Scotland Day 11 (25 June 2018)

We began the morning with a traditional Scottish breakfast at our B&B in Bankfoot. It was a fun start to the morning!  





We then drove towards the Highlands. It was such an interesting scenery change from where we had been, to crossing in to the Highlands. The landscape was rugged and kind of felt like the wild parts of Utah, just more green. I can easily understand why there were so many Scots that settled in Utah. It is beautiful country!

We made it to the Culloden Battlefield. What a tragic part of the history of Scotland. It happened on April 16, 1746.  It was really powerful to learn about the history and the fall of the Clans. You could almost feel the sorrow floating up from the battlefield. 

For someone not knowing much about the history of Scotland, the Culloden Battlefield evokes a lot of emotion. There was a video room that reenacted the fight between the two sides which made me cry. The Jacobites (Yak-obh-ites) lost 1500 men in one hour. The Clansmen literally brought swords to a gunfight.

How. Horrific. 

It was so intense walking around the battlefield that after seeing the grave markers for mass graves from whole clans, I started focusing on taking pictures of flowers to stop the tears. 





















 There were flags up marking each line of defense. Evidently they didn’t pay much attention to preserving the battlefield for awhile, and have just recently let the land go back to how it was before. 

The juxtaposition between the events that transpired and listensing to the birds chirp and the wind rustle the long grass was almost palpable. I’m grateful that I was able to learn some intensely powerful history from this amazing country. 





















After the Battlefield, we drove to the nearby Clava Cairns. They are burial grounds from the Bronze Age and are approximately 4,000 years old!  They’ve been used as a burial ground or temple site the whole time. It is always interesting to me how locations that are sacred often remain special locations for hundreds or even thousands of years. 





















My mom told us about making our way to Chanonry Point, where you can sometimes see dolphins!  So, we drove out to the point, and it was mighty gorgeous with the sun reflecting off the water.  Sadly, it was really low tide, so we didn’t see any dolphins. Evidently there are over 200 dolphins in the North Sea, just off the coast. However, it was really delightful to walk around and chat with the locals!  Fort George, on the opposite shore, was also firing off guns intermittently, which was a surprise!













From there, we made our way into Inverness.  Inverness is the capital of the Highlands!  I wasn’t expecting much, but it’s a cute town!  





















The biggest surprise was hearing a youth bagpipe band play after we had dinner. I’m pretty convinced there must be bagpipes in heaven. I love them!  It was delightful to walk around and enjoy the ambiance of the town. 





















So far, I've definitely enjoyed the Highlands!  It feels like a different country than the rest of Scotland, but I like it! 💕

Comments

  1. KerryJune 29, 2018 at 7:58 PM

    I wanted you to experience Culloden Battlefield. Sounds like you felt it

    ReplyDelete

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