdered his wife with an axe. The death wasn’t quick or clean and he was left there hanging in chains as a warning. If you haven’t noticed by now I’m drawn to some of the darker parts of history!

But anyway, back to ‘the tour’! Carrying on down the Beach Boulevard from the Beach Ballroom there are some shops and cafés plus adventure golf and a funfair. But, for me, the place of note is the Highland Bus. Again, I don’t have any pictures but it’s an old double decker bus by the sea with a café in it! I mostly just really like the novelty but the food’s pretty good too.

Footdee

After tea and cake in the bus, the next stop is Footdee. Footdee, pronounced ‘Fittie’, is about a 20-30 minute walk from Donmouth along the beach. Footdee is a really pretty old fishing village full of little cottages that surround squares mostly containing ‘sheds’ and garden areas. I put ‘sheds’ in apostrophes because this doesn’t quite do them justice, they’re very cool and very creative. The whole area has a really folksy, arty vibe. I think it’s important to remember that people do actually live here though. It’s great to enjoy the space but with the respect owed to any residential area.

One of my favourite stories relating to Footdee is that, at some point in time, when the fishermen went out to sea their wives would not wash any clothes. They feared that by churning up the wash water they would also churn up the sea causing potentially fatally bad weather for their husbands. I think I read that at the Aberdeen maritime museum, which is just along the harbour and definitely worth a visit.

Aberdeen Harbour

From Footdee I like to walk along the harbour all the way towards Union Square, which takes about 20 minutes. Aberdeen Harbour is apparently Britain’s oldest recorded business, first being mentioned way back in 1136. These days it’s full of standby and supply vessels from the oil fields and the odd ferry. A lot of this is about reminiscing for me…I mean, I really didn’t enjoy the navy but I like to think about it sometimes and, objectively, I still find the ships, the big anchors and huge chains pretty cool. I always hope my friends will too! I also love some of the ship’s names: “Standard Viking” is among my favourites. As you get closer to Union Square there’s also a very cool Nuart painting. Nuart is all over Aberdeen but this, I think, is the first one featured along this walk.

The Green

Just before reaching Union Square I turn off and head into ‘The Green’. There’s not a huge amount I have to say about this area but there is some great Nuart around, including my favourite, the doughnuts. There’s also a fab little café called Contour café here and a great pub called CASC, which sells good coffee, ale, Scotch whisky and cigars.

Home

From The Green there are a couple of options. Not far away are a couple of my favourite pubs, Fierce beer and the Castlegate Brewdog, enough said. If we’re not ready for a drink and my friends aren’t ready to kill me after a brutally extensive ‘tour’ there’s the Tollbooth museum. I love this place, which, like the maritime museum is free. The Tollbooth is an incredibly well preserved 17^th century gaol and has loads of sweet information about the evolution of the city, witches, the people that were gaoled there and escape attempts. If my friends weren’t ready to go home before, they almost definitely are after the museum. Home is passed another Brewdog and along Gallowgate. Gallowgate was the execution site before Gallows Hill and I’ve read somewhere that it saw the end of multiple witches but I haven’t been able to find this information again since! Aberdeen has an incredibly rich (and terrible) witch hunting history that I really want to learn more about.

This ‘tour’ is bloody long and it only covers a small part of what the city has to offer. Aberdeen is full of history, art, nature, good beer and although I agree it’s pretty shite at advertising itself, it’s normally full of cool events. I feel like people can give this Northern city a hard time but, although its not perfect, it’s 100% worth a visit, or exploring more if you’re already here.

Most of this information is gathered from a couple of books and an extensive website, which I’ll mention below, and the rest of it is from who knows where! They’re just tidbits of information I’ve gathered from here and there and they may or may not be true! I’d reckon that those tidbits are from museums and castles I’ve visited but you know how those facts get skewed once you’ve not touched on them for a while!

“Hidden Aberdeen – History on your doorstep and under your feet” by Dr Fiona-Jane Brown

“The guide to mysterious Aberdeen” by Geoff Holder

The “Doric columns” blog – https://doriccolumns.wordpress.com/

Tiny Adventure: Nairn!

I think this was the start of the COVID-19 tipping point for me. Everything had been more or less ‘business as usual’ before. My boyfriend was supposed to be meeting me up in Nairn for us to spend the weekend together before I finished the last two weeks of my internship in Raigmore hospital. But, as a diabetic he’s in an ‘at risk’ category for the virus and was concerned (understandably) about being on a busy train…so, he didn’t come. We had had our first positive case in the community but I considered the risk and it seemed a little early, up in the Highlands, for me not to jump on a 20 minute train to a place where I would be predominantly alone for the weekend. So, I went!

14th March

I already had all my important picnic and Perk donut supplies before I arrived in Nairn which meant that I could head straight off on my walk. No messing around!

I walked from the train station to the harbour where I was greeted by a tonne of redshank (pretty little wading birds with red legs) and a turnstone (another pretty little wading bird!). I wandered passed the harbour and along the harbour wall to stare at the sea for a bit and figure out that the land in front of me belonged to the Black Isle.

I carried on along the beach to RSPB Culbin Sands where I found a delightful, pretty much undamaged, conch shell and watched a pair of bar tailed godwits and a load of black headed gulls. I kept walking until I could cross a little river onto the salt marsh next to Culbin Forest. I’ve been trying to wrack my brains but I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where the forest has met the beach in quite the same way before. The forest comes to the edge of the cliffs between Aberystwyth and Clarach in West Wales and the woods follow the clifftop walk around the Robin Hoods Bay area in North Yorkshire but it’s different. It just seemed super magical for the forest to meet the saltmarsh and then for that to become sandy beach.

I decided that as I was on my own, and for once didn’t really want to be, I’d cheer myself up by finding a few geocaches in Culbin Forest. Geocaching is like an adult treasure hunt! All over the place and all around the world are hidden caches. Some are magnetic and look like a little blunt bullet and others are big boxes. They all have paper inside where you can write your name and the date you found the cache but the bigger ones have toys or trackers inside that you can take and swap. If you take a tracker you can log it and move it to another geocache around the world and see where it has travelled. To find them you just have to sign up for the geocaching app and that tells you roughly where they are. There’s often a hint if you’re struggling and sometimes, if you really can’t find the cache, pictures and comments from other geocachers. The general idea is that its all a bit of a secret and that you don’t want somebody (especially a ‘muggle’) to know that you’re geocaching, which makes it difficult when you’re searching for a tiny cache in the middle of a busy city!

I found two in Culbin forest.

I was knackered after my walk about in the forest so I headed to check in to my Airbnb. I dropped my things, sat down for a while and then went out to buy food and bubble bath because I can never pass up the opportunity to get in the tub.

So, I noticed when I was mooching about the kitchen that the sponge was really old and well used and that there was half a bottle of sour milk in the fridge plus old bread and eggs in the cupboard. I thought it was a little gross but I shrugged it off because I thought maybe it was an environmental choice. When I got back I couldn’t get any of the electric wall heaters to work but I shrugged that off too because I guessed I’d just figure it out later. I tried to run a hot bath but there wasn’t enough hot water. I boiled water on the stove and in the kettle, but because the air temperature was so cold I couldn’t heat water quick enough to offset the bath cooling! I stayed in there all of 10 seconds before I decided it was just too sad. When I got out I also made more of a concerted effort to get the heating going but actually none of the power sockets worked, I couldn’t find anything that would resemble a ‘master switch’ and there was no welcome book or instructions to follow. The place was freezing. There was no hot water bottle or blankets and by this point it felt to late to be messaging the host to ask for help, so I just wore my scarf hat and down jacket inside! What I did find when I was searching about was just how dusty everything was. There was even a sad face drawn in the dust in the bedroom. The whole place wasn’t actually that clean. I think the nice décor had fooled me! I heated up my microwave curry and ate it wondering when was too early to go to bed. When I did decide to go to bed and I pulled the covers back there were hairs on the pillows and in the bed. Fucking grim. It makes me wonder whether they bothered changing the sheets or whether they just made the bed again. I put my t-shirt (which was dusty because I dropped it on the bathroom floor) over the pillow and laid the frayed and holey towel where I was going to sleep. I slept in my down jacket and hat but I still felt a bit grossed out anyway! If I’d have noticed these things earlier I would have just gone home to the Raigmore!

I fell asleep to the sounds of drunk people buying kebabs outside my window and woke up at 5.45 am to the sound of a persistent car alarm. I couldn’t get out of there quick enough!

I obviously left an extensive review with my host and a more measured, less defamatory public review but I haven’t heard back from the lady yet. All I can say is stay somewhere other than the Royal Apartments in central Nairn!

15th March

In the morning I headed to the Basil Harbour Café for a breakfast of ‘eggy bread’, bacon, maple syrup and a much needed cappuccino. In hindsight it probably wasn’t a good call in terms of social distancing but it was all still very much a grey area at that point and it was only just creeping in to Northern Scotland. The breakfast was super good though! My plan was to walk to Whiteness Point, West of Nairn, using the ‘Walk Highlands’ inland route and then return along the beach. The walk inland was ‘nice’, I saw my first skylark of the year, singing. It was fine, but it was long and a little relentless. There weren’t any wow moments and it actually got to a point on the beach where I could see the point but decided it wasn’t actually worth walking to it!

When I looked up the beach towards Nairn the thought of walking 4 – 5 miles (ish) along pebbles and sand just seemed brutal so I decided to walk along the same inland route I arrived on. There were three geocaches along the route so I thought ‘why not?’, it made it more interesting.

By the time I got back to Nairn I was knackered so I picked up another Cappuccino from Basil and then headed to the station early.

It definitely wasn’t my greatest mini-adventure but I was glad to get lots of fresh air before the inevitable COVID lock down and I managed to walk over 15 miles on the last day which must be more than I’ve managed to walk in years. So, that’s something!

Nano Adventure: A Weekend on the Black Isle.

During my PhD I have to do a PIPS project, which is essentially a three month long internship in something that has nothing to do with my PhD. My PIPS project is up in Inverness, at the Raigmore hospital. My pal, Anneli, did hers in Brussels at the European Commission, and as I went to visit her, she decided she wanted to visit me whilst I’m doing mine. This time another friend, Alysha, joined us.

Anneli and Alysha arrived on Thursday evening and after checking into our Inverness Airbnb we pretty much headed straight out to the Black Isle Brewery bar for a pizza and beer (I really like it in there). After dinner we went for a little night cap in The Malt Room (I also like it in there). They have an epic range of whiskies and do some great cocktails. I had work on the Friday but Anneli and Alysha explored the city; they toured some of the coffee shops, mooched around the antique and book stores and climbed the castle tower. After I finished work, I met them at the bus station and we jumped on a bus to Fortrose on the Black Isle.

I’d been reliably informed that IV10 in Fortrose was an incredible place to get dinner and luckily, despite not having a table booked, we managed to sneak in. As soon as we walked in we loved the atmosphere, it was suitably hipster for us millennials with water served in recycled gin bottles, marine artwork and lots of re-used wood. The food was amazing too. I had some sort of wood fired cod with a mussel sauce and fries with a really nice glass of Grenache. For pudding I had a pear and frangipane tart with a Lagavullin whisky. Definitely a good start to the weekend.

7th March

After a fairly relaxed morning and a brunch consisting of cake back at IV10 we walked towards Rosemarkie, popping into a couple of the gift shops along the way. Once in the little town we headed towards the beach so that we could follow the bay around to the first couple of Rosemarkie caves. I didn’t realise but apparently there are about 20 old sea caves just up the coast and there’s a cave project (although this might be over by now!) which aims to explore and excavate them.

We only made it as far as Caird’s Cave which my potentially outdated web source tells me could potentially have been a site of occupation since the iron age but was certainly an active Pictish site. I have literally no idea who Caird is and why it’s their cave, google didn’t help me.

On the way to the caves I found a stone with a perfect circular hole worn away through it. When I was a troubled teenager into wicca I used to keep my eyes to the ground looking for these ‘hagstones’ at the beach or along riversides. I seem to remember they’re supposed to have lots of mystical uses. Now, I just think it’s an awesome feat of nature. What I did think was pretty cool is that there’s the legend of Kenneth…better known as the Brahan seer. In short, his mum acquired a stone with a hole in it from a Norwegian ghost princess and that stone allowed him to see the future. He predicted a tonne of stuff, seemingly with great accuracy but his downfall was in telling a lady on the Black Isle that her husband was cheating on her in Paris. She wasn’t chuffed about this foretelling and boiled the Brahan seer upside down in a barrel of tar at Chanonry Point. Incidentally Chanonry Point is only a short walk up the beach from where I found my stone. I haven’t yet seen the future through it though. I’ll keep trying.

So, not only did I find my ‘hagstone’ on the way to the caves, but Alysha also found her dream stone…An ammonite! Awesome find. Anneli did not find a prize rock but she did do a mini beach clean, picking up all the plastic she could see.

After exploring the caves we walked back along the beach to Chanonry Point to look for the bottlenose dolphin. I’d heard loads of different advice about when the best time was to try and see them but the most common timing seemed to be as the tide was changing/starting to rise. Unfortunately, the dolphin did not show up. It was super windy and choppy at that point though so I have a suspicion that even if they were out and about it would have been difficult to see anything. We did find a few hermit crabs along the point though which was, for me, almost as exciting as seeing dolphin!

On the way back from Chanonry point I started to feel a bit ME relapsey…probably for lots of reasons. So, by the time we reached The Anderson pub I wasn’t quite with it. I’d been told that there were two pubs in Fortrose and that one was dodgy and one was dingy. So, we went for dingy. It was a weird place. It definitely wasn’t immediately welcoming. Once we found our way to the bar and located a space in a dark corner, which was a journey in itself, we were all too awkward to go the bar because it was blocked by lots and lots of men. All of them standing quietly watching the England vs Wales rugby match. You can probably guess who they were rooting for! Once Anneli gathered the courage to go and order drinks for all of us (what a star?!), she was promptly told by the barmaid ‘you’re in Scotland now’ after part of the order involved a bitter shandy. Delightful! It hadn’t really crossed my mind that it wasn’t really ‘a thing’ up here.

After the rugby was over, a few of the men cleared out and the barmaid came over with the menus as we’d originally gone in there for food. She seemed a lot more cheerful, maybe we’d redeemed ourselves somehow after awkwardly stumbling in and ordering an English ale. The menu actually looked great and the barmaid pointed over to the butcher who supplied them, which seemed like a great sign. There were some mixed opinions about whether we should stay or go but the ‘ayes’ had it…just. The food was amazing! I had a lamb burger with feta and mint sauce, Anneli had a beef burger with haggis and Alysha had a veggie burrito. We pretty much licked the plates clean! Although our Anderson experience had a bumpy start I actually really liked it in the end…I’d go back! It probably helped that after a sit down, one of Alysha’s babybels and half a pint I started to feel a bit more like myself again.

8th March

In the morning we had a quick look around Fortrose cathedral…which was ‘nice’. I wouldn’t tell anyone to go out of their way to visit it, but if you’re in the area and you have a spare 15 minutes it won’t ruin your day!

Once we’d seen all we wanted of the ruined cathedral we grabbed some outstanding breakfast baps from the Fortrose Café on our way to catch the bus to Cromarty. I had link sausage and tatty scone just in case you’re interested!

The bus took about 25 minutes and brought us pretty much all the way to the Cromarty lighthouse. It’s one of the University of Aberdeen’s remote campus locations and they run a field course there every year. Unfortunately, because of a re-shuffle, Alysha and I are in the year that don’t get to go, so it was good to go and explore the area on our own.

The Cromarty Firth is unusual in that there are loads of oil rigs ‘parked’ there whilst they’re undergoing ‘refurbishment’. I’m not sure I know what that really means but it’s an unusual and strangely cool sight. We talked a bit about turning one into a bar or a hotel but then realised we have no money.

Before embarking on a damp walk in the unpredictable weather we had a coffee and cake stop at The Slaughterhouse Café. It was a pretty cosy space but lovely, definitely worth squeezing yourself into. Our walk took us through the town where we stopped in a couple of shops. I bought a wooden Cromarty butter knife in a Scandi style shop because Anneli insisted that my life would change for the better if I owned one. I’m yet to use it but I have great hopes!

After leaving the town we headed round to the coast path to the Sutors of Cromarty and then back into town to catch our bus back to Inverness. It was a nice walk with stunning views across the firth and out to sea. We saw a couple of deer on our way back, which is always sweet.

The bus took about an hour to get from Cromarty to Inverness and only cost about £3.50, which, I think, is an absolute bargain! Back in Inverness Anneli and Alysha had enough time to grab some absolutely essential M&S train snacks before they were back off to Aberdeen. And I bought some sushi dinner and wandered back to the Raigmore on the phone to my parents, giving them the low down on the weekend.

I’m not positive yet but I think next weekend I’ll be in Nairn. These weekend trips won’t last forever by the way…just until I stop living in hospital accommodation!

Mini Adventure: A weekend around Loch Ness.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the thought of spending the weekend in my Raigmore flat doesn’t fill me with joy. So on this particular weekend, my boyfriend came up from Aberdeen to drive around Loch Ness with me….much better.

29th February

Mattia ‘alighted’ in Inverness about half 10 but I’d already been in town for a while excitedly buying maps, shopping and picking up a donut in Perk (essential)! We collected the keys for our hire car at the train station from ‘Focus Rentals’. The guy who met us and introduced us to our car was very friendly and as the car we originally wanted wasn’t actually available we’d been upgraded to a brand new car. Winning!

As soon as we’d picked up a few picnic supplies we headed off out of the city towards Loch Ness. I was actually pretty excited and as soon as we hit Dores the views across to the Loch had me buzzing! Also, Mattia loves driving (I do not) so I just got to sit and watch out the window, pointing things out.

Our first stop was Farigaig where we just climbed straight up to the viewpoint and had lunch. It needs to be said that the toilets were delightful! A great place to stop if you’re out kayaking or hiking the trail from Inverness to Fort Augustus. Loads of people had left their post it notes of thanks behind which were really sweet to read.

After our Farigaig lunch we followed the ‘Walk Highlands’ route to Foyers Falls, down to the shores of Loch Ness and then back to the car through the village of Foyers. The falls were epic! We’d been told with a grunt earlier in the day that they weren’t that impressive, but they blew us away. The falling water was so powerful that as we approached them I thought someone was having a bonfire, the spray of water being forced upwards looked like smoke. In fact, the Gaelic name for the falls, Eas na Smùide, means the smoking falls…I can totally see why.

I couldn’t get the video to load – you’re just going to have to go!

We were both pretty knackered after climbing back up to the car, so after refuelling (the Foyers shop at the carpark is crazy cheap), we pretty much headed straight to our Airbnb home for the night just above Drumnadrochit. The only other time we got out of the car was to experience the crazy weather in the hills above Fort Augustus. Such a change from 10 minutes down the road! It was insanely windy. I had to crawl out of the car over the drivers seat because the wind was too strong for me to open the passenger door and it was blowing snow and little bits of ice off the hills which made it hard to face the wind. As painful as it was, it was fun leaning into it and trying to catch flight!

The accommodation was unreal. I thought it was going to be pretty special but it definitely surpassed expectations. It was a little wooden shepherd’s hut lit with fairy lights. It had a little wood burner inside, a bathroom hidden behind a ‘secret’ door, hot water bottles, some milk and biscuits for when we arrived AND some free whisky decanted out for us. They’d thought of everything. It was so cosy. I kind of wish I’d taken more pictures but I was too busy enjoying the space.

(Despite the fact the place/day was very romantic and it was the 29^th Feb on a leap year I did not, like one friend thought, propose! Bit early for that.)

1st March

We stayed in the hut as long as we could and enjoyed a lazy breakfast. I don’t enjoy cooking in the hospital accommodation so it was just really nice to have something more exciting than tortellini, pizza or super noodles (yep, I have indeed regressed)!

We decided to head to a place called Abriachan for a walk on the way back to Inverness. It was a recommendation from my office mate who has so far nailed it with everywhere that she’s suggested. Almost as soon as we drove away from the shepherd’s hut we saw a red squirrel. Or, more accurately, I saw a red squirrel, yelled ‘SQUIRREL, SQUIRREL, SQUIRREL’ and made Mattia reverse back up the hill so he could see it too!

I didn’t think the day would get much better after that but as soon as we parked in the Abriachan carpark my spider senses were tingling about some birds chirping about in the tree next to the car. They were only bloody crossbills! Sorry, if you’re not into birds or wildlife in general, maybe skip this little paragraph, because I need a little moment! I honestly never thought I’d be lucky enough to see these birds. I mean other things are hard(ish) to spot like otter, red squirrel, waxwings… but I’m happy to head to a hot spot for that species and have a go. I thought it was so unlikely I’d ever see a crossbill that there was no point actively trying! I knew they were shy and secretive and I mistakenly thought that all types of crossbill were only in certain parts of Scotland (I’ve now learned I was wrong on that point). But anyway, here I was, literally stood next to the car in a fairly busy car park watching both male and female crossbill in a tree a few metres away. No idea if they were Scottish or Common but that wouldn’t have changed how I felt. I was so excited! They were around long enough for me to stare and check in disbelief that they weren’t anything else and I hadn’t made an utterly stupid ID mistake but they left after a small group of kids ran screaming through the snow into the car park!

With me still chattering away about the birds and clutching onto my binoculars hoping to see more we headed off up the hill to the 434 metre summit of Carn na Leitire. We stopped via the pond to poke the ice, at the Lochside bird hide to see if we could spot anything, at the bronze age hut to talk about what people would’ve dressed in back then to stay warm and in the forest a couple of times because we were tired!

The views from the top were awesome and I’m sure my photos don’t do it justice. I’m often afraid to push myself to climb big hills or little mountains because last time I did (about 2 years ago now) I triggered another little ME relapse. It felt right though and luckily this time I’ve suffered no payback from it. It was a really nice moment to be up there in the snow, nobody else around, just taking in the scenery.

Once we were back down I finished the Perk donut I’d been nursing for two days (honestly the best donuts ever) and Mattia enjoyed watching another couple struggle to get their car out of the icy bay.

And that was pretty much it. We stopped for a late lunch in a place called An Talla at the Dochgarroch lock (not loch), dropped the car back off at the train station and then Mattia got his train home. I walked back to the Raigmore but avoided Burger King for once!

Next weekend I have a couple of friends visiting from Aberdeen and we’re exploring the Black Isle. Only time will tell if I’ll write about it!

Micro-adventure: Isle of Skye and Kyle of Lochalsh in 2 days!

Now, I hear you already…’you can’t possibly do Skye AND Kyle of Lochalsh in two days, especially without a car’! And I would not disagree with you! But I could get there by public transport (easily from Inverness where I’m currently staying) and spend two days seeing as much in that area as I could and have a great time doing it! Plus, my accommodation at the Raigmore hospital isn’t the most inspiring place and I didn’t really fancy spending the weekend with my door slamming flatmates so I thought I’d go out and explore instead.

I wasn’t actually planning to write anything about my trip but I went on my own and writing in my journal, which isn’t something I often do, came naturally during some of the quieter moments. I also took a fair few pictures! …This is what I wrote…

22^nd February 2020

So, I’m on Skye! I got the two and a half hour train here from Inverness which must be THE most beautiful train journey I’ve ever been on. It started out quite sedately – a few nice rivers and rolling hills but before an hour in it transformed into something more dramatic. It probably helped add to the drama in that it had snowed on the high ground and was still trying. The weather flipped between sun to rain to snow to sun again to hail! I stared out of the window the whole time, sometimes it didn’t even click that my music had stopped.

Once I’d reached Kyle of Lochalsh I ran to the bank to get some hard cash. It didn’t seem super clever to go to an island without any (even an island with a bridge) and with that hard cash I ran into a wool shop because I managed to leave my super warm gloves at home and I was going to need something more for the West coast weather. Now fully prepared I found the bus stop and went across to Skye. I was buzzing! The bus journey was much shorter than I expected but very pretty.

I was staying in Broadford so that’s where I got off (funnily enough) – in hindsight I might’ve gone further up to Portree or Uig but without knowing how I’d feel after a week of work or how long it would take me to get anywhere, the middle of the island seemed like a safe bet.

Straight away I headed to Irishman’s point (Rubh an Eireannaich) – in the end I wasn’t actually sure what ‘the point’ was! The walk was lovely though. I saw loads of hooded crows, a couple of redshank but mostly the usual wee brown birds and oystercatchers I’m used to. I had lunch in a really sweet bay whilst the sun was shining and took some pictures. About 10 minutes up the track it was heavy hail! It was brutal! I sheltered behind a little dip in the land with my back to the wind and waited for it to pass.

I carried on for as long as the ‘land’ would let me and then had to turn back along the same path. I hit another hail shower on the way back, this one even worse, and sheltered behind somebodies boat.

I checked into the hotel (The Broadford) and ‘warmed up’. I was pretty warm already to be honest but as soon as I sat down I didn’t want to get up and I didn’t know what I wanted to do next.

Eventually I went back out with the vague thought of looking for otter and watching the sunset. I walked down the road back towards Kyle but it soon became uninspiring. Then I walked back on myself and started down Broadford river but the track quickly petered out leaving me to walk on the road and didn’t fancy that in the fading light dressed all in black. So I walked back to where I’d walked before, towards the harbour. No otter to be seen and no view to a dramatic sunset over the hills. So, I went back to the hotel to dine on instant pot ramen (I wanted to save some money for the bar!).

After dinner I headed to The Gabbro bar (where I wrote the first part of this). Not quite what I expected! If I’m honest I wanted the sanitised, Americanised stereotype; tartan, dark wood and stags. I didn’t want real Scotland/normal life, which in this case, was a fairly normal, faceless sports bar with a limited choice in whisky and drunk rugby fans who would occasionally let out a high pitched scream making the old bar lady grumpy! I wanted to drink my Talisker (made on Skye) and Drambuie (invented on Skye) wrapped in an island fantasy! At one point a dog came in that wasn’t happy to find other dogs in it’s pub. It started fighting and then a drunk girl started ineffectively yelling at the dog, Cesar, to sit. This went on for too long! The Drambiue was better than I remembered (I drank way too many as a teenager with coke). After I left the bar, I got one from the hotel restaurant to take up to my room so I could drink Drambiue and eat crisps in the bath. Classy. Incidentally the hotel restaurant did deliver the Scottish fantasy…if only I’d known that earlier!

23^rd February 2020

Got up early so I could eat lots of breakfast (French toast with bacon and maple syrup plus a starter of muesli and yoghurt with lots of coffee. I also stole a banana!) before catching one of the only buses to Kyle that day.

Once in Kyle I wrapped up against the rain and headed to ‘The Plock’. I had pretty low expectations but it was much bigger and prettier than I thought it would be. A lot of it skirted the coast so I looked for otter (didn’t see any). I did however see a golden eagle which I almost missed because I was texting my dad!

I headed to a place called Hector’s Bothy about midday for a sit down and coffee and cake. I wasn’t quite sure what to do next but I had a quick look at the map and a google and decided to walk out along the path the Balmacara for 45 minutes and then head back so I could make the only train of the day.

Once I found the path there was a signpost to Scalpaigh burn (which is spelled differently on the map) and thought ‘well I can definitely make that’ – once I got there, there was a signpost to ‘’Loch Scalpaigh ½ mile’’ and I thought ‘hmm, pushing it but I’ll get a tab on’. Made it! Just! I made better time on the way back so was able to take another quick track for some good views over the bay. As with the Plock the walk was far prettier than I anticipated. I really enjoyed myself.

Made it back on time for the train and managed to sit on the opposite side for different views. So.Many.Deer! I made a little mark in my journal every time I saw one and by the time it became too dark to see I’d marked for 93 red deer! Mental.

Anyway, so I had a great weekend. For the next one I’ve hired a car to explore around Loch Ness and I’m staying in a shepherd’s hut just North of Drumnadrochit. I honestly cannot wait!

Chester.

Chester is an ollllld settlement, founded by the Romans around AD79 as a fortress called Deva during the Roman’s expansion North. In fact, it may originally have been intended as the country’s capital. It’s also where I went to university to do my MSc in Biomedical Science and I went back recently for my graduation.

I booked my train tickets ridiculously far in advance, because Aberdeen to anywhere that far South is expensive! Because I was so unbelievably forward thinking for a change, I actually managed to get my hands on my first ever first-class tickets for only a nominal extra fee. As soon as I got on that first train of the journey I knew that was it, I am never going back to standard class! On the first train I got free coffee and a free scone with free jam and free clotted cream. Actual clotted cream! On the second train I got free coffee and free biscuits. On the third train I got free coffee, a free bacon butty and free cake. On the last train I got nothing because that was only standard class. Rude! FYI on the way back to Aberdeen after my trip ended I got all of that plus two free gin and tonics, which made up for the fact the train was busy and I had to sit next to other people!

In Chester my parents had booked a really nice Airbnb right off Bridge Street, smack in the centre of town, which was great because I had ambitious plans to eat and drink my way around all my favourite places (and some new ones). The notable ones are, of course, mentioned below.

The first place I wanted to go to was Porta, an authentic little tapas restaurant which sits underneath the Roman Northgate. I can’t rave about Porta enough! It’s warm, cosy, full of atmosphere and has hands down the best patatas bravas and the best pastel de nata I have ever tasted. Apart from the specials, which obviously change, I’ve had everything on the menu and have never been disappointed. There are a couple of things worth bearing in mind though. You can’t book a table at Porta, I’ve normally tried to get there early or just accepted that I might have to go away for a glass of wine before trying again. Which is definitely not a problem when you have the likes of Covino just around the corner. Porta’s also normally quite a bustling and noisy place. This adds something for me, I enjoy the activity and being able to watch the chefs in the corner of the restaurant do their thing, but, it can be tough to hold a conversation sometimes. Again, not a problem for me but something worth thinking about if you’re taking your hard of hearing pal or wanting to have a serious in depth chat with someone. Could be a good excuse to get a little closer to someone though!

After a long day on the train (about 8 hours) for me and a long day at work for my parents, Porta was our only stop for the evening. Bed was beckoning!

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I can be a bit of a coffee snob! I’ll only drink instant out of desperation or out of politeness. I can be overly British about accepting personal discomfort over possibly offending someone or appearing awkward…until I get to know someone! My parents are not coffee snobs so with only instant in the Airbnb it was an absolute priority for me to get myself to a coffee shop ASAP! Chester is full of ‘hipster’ coffee places and even more have sprung up since I was doing my masters. If I’m honest I feel like most of them are style over substance. (One fine exception to that is Bean & Cole which is both style and substance). I’m a sucker for good branding though and I love to people watch in these places so paying over the odds for a small coffee that tastes a little burnt sometimes is something I have done more often than I care to admit! What was I saying about being a coffee snob again? Maybe I should take that back and just leave it at snob!

So, my choice for morning coffee was the Bridge Street Roastery which was a new one for me. Honestly? It’s been a couple of weeks between me going and me writing this and I don’t remember much about it which probably says all you need to know. It was fine, I know I had a nice cookie because I have a photo of it, and I’m assuming that the coffee wasn’t bad otherwise I would remember that. But it obviously didn’t blow me away either!

After I was suitably caffeinated, me and my parents went for a walk around the walls. The Chester walls circuit is about 2 miles and takes in most of the ‘must see’ Chester sites; Eastgate clock, River Dee, Chester Canal, the Roodee (Chester racecourse) and the Roman amphitheatre. The walls were built by the Romans to defend Deva (Chester) and strengthened before the English civil war in the mid-1600s. They’ve also had multiple repairs over the thousands of years they’ve been standing. I imagine there’s quite a lot of ‘wear and tear’.

The walls also hold a couple of my favourite stories and ‘facts’ about the city. For a start the Roodee was once covered by water and acted as a harbour but after the river silted and a few hundred years went by, the site of the Roodee became home to the Goteddsday football match. This was such a bloody and brutal match that football was banned and replaced by horse racing in the early 1500s. The first horse race on the Roodee was actually the first horse race of its kind in the country and was allowed by Mayor Gee, hence the ‘gee-gees’. Further along from the racecourse is the home of a set of steps by the River Dee that women would run up and down holding their breath. If they could make it all the way they would be lucky in love! No idea if it’s true but I like to think it could be.

It’s not anywhere near the walls but it’s one of my favourite stories so I’m going to tell it. There’s a clock tower in the city with only three clock faces on it. Chester is right on the border of Wales and when there were fewer buildings to block the view into the city you could see over the border from Wales into England. Not wanting to give the Welsh anything for free the people of Chester chose not to put a clock face on the side of the tower facing Wales. Apparently, that’s where the saying ‘won’t even give you the time of day’ comes from! As above, I have no idea if that’s true but I so want it to be. It’s the height of pettiness!

Walking around the city whilst reminiscing (mum also went to university in Chester) is thirsty work and I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I’d been thinking about it for weeks!

There’s a ‘secret’ cocktail bar in Chester along Watergate Street called Prohibition. I love that shit. You have to walk up to, and knock on, a none descript door that’s tucked out of the way and wait for someone to let you in. Inside, the bar is dark and cosy and the menus are hidden in books. The drinks are inventive and tasty and the staff are lovely. I actually spent the 2017/18 new year there. I can’t remember what me and mum had but dad had a cocktail that involved pickle juice and it was weirdly great!

On the way home from Prohibition we weaved our way to Urbano 32, my favourite pizza place in Chester. When I first moved to Chester I was still vegan and Urbano 32 do great vegan pizzas, now I’m not vegan I can tell you they do great non-vegan pizzas too. The restaurant has a really cool vibe but we got our pizzas to take away so we could greedily eat pizza on the sofa. Winner! Whilst we were waiting we had a beer, obviously, and they sold cans of Dead Pony Club, an Aberdeenshire favourite of mine. Also a winner.

The following day was my graduation day and I started it right with a coffee from Jaunty Goat. This has to be the most stylish of the stylish coffee places in Chester and I am in love with their logo.

There’s not too much to say about graduation. Gyles Brandreth from The One Show is the Chancellor of the University of Chester and did all the handshaking and Joanna Lumley was there receiving an honorary doctorate. Other than that, it was a pretty standard affair. I made dad take me on a photo shoot around Chester, which is about the only time I’ll suffer having my photo taken over and over again! I’m not going to lie, I love prancing around in that gown and the fact the graduation was in Chester with it’s cobbled streets, medieval rows and fancy clock it all felt very ‘Harry Potter’ and I am absolutely down with that. We, my parents and I, had dinner in Hickory’s on the River Dee to celebrate. The food there is so good and I went to town, had a fair few of their frozen margaritas too.

Biomedical Science graduate.

Dad was pretty invested in the rugby on our last day in Chester so me and mum left him to it in the Airbnb and went shopping. The shopping bit isn’t so interesting and I actually don’t think we bought anything. We got bored pretty quickly and retreated to another new coffee place called Chalk coffee on Watergate Street. They had doughnuts there and we all know that I fancy myself as a doughnut connoisseur. I’d give them a solid 6/10 on the scale; bit sweet and the dough could have been softer but I’d eat it again! For 10/10 doughnuts you need to go to the doughnut stand under the Eastgate, but unfortunately they were never open when we walked passed. It was tragic!

Pretty quickly after Chalk Coffee I was ready for a beer and I was pretty keen to go to Beer Heroes, also on Watergate Street. My supervisor, my colleague and me have a beer swap every Christmas and I wanted to pick something up from Chester for it. My theme this year is to buy a beer from everywhere I travel. I think I’m a little spoiled by the bars in Aberdeen because they’re on another level, but Beer Heroes was definitely creeping up my list of favourite bars towards CASC, 6° North or Brewdog (all in Aberdeen). Essentially, anywhere that has a good saison and is unafraid to sell sours has a vote from me.

…and that was pretty much it. My visit back to Chester and my graduation was done and after an incredibly brief trip back to Hereford I travelled back up North to Scotland. First class, obviously. That’s the only way I travel now!! (I wish)!

Inverness

As much as I love Aberdeen, I decided I needed to get out of it for a weekend. There’s a tonne of places I want to see but it seemed like Inverness would give me loads of options, plus, it’s on my ‘bucket list for the year’ to see Loch Ness. Bit of a cliché I know!

Day One

It’s only one train and 2 hours up to Inverness from Aberdeen so it’s super easy, and armed with my new student railcard, pretty cheap. As soon as I got to Inverness I hunted down the tourist information place, which is in a different place to what the tourist signs suggest and not where google maps say it is! But, I found it and the lady working in there was super helpful in helping me figure out how to do what I wanted to.

I still had a few hours until I could check in to my hotel and I didn’t have a lot of stuff so I jumped straight on a bus to Culloden visitor centre. I didn’t keep my timetable but I seem to remember it was the number 5 from Queensgate, possibly to Croy. I think they’re pretty used to tourists because there was a little sign on the bus stop telling you exactly which bus to get on and as soon as I walked onto the bus the driver knew where I was going. Apparently, I looked like ‘the type’! The bus drops you off right outside the visitor centre though, which is super handy. I’m making a massive assumption here that people know what I’m talking about when I say Culloden! Depending on your definition of ‘battle’, it could easily be considered the site of the last battle fought on British soil and was where the Jacobite uprising came to a very bloody end in 1746. In short, bonnie prince Charlie (who’d never actually been to the UK before) popped over to Scotland to raise an army and reclaim the British throne for his father. It was pretty clever timing because most of the British army were tied up fighting in Europe. Obviously, the British government weren’t super thrilled about this and they put the Duke of Cumberland in charge to put an end to the nonsense! Bonnie prince Charlie did fairly damn well and got as far as Derby before having to turn back around. But he also made a fair few poor decisions which ended with Culloden. After losing, bonnie prince Charlie got to skip off back to Europe where he was hailed as a hero, which is bonkers when you think he left Scotland and the men that fought for him deep in the shit. The government killed as many of his supporters as they could get their hands on, banned things like tartan and really tried to crush the highland life. Apparently he died as a bitter drunk with a wife that hated him which sounds somewhat like karma to me.

The museum is pretty extensive and really well laid out. I learned loads and some of the films and media displays really helped to give an idea of just how desolate the situation was. Going through the museum before visiting the battlefield itself gave an idea of perspective and helped to give life to what could be mistaken as any other field. From the Culloden battlefield you can walk to the Clava cairn which is a bronze age chamber tomb…unfortunately I didn’t have time…but I wished that I had. Maybe next time! Because there will be a next time.

*Culloden battlefield, with something pretty in the background. Is it the Black Isle? Is it the Cairngorms? Is it something else? Does it really matter?!*

When I got back to Inverness it was time for me to check in to my hotel. Now, the Mercure in Inverness looks absolutely tragic from the outside! I steeled myself with assurances that as long as it was clean it’d be fine, I wasn’t going to spending a tonne of time in it anyway. BUT…as soon as I walked into the foyer I knew I’d been completely wrong. It was really nice! It was super cosy and inviting and the staff were really friendly. I still had some marking to do so I sat in the restaurant and did it there over dinner. I didn’t need to book and I felt really comfortable to just get on with my work.

Day Two

My first priority on day two was to pick up some doughnuts from Perk for my day trip. A chap had recommended them to me on the first day and boy, was it a good recommendation. I got the two types of vegan doughnuts they had available; the lime glaze and the regular jam filled, sugared doughnut. Best.doughnuts.ever. And trust me, I’m a seasoned doughnut connoisseur! I really hoped that they were a Scottish chain with a shop hidden away in Aberdeen, but alas, no. If you’re in Inverness, even just passing through, get a doughnut!

*Seriously, get yourself here. It’s almost definitely worth the 4 hour round train trip from Aberdeen to pick up a load of doughnuts!*

The doughnuts were for my day trip to Urquhart. If I’m honest I was more interested in seeing Loch Ness and the castle was just a happy additional extra which I didn’t know about before I started googling the area. Like Culloden, there’s a bus that drops you off right outside the attraction from Inverness. In fact, there are a couple. I just rocked up at the bus station and jumped on one. So, Urquhart castle is beautiful and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area…here’s the ‘but’…! I got there as soon as it opened so there were only about 10-15 people about when I looked around. This meant that I could take in the atmosphere, read the signs easily and take pictures without people in. I hear that in summer thousands of people visit and the site gets packed. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I think it’s great that people want to engage with history and even more so, that they choose Scotland/UK for their summer holiday but I think it’s something worth preparing yourself for. You’re not going to get that Instagram ready, picturesque shot in mid-summer at Urquhart castle. This is one of the many reasons I like travelling in winter!

In terms of history, I think it was originally a Pictish site before St Columba wafted in and turned everyone Christian back around 560 AD. I’m never quite sure how that worked! Anyway, I think the earliest part of the castle remaining on the site now is from the 13^th century when it was all tied up in the Scottish war for independence. It’s now a ruin and it became a ruin way back in 1690 when soldiers blew up the gatehouse after a fight with the Jacobites. Once it was partially blown up and left unprotected it wasn’t long before locals started to pilfer the stone for their own homes.

As an aside, I think it’s also worth mentioning for both Urquhart and Culloden that they’re not cheap places to eat, although to be fair they’re not unreasonable when compared to any other major tourist site. I had lunch in both of them and it was again about what you expect, just fine! Had it been spring or summer I would definitely have taken a picnic.

Urquhart castle was actually quite a lot smaller than I expected so I had quite a bit of time in the afternoon to play with. The first thing I did was walk into Drumnadrochit, which is about a 40 minute easy walk from the castle, to visit the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition. I have mixed feelings about this place! It wasn’t a museum like I expected but a system of several rooms which you’d go into to watch a video about the geology, myths, explorations surrounding the Loch and it’s supposed monster. It was good and I learnt some stuff, but I think in the height of summer you’d easily feel like you were being herded. It felt like any typical UK attraction that is totally magical when you’re a child and then as an adult you feel slightly disappointed by the lack of substance and tired exhibits. I say that with fondness though, these places give me a feeling of familiarity and homeliness that I’m not mad about. They make me think of my parents and family holidays. As a lone adult however, those fuzzy feelings were pretty much the only thing that stopped me feeling sick that I’d spent £8 to get in there. One last thing before I move on and stop moaning, the last rooms you need to pass through are shops. If you had kids, you’d have to run a gauntlet through loch ness monster plushies and cute Scottish themed t-shirts. It’s clever marketing and I don’t blame them but it’s also a pretty disappointing display of commercialism. Nearby there’s an associated café, more associated shops selling tartan paraphernalia and kilts and a place to trace your Scottish history. This is cheesy tourism central!

All your Scottish/Loch Ness dreams come true!

After being bombarded with overt “Scottish” tourism I decided to take a walk in the Drumnadrochit woods up to a viewpoint I saw on the map. It was a nice little walk and there are much longer ones for next time. I was hoping for a red squirrel, but no luck, maybe that’s for next time too. I did see the Loch and a tonne of hooded crows though, I always get excited crossing the crow line! I’d definitely say it’s worth going for a wander if you’ve got time.

*Views over the Loch Ness from Drumnadrochit woods, unnecessarily excited to be there!*

Back in Inverness my first priority was getting to The Malt Room, an independent bar, for a couple of whiskies. It’s a really dark, cosy, sexy little bar with a million whiskies and cocktails and the staff really know their stuff. I had one of my favourites, a Laphroaig quarter cask (I’m definitely an island girl at heart) and then I tried one of the local whiskies, a 12 year old Tomatin. It was nice, an easy drinker but it was no smokey, peaty Islay! After recollecting my spirit blurred thoughts back in the hotel I went for dinner at Scotch and Rye, another Inverness independent.

The staff in there were super kind and managed to find a place for me. That’s one thing to be said for the people in Inverness, they are really friendly. The atmosphere was really relaxed in there with a real mix of people, I can’t remember exactly what was playing but I do remember enjoying the music in there too. I went armed with my book and my horrendously cheesy postcards (Nessie, a Scottie dog and a ‘true Scotsman’ caught out by the wind) and sat in there for quite a while. I had a chicken and haggis burger… I genuinely like haggis, I promise I wasn’t trying to be authentic! Then, for dessert, I had two variations on white Russians, and they were so, so yummy. They had quite an expansive cocktail list and if I wasn’t so full and if I earned more money then I think I definitely would have kept going.

Day Three

I had my train back to Aberdeen booked for the afternoon so I had all day to do something fun. I decided to walk out along the Caledonian way and see how far I got. I wandered up along the river Ness and over the Ness islands which are incredibly pretty. It reminded me a little of areas along the River Don in Aberdeen, especially near Seaton park. For both places it really doesn’t feel like you’re still inside the city.

After Ness islands, I was ready for a little brunch and luckily Inverness botanical gardens and their little café was open. I had a pot of tea and a toasted sandwich that was way better than the more expensive fair that I’d had at Culloden or Urquhart. I didn’t plan to spend long at the gardens because I wanted to be on my way along the Caledonian path but I did whip around. It was bigger than I expected and beautifully laid out, it also had one of the prettiest cactus and succulent houses I think I’ve ever seen.

Cactus house at the Inverness botanical gardens.

Back on the Caledonian way there was a rowing event taking place on the canal. Despite being mid-February, it was unseasonably warm and there were loads of people out walking, cycling and watching the race. The whole path up to Dochgarroch locks was easy to follow, felt safe and was really quite pretty. It didn’t feel particularly wild or remote, but it was definitely the perfect way to get out of the city. I wanted to keep going and see what lay beyond the locks but I needed to get back for my train and I wanted to try the Black Isle bar before I left.

The Black Isle bar was another place I wish I’d been able to stay a little longer. They sell a great range of craft ales, most of which are made by Black Isle brewery…obviously! They look like they do incredible pizzas too but I was in the mood for Cullen skink. The super warm and sunny day turned around pretty quickly on my way back and started raining as soon as I got back into town, so a warm and hearty soup was perfect. It was just what I needed and alongside the Black Isle ‘23 Trees’, citrus saison, it was a perfect end to a weekend in Inverness. I will definitely be back…and I’ll definitely be getting my hands on more Black Isle beers when I can.