Inverness: Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

Tuesday morning I hopped on a bus and rode out to the ruins of the Urquhart Castle, to see Loch Ness for myself.  This mini-trip almost didn't happen; I wanted to walk or rent a bike, not take a bus.  The information lady was very enthusiastic about the road not being suited for bikes, and that the bus was really the best way.  I listened to her, and I'm glad I did.  I probably would have died if I'd tried to ride.   Even though the bus was an hour late.  

Then, I almost didn't pay to go in to the castle once I got there.  It's always a little annoying when you have to pay for something that's just...sitting there.  However, I know that the money will go towards upkeep, and after being through it, I can agree that this is worth preserving.  The castle grounds were really cool.  There's a security person, but you can really just wander around and climb on anything you want, within reason.  

I suppose this is obvious, but Loch Ness is gorgeous.  Bordered by high hills on both sides, it stretches as far as you can see in either direction, and the lake and sky almost blend together in a blue haze around the edges.  Beautiful.  And no, I didn't see the monster. 

Inverness: Riverwalk

Since Inverness is split in to two halves by the river, it makes sense that there are bridges connecting the two parts.  However, there's one other way to get across.  The city has marked out a River Walk, where you can follow signs to small foot bridges, to cross the river by hopping across a few tiny islands.  I think that this area is definitely one of the prettiest parks I've ever seen within a city.  It's also very well used; there were tons of locals running, biking, and walking their dogs while I was out.  Of course, I was walking there at 7:30 in the morning, which is prime park-going hour.  

In addition to being marked by signs, the path was marked by a string of overhead lights.  I'm very curious about whether or not they light them at night; I bet they would be very pretty.  Don't worry though, I'm not wandering around in the woods at night by myself in a strange town to find out.

I found Nessie!

Inverness: City+River

These are just a few shots that I snapped up while walking around during my first half-day in Inverness.  It's a pretty small town, and is divided in half by the River Ness.  I found out pretty quickly that there isn't a whole lot to do in Inverness.  Once I ran out of tourist things to do I made some friends in the Village.  It's a vintage shop/craft collective, with a skate shop, record store, and bike shop attached.  There're a few couches, and people just hang out there.  It was really cool, and I think more of them should exist!

All of the Food

Haggis!  I tried it!  It was delicious! 

We ate dinner at Mum's, which was the best decision we could have made.  We had Haggis, an onion pie, sticky pudding and a rhubarb tart with custard.  All the good things.

To make up for all the good decisions we made while in Edinburgh, Tuesday I ate some not-so-stellar food, which somehow was still delicious.  For breakfast and lunch I ate 3 oranges and snacked on a 70 pence package of shortbread.  For dinner I had a sack full of fish and chips, which was wonderful until it started getting cold.  Greasy and delightful.