Day 19 - Aviemore

5 August 2014

Accommodation – Alvie Estate

Weather – sunny most of the day with patches of overcast

Temperature – 16 degrees

It was a day of exploring Inverness and Loch Ness which lies north of Aviemore.

The stars aligned as we found a park near the city centre with the information centre a short walk away.  We bought tickets for the Loch Ness Cruise and City Bus Tour and then wandered the streets for an hour looking at the lovely mall and Victorian Market before the bus ride.

Looking down the main mall of Inverness - sunshine, flower baskets.

The Victorian Market - some great shops here - if only we had time!

Inverness Castle which we passed on our bus tour.

The WWI memorial - Inverness lost 1 in 7 of their men during the war - the highest casualty list in Scotland.

 

Taking in the sights from the top deck was a great way to catch our bearings.  We drove over the Caledonian Canal where our cruise was to leave from.  The Ness River, the shortest river in the UK at nine miles, is comparatively wide and is very pretty with grassed areas right down to the water.  Inverness is decked out with all the hanging flowers and we saw it at its best in the sunshine.

We then grabbed a quick bit of lunch – roast meat with horseradish and the ubiquitous crisps – and dashed back to the car to drive to the river.  It was the funniest experience parking the car as our friend's car does not have a great turning circle and we were directed to a spot between a Mercedes and another car.  After much to-ing and froing, David directing, and Liz and I holding our breaths, the captain of the boat came down and said he’d had a lot of experience in the carpark and would he mind parking our car for us.  Sure!  He did it very well….but the whole time we had the entire group of passengers watching us from no more than a few metres away taking in all the manoeuvrings!   It was a funny start to our Loch Ness cruise.

Well, we didn’t see Nessie!  As we had screaming sunshine, a glistening loch and blue skies I think he was hiding away for an overcast day.

The Caledonian Canal - which connects the west coast at Neptune's Steps at Fort William to Inverness.  We'd only been at the west side a little more than a week ago. 

Nessie....where are you?  Still hiding?

The ruins of Urquhart Castle from our cruise boat.

 

We travelled down this very long loch to Urquhart Castle noticing many dwellings, including another castle on the way.  Loch Ness is not an isolated loch as I had expected with a large road on one side.

The  evening brought another night of fabulous entertainment at the Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore.   Three traditional musicians kept us entertained with their pipe whistle, violin and one unidentified instrument!  We have been lucky to find two venues that have been a lot of fun.

Piano accordionist last night and a trio of traditional musicians tonight at the Old Bridge Inn.....very lucky to have such entertaining evenings following our dinners at the pubs.