Loch Ness, Culloden and Clava Cairns
With early morning mist replaced rapidly by brilliant sunshine, we began our transit of Loch Ness during breakfast. It is a remarkable body of water, the largest inland lake in the British Isles containing a greater volume of water than all the other lakes combined, deeper than any point of the North Sea between Britain and Germany. Not surprisingly the legend of a monstrous creature inhabiting its depth has been a persistent one. It is a story that originated with the first biography of St. Columba. At Urquhart, mid way across the lake, the saint converted the Pictish chieftain who inhabited its hill fort, bringing Christianity to the native peoples of north-east of Scotland for the first time. To the mediaeval mind, all saints needed to have affected miracles, and the one ascribed to Columba was to overcome the monster that dared to impede his progress along Loch Ness. To this day Urquhart Castle – for it is the remains of a Norman castle that now occupies the site – is a popular place for Nessie seekers.
After a presentation from our National Geographic Expert on Contemporary Scotland, we happily finished the remains of several birthday cakes with our morning coffee as we again entered the Caledonian Canal for out final descent beside the fast-flowing River Ness towards Inverness. The afternoon excursion was to the site of the Battle of Culloden, the pivotal event in modern Scottish history and one that saw mainland Britain secured as a Protestant state. Its aftermath was devastating for Gaelic culture in the Highlands with enforced emigration, mainly to Canada, as the Gaelic peasantry was replaced in the Highlands by more profitable sheep. The visitor centre at Culloden tells the story graphically and to walk over the heather moor on which battle once raged is always a moving experience. To bring our story full circle we ended the afternoon with a visit to Clava Cairns, a late Neolithic/ early Bronze Age burial site with a variety of chambered tombs.
Our final evening was celebratory. A farewell dinner featuring the piping in of the haggis, a compulsory course before which the Ode to the Haggis by ‘Rabbie’ Burns was declaimed, followed by a Highland Dance performance by local children from Inverness.
