Scotland: Invergordon (Inverness) – A Day Trip
The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.
Chris Van Allsburg
This day was pretty packed, when I think back, it almost seems like two different days.
We docked in Invergordon and it was the rainiest and coldest day of our “summer” cruise. We had been in the UK during a heat wave and the cold was welcomed, the rain not so much. 🤷🏼♀️
I am a fan of Outlander, so this was an area I was very excited to visit.
Our first stop was Culloden Battlefield. I reached out to multiple guides for a tour of Culloden, however the local guides could not accommodate us. After some research I realized the National Trust for Scotland, that maintains the site, offered a guide for hire. I reached out to them about 4 months in advance of our trip about a tour and was sad to get a response that they were booked. 😢 Thankfully I tried again about a month out and they had someone available. 😃 The hour long tour through the National Trust was £100.
https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/culloden
Our guide met us and took us around the battlefield describing the final battle in 1746 that ended the Jacobite rising. It was foggy, cold and drizzled the entire time. We were a group of 8 adults and 4 children, the kids left early due to the weather and being tired of tours. 🤪 It was a nasty day but the topic was also sad so it all seemed to fit. Our guide kept referring to the Jacobites vs the Government. Government said by a Scott sounds a lot like Garment. It being an early morning it took her saying it a few times for some to figure out she was referring to the Government (we still laugh about our confusion).
I recommend this tour. You won’t be getting someone dressed up being theatrical as it’s a staff member from the National Trust but if you are looking for a private tour for your group it’s perfect!
There is a small gift shop and cafe at the site, they sold Scotch and one of our friends picked up some tiny bottles for us to enjoy once we were back on our bus.
We left the Battlefield and drove by Clava Cairns and then headed on into the town of Inverness. The weather began to clear up and it turned into a beautiful day. We seperated for lunch and walked through a small indoor mall that had been recommended online. My husband and I stopped in a few Scotch shops and had a few tastings. I don’t have another recommendation but I would replace this with a more unique and less touristy place to visit and have lunch.
Next we headed to Clansman Harbour for our Jacobite Cruise. This was a larger boat that held around 150 people and cruised around Loch. This company has a few different options you can book.
https://www.jacobite.co.uk/about-us
We cruised the Loch searching for Nessy, enjoyed a few beers to increase our chance of seeing her, then returned to Clansman Harbour, and drove to Urquhart Castle. (Urquhart Castle is included in the Scotland Explorer Pass). We spent about 30 minutes quickly walking around and then it was time to head back to port. (The Jacobite cruise did stop at Urquhart castle to drop off and pick people up. I’m not sure if this is an option, but if I had it to do over I would try to take the boat to the castle and arranged for our driver to pick us up from there.)
Near port there were a few shops that sold various souvenirs including t-shirts, Nessie figurines, and Scottish tartan scarfs.
Overall this was probably one of my favorite day trips and it crossed a few things off our bucket list.
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Fun stuff! Thanks.