UK Bound: Inverness (the last two days)

Three weeks have already passed since I finally made it home – flying is fine, getting through airports is not – and I find myself mired in trying to go through my 1900+ photos and memories to share with family and friends. What I was not prepared for is how fleeting those memories can be. We visited many places. We put away our phones. We talked, walked, pondered, marvelled, and stretched our days as far as we could before sometimes collapsing onto our beds, exhausted after adventures fulfilled.

Inverness expenses I made note of: The Bakery: 2 Lattes, croissant, sausage roll, scone & baps £12.00 Hop On Hop Off bus: £10.00 The Bakery: Chocolate au pain, latte £5.00 then back again for my daughter’s latte, sausage roll plus 2 buns for lunch £6.60 Inverness Palace Hotel: coffee (probably my go to latte) £2.90. Laundry: we had seen a place not too far from us. My daughter offered to take everything to give me a chance to rest after having an upset stomach. £10.00? Encore Une Fois: dinner my daughter found a great place to sit down for a drink while she waited for the laundry. She eventually called me to join her. I was feeling better so I did. I have no recollection of what I ate and she paid for my dinner. I did try to open their menu online, only the lunch and kids menus were online. Jimmy Badgers: dinner a recently opened cocktail bar – tapas, mushroom bruschetta, cauliflower pakoras – (I do not recall if this was my share or the total, however, my notes say something about prices being very expensive) £16.25. Daily steps: probably over 23,000 each day.

Inverness Castle. I ate a quick lunch in the shade of the castle before going back into the museum where we ended up spending about two hours. The castle is closed for renovations until 2023.

We nearly did not get off at the second of the stops until I turned my head and nearly grabbed my daughter in my excitement. There were hairy cows! I found out later some passengers in advance knew this and made their plans solely to visit the cows. We were at one of the Jacobite boat tour docks.

Sticking her tongue out at us. Sort of how I felt upon seeing them after spending 12 hours hoping to see one in the Highlands!Most likely just chewing. They really are quite adorable. Also not within arms reach like some people were hoping.

Rather than take an expensive cruise, especially with me having a bit of an upset stomach, we chose to take a walk along the riverside. This little one was very excited to have visitors and my daughter was equally excited to visit. The owner was in a little cabin – we think it was for fishermen or people working on the river, perhaps both.

Across the road from River Ness are the three statues, Faith, Hope & Charity. Commissioned around 1860 by the YMCA they were eventually moved in 1955, eventually moved to the grounds of a private collector near Orkney before being brought back to Inverness to stand in the Ness Bank Gardens in 2011. Our Hop On-Hop Off driver said they are actually out of order. I have no Christian background so can only assume he was correct. The anchor represents Hope, the bible (or a cross) Faith so the child must be Charity. Whichever order they are a lovely addition to the riverside.

Once assumed lost, two stone dogs that guarded the now refurbished Inverness Townhouse on Castle Street had two wolves carved to replace them. Now the wolves guard the entrance and the original dogs (circa 1880) sit high above in their original spot overlooking Inverness.

River Ness. I loved that there are so many foot bridges, as well as some for vehicles, to cross over the bridge. It meant we could start on one side, cross over, continue along the opposite bank the across another bridge without backtracking. Gorgeous walkways.

Time to cool our feet! I was not as brave as my daughter.

Tapas anyone? Of course we were hungry after our long day of seeing the sights.

Our last night we finally made it further along River Ness to a section we had not been to. The view of Inverness through the stone gateway seemed like the perfect farewell. We reluctantly turned back towards our accommodations. We had train tickets for 1:00 the next day.