On the Road: Drumnadrochit to Elgin

After our successful monster hunting excursion, and with the wee monsters safely stowed in the van, our journey continued.

Our next stop was the battlefield of Culloden.  This was the last battle of the Jacobite uprising (remember “Bonnie Prince Charlie”/”The Young Pretender”?).   There is an excellent visitor center that gives the point of view of both sides of the fight.  Well worth taking an hour (or more) to go thru.  

The battle was a rout… with BPC running for his life, over a thousand Highlanders dead and the end of the Highland way of life set in motion.

Against wiser advice, BPC brought his largely Highlander army to fight the British in an open, boggy area.  This was not their mountains and passes they were at home in.  The battle only took about an hour…  

And the Highlands were changed forever.

In a more thoughtful mood, we continued on our way.  The weather had turned off cold.  There was even snow falling in the mountains.

Farmers in the area were hurrying to get in the crops.  This is a potato tractor (sorry for the blur… it’s a drive-by shot).  I’d never seen potatoes harvested so I found this all very interesting.

The spuds were put into huge wooden crates…I’d suppose about 6’ W x 8’ L x 3’ H.  And these would be stacked up to 5 crates high! 

Our next stop was so fun that I’m going to tell you about it in my next Scotland post.   

Our lodging for the night was “The Old Church of Urquhart”, a decommissioned church that has been restored into a B&B. 

The grounds are as lovely as the old church. 

This is the lounge and dining room. 

We booked dinner there and had a wonderful Shepherd’s Pie.  I appreciate chefs who take a regional dish and ‘upscale’ it without losing the wholesomeness of the original dish.  Breakfast the next morning was equally good… especially the cinnamon toast!

Our room…

… and its wonderful view.