Our morning descent of the five locks at Fort Augustus was accompanied by sudden showers of heavy rain and sudden flashes of brilliant sunlight. However on arriving at the bottom, and mooring for a short while on the banks of Loch Ness, the sun shone determinedly and we enjoyed a short but pleasant exploration of this busy little hamlet. But next we cast off and set sail across Loch Ness itself, the largest body of fresh water in the United Kingdom. And, allegedly, with one famous resident.
En route to Inverness, Steve, expedition leader, gave an account of the Highland Clearances, a brutal era in recent Scottish history, and how this led to the development of the uniquely Scottish practice of crofting. This presentation helped tie-up some loose ends from earlier comments and placed things in a more social context.
As lunch loomed we left Loch Ness and entered the final stretch of the Caledonian Canal that we would traverse on our Scottish adventure. But it was not finished yet. Our afternoon excursion took us the short drive through the city of Inverness and out to Culloden Battlefield and Interpretation Centre where we made our way through the very impressive displays describing in great detail the events the led to this battle, the events of the battle itself and the dreadful aftermath that resulted in the decline and demise of the ancient Scottish clan system.
From Culloden we made a very short bus ride to Clava Cairns. This is definitely the oldest site we have visited on our journey, dating from the Bronze Age. It consists of three large, circular burial chambers plus many ancillary standing stones. Two of the chambers have a passage entrance and these are oriented towards the sun on the day of the Winter Solstice. The third, strangely enough, is a complete circle with no apparent way in or out. We know nothing of the megalithic builders or their way of life but these large piles of boulders lay silent testament to their ingenuity and determination.
The Captain’s Farewell Dinner was followed by a true Scottish dinner complete with a rendition of Robert Burn’s “Address to the Haggis” by Brian Copland, hotel manager, and a generous serving of this most-famous of Scottish dishes. Then, just to remind us of present day Scotland, we were delightfully entertained in the lounge by several young pupils of Elizabeth Stewart’s School of Highland Dancing. The enthusiasm of these young dancers was a pleasure to behold and it was clear they enjoyed the evening as much as we did. Sadly though our Scottish adventure is all but over. Tomorrow we part and go our separate ways but, as they say in Scotland, “Haste ye back!”
