Driving Northern Scotland

My best memory of Inverness was walking the bridge over the River Ness and looking out on the water sparkling with sunbeams.

There is so much to explore in this area by car. The possibilities are endless, and depend largely on your interests.

Nature:

• Spend a day driving the far Northwest. Not only will you find endless craggy hills, but you'll see Smoo Cave and the views from the new Kylesku Bridge.
• Drive past Loch Ness and look out over Urquhart Castle. Continue traveling past the tourists to Glen Affric, have a picnic lunch and walk the trails.
• Feel like swimming? You may be surprised to find that the northern shore of Scotland is beautiful and inviting. Try Balnakiel Bay, where the blue waters meet sandy beaches.

History:

• Take a short trip to historic Culloden and then stop at the intriguing Clava Cairns.
• Embark on a longer day trip to the Kilmartin House, then venture to the sights of stone circles, cairns, and symbol stones.
• Drive north to see the Edderton Pictish standing stone, then on to visit the quaint town of Dornoch and its restored cathedral.

Quick Tips:

Inverness is a great base for exploring the Highlands. Almost everything in northern and central Scotland is under three hours away by car.

Our week here costed for petrol, for lodging, and for expenses. In addition to staying in Inverness and exploring, I highly recommend planning a few days on the Isle of Skye and a few days in Aberdeenshire visiting the castle trail.

Best Way To Get Around:

I have been to Inverness twice, once using public transport, and once with a rental car. I was completely astounded by how much more I was able to see using the car. If it is at all possible, rent one! Go with a budget agency and a compact car to save money if necessary.

There are bus trips to take visitors to the major sights near Inverness, but very little goes to the northwest or northeast coast, to the Highland Wildlife Park, or to ancient stone sights. When I look back on my experience using buses, it's sad to realize how much I missed. But it did make me hungry to return!

Today was one of the best days yet for me, as we headed away from Inverness on the A9. The far northwest of Scotland has some of the most beautiful and unique scenery I've ever seen. The mountains aren't necessarily huge, but they are so distinct, even differing from the other peaks in the highlands. The land is covered in grey rocks and brown heather, with very few trees. Many of these dark mountains rise high above shimmering, deep blue lochs. Sheep abound, some creeping across the single-track road with their lambs. We even saw two large red deer, one with huge antlers.

There is nothing like this land. In the far north, even the A class roads have only one lane. In some areas we drove for miles with no one around. We have driven much of Scotland now, and this morning I was beginning to wonder if we were so familiar with the land that we shouldn't bother with another scenic drive. But this is a country full of surprises. The drive from Inverness to Durness was one amazing scene after another, and I am so glad we went! I was infatuated with this romantic and wild country before, and now I'm realy smitten.

We took a boat tour into Smoo Cave for 3 pounds each. I had seen pictures of the waterfalls inside, but they weren't there, just a rock wall. Evidently the waterfall is only there during a heavy rain storm. The caves were attractively rugged though, and the local guide was very friendly. Climbing in and out of the boat was a challenge on the dark, wet rocks. Next we drove over the Kylesku Bridge, where I got out and walked alone in heaven. There's no way I could describe the scenery!

We traveled on to Balnakeil Bay. Who would have thought that the north of Scotland would have such a lovely, sandy beach? And it was so sunny and warm, probably 75 degrees. I just can't believe the sunshine we have had. When I studied in England, there were so many cloudy days. This trip has just been a dream come true. Tomorrow we will leave our cheap lodging for a two day delight in a 5 star B&B. They will serve us full breakfasts and diners! Ahh, a break from cereal and pasta.

Loch Ness

We had a slow, sunny day today. We are in our third week of travels, and I have been feeling really tired for the past few days. Hoping to recover to full speed tomorrow, we did less today. But it was the perfect day to walk in Inverness, the sun shimmering on the River Ness. We ducked into a few shops, most with the typical highland merchandise - jewelry and tweed. I haven't purchased much yet, only one piece of pottery. But the tourist information shop had a really nice shirt with "the highlands" written around a celtic knot, so I bought one. We were surprised at how much information and merchandise were available at tourist information, so it's definitely worth a visit.

We left the shops and walked down to the Ness Island to have our packed lunch on a riverside bench. Then we drove a few miles down Loch Ness and beside Urquhart Castle, which was overrun with tourists roaming the ruins and looking for Nessie. We decided to head away from the crowds to Glen Affric, which has some great forest trails and views of steep mountains and lochs. The road into the glen feels remarkably untouched by man. Single tracks through dense forests kept us in suspense about what awaited us at the end of the line. I also had to stay alert and make good use of the passing places when cars approached. I remember when the trees finally cleared, and on our left we saw the huge peaks and heard the river singing. We drove on until the road ended, and then set out on foot for an hour of walking. An easy trail runs around the lake here, and it can be circled in only a few miles.

Glen Affric

Just a short distance from Culloden, this sight is much older and more mysterious. There are three huge circular mounds of stones, surrounded by standing stone circles. The mounds have pathways leading into a bare center, with rocks piled all around. A few remains were found here, but we are not sure what the purpose of the cairns really was. They were built around the 3rd century BC, and they are magnificent messages from the past.

Jason and I were alone here for a while, and what I remember most is standing right beside one of the cairns, having an amazing discussion about them, just staring. The cup marks are so strange...why would a person take the time to chisel small circles from a large stone? Who would do it in the society - an artist, a slave? Was it a rite of passage for a young man to help build one of these sites? Or did a newer society use an old stone, already carved, when piling the rocks for their cairn?

Free to visit, this sight could interest anyone in ancient history. Seeing Clava inspired us to take a day trip to Argyll later in the week, where we visited a museum and several more ancient sites. We learned that newer people were often spooked or annoyed by these large cairns in their fields. Sometimes farmers would pile rocks and boulders that they removed from their farmland on top of the cairns. Sometimes they would use the stones in a cairn for building walls or homes. So there may have been many more cairns that we are aware of today.

We have tossed all of our planned routes because of the strange hold that ancient Scotland has on us now. After we detoured to see the Maiden Stone and some standing stones from about 3,000 BC, we have been stopping at every ancient landmark we could find. The cairns, the brochs, all of them are sparks for the best dicussions about history, ancient peoples and events.

So we made our way, very slowly, to the northeast tip of Scotland. We first detoured on the B9176 to see the Edderton pictish symbol stone, which is located in an abandoned church graveyard. Among the tombs she sits, with her simply carved cross on one side, and a horseman on the other. We were back to the A9 headed to the coastal town of Dornoch, which the Blue Guide describes as delightful. It's definitely a quaint town, full of neat stone buildings, and we stopped to see Dornoch Cathedral. Built in the 12 century, it was destroyed and restored in the last 200 years. So much of what we saw was new, but it was still pretty, not at all huge or overwhelming. Some of the stained glass was in muted earthy tones to match the stonework, while some of it was bright blue and purple.

Next we took a detour west into the mountains to see some cairns and standing stones. It was a lovely drive along a winding single track road. Unfortunately, the ancient stones were badly weathered and in a private field. We decided to keep going on this minor road and eventually get to Duncansby Head, the NE tip of Scotland. We realized the gas tank was getting low, so we started looking for a petrol station, at 8pm on a Sunday before a bank holiday in the highlands. We passed through Thurso with no open station, and decided to stop for dinner.

After passing through two more small towns with BPs that were closed and deserted, we started to worry. We did not have enough fuel to get back to Inverness, and the town of Wick appeared to be our only hope. I was thinking about having to go door to door in search of someone with a gas can! We were nervous and making jokes about the sitation at the same time. At 8:53 we arrived at a petrol station in Wick, and I was astonished to see it was open. At about 10, with a little daylight left in the pouring rain, we stopped at Achavanich Standing Stones. They were on the side of the road with no markers, and the circle was huge. It had about 40 standing stones in the circle, and probably about 60 when it was created. We got out of the car in the cold windy rain for a better view, and the it was time for these two weary travelers to go home.

Today we took to the road through the Great Glen and into Argyll in southwest Scotland. This was a very long day trip that allowed us to visit several important historal sights near Kilmartin.

The drive there was just splendid, a painting of lochs, mountains, lush rounded hills and farm animals. We had sunshine blues all the way down, and we stopped at Arduaine Gardens (admission 3.50) for a walk and the toilets. The gardens were an unexpected delight: colorful flowers, enormous trees, lily ponds and picturesque benches. Even the bathrooms smelled like fresh, exotic blooms! After this stop, we parked by the lake there and had our packed lunch.

We finally reached Kilmartin House (admission 4.50), where we were to start our exploration into history. The museum was an excellent overview, but did not go into detail about the nearby sights as we had hoped. The slide presentation was meant to be creative, not factual, and it did get me thinking about the people who built the cairns and erected the standing stones so many centuries ago. Then we walked out into the rain to begin our outdoor adventures with a guidebook we purchased at the shop.

We trudged down a puddly farm road beside a cow field to get to one of the burial cairns, built thousands of years ago. There are several of them, built about a block apart each, in a straight line. They are large circular mounds of round stones that often contained special burial chambers underneath.

A short drive away, we came to Temple Wood, where two cairns were built close together. One cairn contains a circle of standing stones. The setting among trees and green grass made it a perfect picture, even in the rain.

We continued following our guidebook to Dunadd, the place where the Scots of Daldriada started their rule. It's a small hill which required climbing up wet, rocky paths to reach the summit. At the summit is a deep footprint carved in a rock, and it is said to be the place where kings were crowned. There is also a small round basin nearby, which may have been used for annointing. It really was a strange feeling, standing in the rain overlooking the land of the Scots and these carvings which marked such an important place. After our muddy descent, we stopped to see some simple cup and ring carvings in a flat stone on the ground. They were probably carved thousands of years before the Picts carved their ornate designs and the Scots sailed in.

Today was a long day, with a lot of driving on difficult roads. These wonderful landmarks in Argyll still blend into the landscape, often without paved roads or signs. But it was fascinating!

This trip involves hours of driving on winding roads. We split up the drive with a night at a B&B in Wester Ross. But the ambitious traveler could see these things in a long day and return to Inverness. Take A835 from Inverness, then head south on the A832, and south on the A890.Inverewe Gardens

Inverewe Gardens are located on the west coast of Scotland in the path of the warm jet stream. These hilly landscaped acres overlook a lovely sea loch. We arrived to find the temperature in the 80s, the hottest we experienced in Scotland. We were feeling under the weather that day, so we were unable to see everything in these grand gardens. But everything we saw was beautiful.

There are so many paths to take here that we were disoriented a few times. Smart visitors will look for a brochure with a map in the ticket office! Because the sun shines so long in the summer, the sight is open from 9-9. Admission is 7 pounds per person, but NTS members get in free. 

LOCATION: On A832, by Poolewe, 6m NE of Gairloch.

Torridon

After seeing the far north, Torridon is just another amazing area of mountains and lochs to us. Some say it is the finest mountain scenery in Britain, but I'm not sure. So much of what we've seen has been stunning, especially the extreme northwest.

Ancient Brochs

Today we drove to see Dun Telve and Dun Trodden in Glenelg. These are Scotland's two best remaining brochs, which are round homes or fortresses used in about the first century AD. They were built only a short distance from each other, and stand at least ten meters high. Dun Telve is the most stunning of the two brochs, with higher walls and a better impression of what it may have been like to live here. No one was around on this narrow country road, and the setting was a lovely valley surrounded by mountains.

It is believed that these brochs were built to be family homes. No remains were found within them, but some were found nearby, perhaps kin buried near the homes? And there was more to these structures than we can see today. We see stone circular walls, usually two layers thick with a hall between them. What we don't see is the wooden posts and partitions, as well as the wooden roof and levels. Several families could have lived here with some privacy, and there was room between the walls to store rations and arms incase of seige.

Historians are beginning to think that brochs were commissioned to be built for rich families. The quality of workmanship and the similaries between those that remain are remarkable. They could have been to show status as well as to protect and provide shelter. This means that there could have been a team of designers and builders traveling around the country working for commission...almost two thousand years ago.

Eileen Donan Castle

While this castle stands majestically in a beautiful location, it was built in 1920 as a reconstruction of what an ancient castle would look like. We chose not to pay admission, since we've seen many real ancient castles. The castle deserves a look if you're in the area.

Details Open 10:00 - 5:30, Cost: 3.75, Location: situated in Loch Duich near Dornie about 8 miles from Kyle of Lochalsh on the A87 road on the west coast. Open from April 1 to November 1.

Applecross

The drive to Applecross was spectacular (a 25 minute ascent on a single lane road), with views that even made Jason feel queasy! These are the highest mountains one can drive in Scotland. There is no polution, very little traffic, and you can see for miles and miles. The town of Applecross was quaint and scenic, with only the basic necessities to be found.