The train ride was only 3 and a half hours, which really flies by when you're going through Cairngorm National Park and it's amazing hills (and some with snow!) When we got to Inverness at around 5pm, we knew right away it was going to be good times. Inverness has a kind of small-town feel that reminded me a little of Burlington, Vermont. We checked in to our hostel (which was right on the High Street) and then set off for a walk around. This would ultimately be what we did most this weekend - walking around.
The River Ness runs right through the middle of town, connecting Loch Ness to the south and the Moray Firth to the north. Inverness also has several walking trails, including one which goes up the river, across some bridges to two little islands, and back down the other side. We spent a little while walking up the trail, until we got hungry and decided to head back to get some dinner. And then, we walked around some more.
We decided a bit later on that we wanted to find a good pub somewhere. We had heard about a place called Hootenannys from a tour guide who approached us earlier in the day, trying to sell us on his walking tour of the city, so we decided to go check it out. The upstairs of the pub was called the Mad Hatters, and we saw some of a 50's-ish R&B band from Glasgow called The Five Aces, who were pretty cool. Then we meandered downstairs and finished the night watching a traditional Scottish band playing downstairs.
The next morning (after some breakfast at the local Wetherspoons) we set off down the trail again. I really don't think it could have been a nicer day - it was really sunny but still a bit chilly too, so more or less the perfect day weather-wise. We went through some forest-like parts, crossed over the bridges to the islands, and then to the other side of the river which ended up at a huge park at the end. We hung out there for a while (since B now has a new favorite park), had some ice cream, and eventually walked back towards downtown.
After a little light shopping on the High Street, we took a walk to where the river meets the Moray Firth, and a spot where you can supposedly see dolphins when the tide is right. Unfortunately, the tide was completely not right. But it was still an awesome place to hang out for a while.
Inverness also has an abundance of Indian restaurants - it seems like anywhere you're standing in Inverness, there are at least two Indian places within visual range. We took this as a sign, and had a huge Indian splurge for dinner (which resulted in many delicious leftovers for the next day), then decided just to have a night in at the hostel with some wine. Since it was Sunday night on a non-long-weekend, the place was pretty deserted.
On Monday, we wanted to go on a dolphin-watching cruise we had picked up a flyer for. Unfortunately, it seems that we were the only people who wanted to go, so they refunded our money and we headed to the pub to plan our next move. B had been wanting to get a new camera (since her old one was stolen in Barcelona), so we hit up the local Currys (the electronics chain in the UK) and picked up a catalogue of camera specs to mull over while having another pint at the Wetherspoons. Shortly thereafter the decision was made, and we went back to Currys, where B got an awesome new camera. After playing with it at yet another pub for a little while, we grabbed our things from the hostel and hopped on the train to head back to Edinburgh.
So that just about wraps up the dispatch from Inverness. The photo above is a bit random - some kids are sliding down the grass hill beside the castle on "Krazy Karpet"-like things. Inverness is awesome, and there is still so much more we want to do there that I'm pretty sure we'll be going back there sometime soon.
Awesome!
1 comment:
What I thought was crazy as 'the castle' is really the courts! And the bridge shown in Moray was the freakiest bridge I've ever driven over. The guard rails are definitely not high enough!
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