Inverness and Loch Ness

We all arrived safely in Inverness yesterday and were welcomed on board by David Barnes, our Expedition Leader. He introduced us to the Captain, staff, coffee machine and the multiple eccentricities of the good ship Lord of the Glens. She will be our Highland and Highseas home for the next week. After a banquet worthy of Bonnie Prince Charlie, we collapsed into our bunks with much relief.

The morning did not look promising: rain and low cloud. But all brightened up after breakfast and we were soon away to explore Inverness and then out to the Culloden battlefield, now the site of a brilliant interpretive centre that recreates the 1746 pitched battle between Highlanders (fighting to restore the Stuart monarchy) and the government (fighting to crush the Catholic pretender for once and for all). A film of the two sides, aerial overview of the unfolding battle and audio soundtrack out on the moor, all combine to tell the story of the bloody rout of Bonny Prince Charlie’s army. It is a shocking vision of war and a moving portrayal of a pivotal event in British and European history. The subsequent brutal reprisals on the Highlanders broke the power of the clans and cast Scotland into a century of poverty and suppression. From Culloden we continued on down to the River Nairn, where on one of the old river terraces is an amazing collection of Bronze Age chambered cairns. They are aligned so that on the winter solstice the rising sun shines a beam of light down the narrow entrance tunnel: a solar-powered temple! A ring of ancient beeches planted in Victorian times adds to the mystique of this place, still intact over 5,000 years after they were built.

Once back at the Muirtown locks we set off up the canal, into the first small loch Dochfour, and then out onto Loch Ness. We hovered off Urguhart Castle, one of the sites were there has been a string of sightings of the Loch Ness monster over the years. It is easy to see why there have been so many strange effects on this 1000’ deep loch: today the surface was dancing with scattered sunlight, and whipped up by strong winds. We finally reached the shelter of Fort Augustus at the south end of the loch and tied up behind a motley assortment of yachts, old sailing ketches, and fishing boats. At lunchtime (skies blue, bright sunshine) 29 of our number raised hands to go kayaking. At 5pm (skies leaden, driving rain) only 4 souls stepped forward. Onward the brave! From Kytra (2 miles upwind) we cast off in 3 vessels, to paddle downwind. Instantly we were surfing downstream, buffeted by gusty squalls. Realizing that steam gives way to sail, we all linked kayaks, raised a solid Scottish umbrella as our spinnaker, and took off like a clipper ship. What a ride! Clinging to our umbrella for dear life, lashed together like some latter-day KonTiki, we surged down to Fort Augustus, cheering loudly, laughing with exhilaration, and plowing a foaming furrow with our homemade galleon. We came home like conquering Vikings, having survived one of the wildest kayak rides in the Highlands, truly Lords of the Glens.