Kingussie

 

Kingussie is in the Cairngorms National Park which is Scotland's largest national park.  While technically we are still in the Highlands, the landscape has changed.  There are trees here - I can tell you are going big deal Carol.  Well it kind of is.  You see 90% of the trees we have seen so far in Scotland were planted as part of a tree farm.  The Highlands are rolling hills and mountains with heather and grasses or moss growing on them and occasionally a patch of trees.  Oh don't forget the sheep too.  We have now hit an area with trees so yes it was a big deal to us.  We are here only one night and at dinner that night we realized the reason we were in Kingussie was so that we could eat at The Cross our hotel and our dinner spot. 

The Cross is described as a restaurant with rooms.  It is a former tweed mill that was built in the late 1800s to try and diversify the local economy to assist it in growing.  The walls are thick and made of stones.  I was surprised how far back the second floor, where are room was, went.  There were a total of 7 rooms and the restaurant had a firm limit of 12 guests per night.  Yes you read that correct - 12 people per night.  So the night we were there everyone in the restaurant was a guest staying at the hotel.  It was a long train ride from Thurso so we got in and our dinner reservations were about an hour later.  

The Cross from across the river

We wandered down to the lobby which included some nice chairs and little tables and were encouraged to have a seat which we did.  We were then brought the dinner and drinks menu for the evening. We had the choice of pre dinner drinks so we each chose a different type of gin for gin and tonic.  From there we chose the regular dinner versus the tasting menu since that came with our tour.  We saw prices and thought they were reasonable.  When I later saw that this was a Michelin recognized place, and I had enjoyed a very nice dinner I decided it was a great price!  After we chose our dinner choices and the proprietor assisted us to chose a wine, we enjoyed some small appetizers and sat and talked with another group of people.

Then we were taken to the next room for our dinner to start.  We both ordered the same dishes.  We had an appetizer of scallops and langoustines (which is similar to lobster but much better than the lobster we had in Maine last year) and followed that with a main course of halibut with our half bottle of a very nice French white wine.  We followed that with a chocolatey dessert - chocolate fondant with raspberry sorbet and were going to order a port wine to accompany it but were talked out of the port by Joe, the proprietor.  He talked us into a red wine that is from a winery on the French/Spanish border.  It is made, casked and then kept in a sealed room in the hot Mediterranean weather to basically cook off some of the sugar.  They decide when each cask is ready by taste.  It is like an ice wine, but not nearly as sweet.  He serves it warm to go with a cheese course and chilled to go with chocolate like we had.  It was a very nice meal.

breakfast in the morning

The next morning we had another multi course breakfast and then some free time before our next train ride.  Since Jeff's knee was bugging him we opted for a gentle walk into town.  We walked out the back of the property and crossed a bridge over the river and through some nicely flowering trees and into town we went.  We saw a nice photography gallery in town and wandered some before we headed back.  Joe was there and we got talking and next thing I know we are tasting the local distilleries whiskey and another nice bottle he had.  One of the gins the night before was from same local distillery as this whisky.  Both whiskeys were nice.  We decided we liked the local one better.  The other one smelled fantastic, but was a little strong (?) for us.  As we sipped, we talked and found out Joe had been a pilot in the RAF and then later became an executive with an IT firm.  He and his wife had just bought the Cross last year and moved there from the Island of Guernsey.  He had trained as a chef years ago so now was the chance to use that knowledge some - he does the wines  and morning meal and a chef does the cooking for the evening meal.  This is one place Jeff and I would love to visit again!

One other thing I want to mention is peat.  It was not so much a topic here, but it was elsewhere in the Highlands.  I had heard that at one time people in Scotland had used peat to heat their homes.  Well truth is a few still do.  I had guides point out what peat was and how you cut it out and then let it dry out before you can use it as a heating source.  Additionally one of our taxi guides had made a passing comment about how it helped the climate.  Did not think much about it till I saw this article in the New York Times.  It seems that peat absorbs carbon dioxide and thus reduces our carbon footprint just like the Amazon rainforest   Unfortunately the best of intentions is having an adverse impact on the locals. It seems that rich people are buying up the land and reinstalling peat and jacking up the price of the land for the locals.  If you want to learn more here is the article.

The Climate Profit Buried in Scotland's Bogs - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Hairy Coos

 While Sheep are everywhere, this Scottish breed of cows from the Highlands and Hebrides is the adopted mascot.  This lovable face appears on everything a tourist shop can sell.   Reals Coos tended to stay back from the road and show us their backside.

In both Inverness and Thurso we found these colorful art works.  Each was painted by a different group/person with a theme.

Covered in coins, his name is Cash Cow

Lost in the woods

Thurso/Orkney Islands

Quite a site on our Ferry ride

We stayed in Thurso and did walk around there some, but the real reason for stopping there was to take the ferry across to the Orkney Islands.  Thurso is the furthest northern train station in  the UK.  It is a rather small town, but has a long history with a recent 20^th century addition.  The town has had 3 growth spurts so there is old town, Victorian town and the atomic section.  The old is as expected the original town and quite old – we stayed in old town.  The Victorian town is from the Victorian age and is laid out in perfectly straight streets.  The atomic part is from the Dounreay fast reactor that was built there in the 1950s which brought a lot of growth to the area.  The reactor is now being dismantled.

Originally Thurso exported a lot of flatstone and you can see a lot of rocks off the coast line.  Even the floor of part of our B and B was made of that stone.  Our place was a house that had 3 additions over the years and was up a hill a little bit and from our room we had a nice view of the sea. We went for a walk around town our first afternoon there and saw an old abandoned castle and walked around the river Thurs.  

Thurso Castle is only a shell today

The castle did have a large city wall that is still standing on the ocean side

Thurso is a Viking name (Thors River) as it was an important Norse settlement

Old St. Peter’s Kirk founded Circa 1220 closed 1832

Next morning we were up bright and early to catch the ferry over to Stromness in the Orkney islands.  It was a large ferry that even had cabins in it for people to stay – it was kind of part ferry part cruise ship.  It had a restaurant, bar, quiet lounge, and individual cabins.   It was a 1 ½ hour cruise to the Orkney Islands.  People warn you that the crossing can be rough at times – happily it was not bad for us.  It can be bad because you go out into an area where the North Sea meets the North Atlantic ocean so the water can be coming from more than 1 direction at a time.  We did pass a couple of smaller islands along the way.

The quiet lounge

Plush reclining seats made for a good nap on the return

Once we got to Stromness, we met up with our tour guide and group.  It was to be a full day of touring and we were all hoping the rain would hold off since there was some rain in the forecast.  We quickly learned some facts about Orkney that makes them unique in Scotland.  Seems that until 1649 they were part of Denmark (given as part of a dowry) so they never spoke Gaelic like the rest of Scotland which  affects a variety of things around the islands.

Life boat station in Stromness 

The main reason to visit the Orkneys is to explore ancient civilization as in Neolithic ages of civilization some 5,000 years ago.  On the Orkneys you will find the oldest proof of human inhabitation in Europe.  The first site we went to is Skara Brae it had a timeline that you walked along starting with man walking on the moon.  We continued past world wars,  US Independence,  the Aztecs, the Roman Empire, Stonehenge, pretty much every piece of history I could think of.  Skara Brae is an ancient town with several “houses” .  They have also recreated one of them so you can go in it rather than looking down into them.  The houses were built with stacked rocks which is a site you see everywhere in this part of Scotland.  So you have stocked rock walls with a roof of animal skins supported by whale bone.  To improve insultation they would pack the walls with animal debris so the walls became thicker over time.  Each house had a door way with a door, an opening for the smoke to get out which was offset from the fire spot, little boxes that they think were beds and later on an alter that was kind of a shelf of their special items.  It is not known why they left the area but they think it was done gradually.  The area was found in 1850 after a big storm washed away a large area of the shoreline.  The local farmer did some digging on his own and then in the 1920s the professionals moved in.  They know there are more homes under the ocean in a nearby bay.  It is believed when they built Skara Brae they were not that close to the ocean like they are now.   It was amazing to be in the model and to see what they had done 3,000 years before Christ.  In many ways it is very similar to the layout used in the 1800s in a log cabin.

Recreation looking in from doorway

Recreation looking towards entry on right

Each Dwelling opened to this common path and shared an underground drainage system

Each shared a common layout, but grew in size over time

While we were at that stop, we walked up to the old manor home that was there because this was the home of the person who first found Skara Brae and it is now a historic home because of the people who lived there.  It is the Skaill house which was originally built for a bishop as a retirement home.  It is an upscale home that was lived in until the late 1900s.  It is now owned by an earl who lives nearby and has fixed the house up.  There are pictures from when Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mum visited, some gorgeous old clothing, a story of how the farmer used the dining room to store and show off his archeology findings and a story of how it was built on a medieval cemetery and when they replaced the stone flooring on the first floor with wood they found bodies.

Bookcase has a secret compartment to the right of the portrait

From there we went to the Ring of Brodgar.  Guess what:  it had started to rain – sigh oh well.  Out we went for the walk to the ring of the stones.  Ring of Brodgar had 60 stones at one time (36 today) encircled by a very large rock cut ditch.   It’s older than both Stonehenge and the great pyramids.  You can walk around them but not right up to them.  There are a lot of theories as to what their usage was.  But there are some interesting facts like only one entryway into the ring and it is only wide enough for one or two people at a time.  After we were sufficiently damp and had made it all the way around the ring, we headed back to our van.

Our next stop we almost wimped out on since it was still drizzly, but glad we did not.  It was the Standing Stones of Stennness.  These are large stones that were not in a circular pattern and even had one balanced on 2 others as if an alter and these you can get right up next to.  Being right there with them was impressive.

Then it was time for a lunch break before we moved on to the St Magnus Cathedral.  Happily it stopped raining while we ate.  St Magnus Cathedral was built in St Magnus’ honor by his nephew who was not Scottish.  Seems the good St Magnus died as part of a power struggle with his cousin over who would rule the land.  The nephew wanted to reclaim his uncle’s position and at his father's advice offered to build a cathedral in his late uncle’s honor because he had been quite popular with the people.  It worked and the people welcomed the nephew.  The cathedral is a mixture of Romanesque and gothic styles.  It started Romanesque and took so long to complete that part of it ended as gothic.   Only part of the cathedral was immediately roofed leaving a substantial part of it experiencing the elements.  The walls of the non roofed part show the wear and tear on the bricks of a hundred or so years of exposure versus the other part where they are nice and smooth.  It is a non denominational church these days.

From one church to the next built under very different circumstances.  We were off to the Italian Chapel and would see the Scapa Flow, and the Churchill barriers along the way.  Scapa Flow is one of the world’s largest natural harbors.  During World War II, the British were keeping some of its fleet in this harbor when a German submarine got brave and went up the harbor and torpedoed  the HMS Royal Oak killing 700 or so sailors and child sailors (teen agers and boys who were looking to become sailors).  It upset the British generals so much that Churchill who was not yet Prime Minister declared they were going to build barriers to the harbor.  4 were built spanning 1.5 miles.  We saw a couple of them which are now being used as bridges (think a flood plane berm).  These barriers  are made of large stone that was cut into rocks and then capped with concrete blocks.   Much of the work was done by Italian POWs.  While the POWs were there the camp’s Priest requested 2 of the quantum huts as a chapel.  The request was granted and work was begun.  The men used a painting from a holy card for the design behind the alter, and painted the walls with incredible faux frescoes of stones  and railings.  It truly looks like you are inside of a church.  The men were relocated right as the chapel was being completed but the leader of the group was able to stay behind and finish it.  The local people agreed that they would maintain the place.  I had heard of it a couple of years ago, but would never had dreamed of how creative and artistic this group of POWs could be. 

That was the end of our tour so off to the ferry we went. One thing to point out about the Orkneys is that the ruins we saw are far from the only ruins on the islands.  As our tour guide put it you go to dig in most places here and you will find something.  She had a story of a lady who wanted a nice flower garden – well they started to dig and immediately found all sorts of ruins.  Good for archeology but the end of her flower garden.

On our train ride to our next destination, we saw the Energy version of changing of the guard.  Oil rigs from the North Sea were awaiting their turn to be dismantled and the steel melted down.  In another area, you could see large yellow pedestals that we believe are for future wind mills.

Inverness

Inverness is the capital of the Highlands.  It stands for mouth of the  River Ness.  So kind of a city day here which was a nice change of pace.  I say kind of because it is not a big place – we walked everywhere.  We stayed in another small bed and breakfast – Moyness House which was quite nice.  It too is an old house that has been very well maintained.  John the proprietor gave some nice recommendations on restaurants and tried to get us a taxi out to a castle and a distillery, but no luck.  We were also out of luck with the tour companies.  We weren’t really that disappointed since there was plenty to do in town.

Look for where we have been and are now, next stop Thurso and Orkney Islands

Our first afternoon we did a little walk around to check out the restaurant recommendations we had received and one was booked for both nights we were in town, another was of no interest to us and the 3^rd was full for that night but open for the second so one dinner figured out!  At the end of the road was a neat looking old building that turned out to be another dinner recommendation – Old Castle Tavern.  It was quite busy but we got lucky and snagged the only open table.  They warned us food would be awhile but we could have a drink immediately so a drink we had and then food.  After that a leisurly walk back to the B and B to plan our next day.

After another multi-course breakfast, we headed out the door and down the street towards the river.  We passed an old church we had seen yesterday and were surprised to see buses everywhere – like 6 of them.  Weird. There is a big field behind the church – maybe a meeting?? Went into the church which was actually a cathedral.  Very pretty inside.  Nice stained glass and the ceiling was wood with carving in it.

The ceiling was adorned with a multitude of these carved panels

From there the plan was to walk along the river till we got to the botanical garden.  Both sides of the river have nice wide walkways and you see lots of people walking and running along it.  Inverness has embraced the river with buildings looking out onto it and little stopping points.  We got to the botanical gardens which is right by the pitch for the rugby team.  I suspect it is a professional team of some level because it was a very nice stadium with seating and parking, etc. 

We headed into the botanical garden and promptly got a little nostalgic for a garden to maintain.  There is a tropical gardens in a greenhouse that we first wandered into and then just the gardens themselves.  It is not a very large garden but they have some nice spots.  Saw some pretty rhododendrons in bloom and  more getting close to bloom.  There were some unusual trees - kind of like a paper bark but the bark was reddish brown not white.  Like many gardens they had an area with vegetables, etc. which included espaliered apple trees as low hedges for the different sections.

From the botanical gardens we went a couple of hundred yards to the Caledonian Canal.  It was built in 1820 (think) and goes the entire width of Scotland.  We wandered it for just a little while and then sat on a bench for a few minutes too.  Like all of Scotland we had several dogs pass us as they were out for walks and play.  Many, many spaniels making us miss our spaniels.  I think I may come here to get an English Cocker Spaniel in the future!  This canal splits the great glen which is a great valley.  Surprisingly the canal is on or close to a earthquake fault line.

There are bike tours between Inverness and Fort Williams

From the canal we backtracked a little bit to the river way and retraced our steps until we got to the suspension bridge over to the Ness Islands in the middle of the river.  The islands are like a nice big park in the middle of the city.  They have strung up decorative lights in addition to the street lights in it and there are several park benches that are quite decorative.  Oh someone turned an old washed up tree into a dragon too.  At the end of the islands we walked to a café on the edge of the river and enjoyed a snack with a view.

After our break the plan was to visit the old castle, art museum and a little window shopping.  Well problem with that plan.  We had noticed some wood fencing up around the castle but assumed there was still an entrance so we could go up to the top for the view as all the tour books recommend.  Um no we weren’t.  The whole place is closed for a renovation since it is normally a court building too not sure where they are hosting court cases these days!  Oh well the Inverness History and Art Museum was right there so in we went.  The museum talks about how the Highlands land and people have changed from prehistoric times to now.  We got some history lessons and information we had been hearing better explained.  It is a nice little museum.  Off to do a little window shopping – purse hunting and art gallery viewing.  Found some work we liked and may try to track down in the States (no shipping or hauling it around) but no purse yet.

Victorian Market

Back to the B and B for a break before dinner.  We had met another American couple at breakfast and they were hanging out in the drawing room so we joined them.  Then in a little bit John the proprietor came in and said since we had been there for more than 1 day we qualified for a wee dram of whisky – would we like some Glenlivet.  Um yes please.  It was nice – made me realize how much better it was (smoother) than what we had from the Nevis distillery.  Then off to a nice dinner at Café One.

Next morning window shopping on the way to the train station.  I got a small present for a friend and saw a store that sold the Harris tweed fabric by the yard and went in, but had a reality check.  I had 15 minutes or so and while not a huge stash of Harris Tweed fabric at the store enough that I would want to hem and haw and think about what I would make – little make up bag or more of a real purse.  So out of there I got and the train station we went!  Hnm I think I am starting to talk like a Scotsman!