Day17: Invergordon-Quest for Nessie

We dock in Invergordon early this morning at 7 am.

I have booked Alastair Cunningham for our guide today and when he looked at the port website last night it said we wouldn’t dock until 8 am, so we waited on the dock for half hour until he got there. Other than that, we had a perfect day in another Scotland port. I headed out in my down jacket today because Greenock a few days ago started out pretty cool. Jacket felt good until about noon then it was shirt sleeves the rest of the afternoon. We start out with a visit to Culloden Battlefield before the visitor’s center opens and have the battlefield to ourselves while Alastair tell us the story of the battle which took place there.

 We then go down the road a short way to Clava Cairns to see the stone mounds dating from 300 BC. It is very interesting to hear some of the theories about their existance and how the alignment of stones could have been used as a calendar for planting because of the way some of the stones line up with the sun and certain stones line up perfectly with the winter solstice.

Photo stop at an aqueduct built in the late 1800’s

Next up is a visit to Cawdor Castle and gardens. This castle is still lived in by descendants of the original Cawdor family but open for visits during the summer. We have lunch after touring the castle then roam around the gardens which are stunning.

Apple tree in the garden and Harry tries one out

There is a couple in authentic Scottish Highland dress out front that let you try on clothes and show you how to use the weapons from the day. Niall and Melissa of our cruise critic gang participate and have great fun. They are such a cute, fun loving couple.

Upon leaving the castle we travel through some scenic highlands to reach Urquhart Castle situated on the shores of Loch Ness. We look very hard trying to spot the Loch Ness monster to no avail. We have a look around the castle ruins and I am able to find the Douglas tartan scarves in the gift shop.

Another scenic drive takes us to the town of Beauly where we have a quick look around then back to the ship.

A pipes and drum band of young people give us a great send off from port.

We see a lot of barley fields today and some being harvested. As we are sailing out of port, here is one they are harvesting right now. This part of Scotland has a lot of farmland.

It was a very nice day!

Day 16: Sea Day

At long last we have a sea day and just lounge around all day. We have fairly high seas and wind all day and are hanging close to shore as we round the northern top of Scotland. Tonight is formal night in the dining room and we have dinner with Al and Melissa from the message board. Lobster and Beef Wellington on the menu makes for a tough choice! After dinner we go to the Captains cocktail party and meet Captain Nash who joined the ship yesterday while Captain Proctor takes a couple months off. He is quite amusing during his chat with everyone. For the first time all cruise we take in some of the evening entertainment. Tonight is the Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Game show and Harry and Diann are selected to participate. As usual, they provide entertaining answers to the questions while the other one is out of the room and then brought back in to try to match answer. Sam the Cruise Directors has a hard time asking the questions because she is laughing so hard at their answers. Of course they win! They get a nice prize bag with a bottle of Champagne, chocolates, and lots of other Princess logo items. We stay for the Jeopardy game and have a team of other cruise critic friends and lots of laughs. Bedtime now as we have an early day in port tomorrow to go looking for “Nessie”.

Day 15: Greenock

Tim wakes up feeling pretty bad this morning and decides to stay on the ship. I had a cough and cold for a couple of days and am feeling almost better now, but Tim has been worsening for the past couple of days and just feels too bad to get out today. Later today, I talk him into visiting the Dr. on the ship and he gets some antibiotics and nasal spray so hopefully after our sea day tomorrow he will be ready to go again.
I have reserved a minibus for 23 of us to tour with Jim as our guide today and John is our driver. Every day keeps getting better. Jim meets us on the pier wearing his kilt which we find out is the Douglas tartan (pattern). My grandmother was a Douglas and although I had scanned a list of clan names as I was planning our trip I missed seeing Douglas on the list. Each clan had their own designed/colored tartan for recognition. No wonder Harry looks like such a natural in his kilt—we are probably of Scottish descent. My new quest before we finish with the Scotland ports is to buy something with the Douglas tartan design to bring home. To my cousin Suzie who I think is following this blog: I will get you something too if I am able to find the Douglas tartan.

Anyway, back to our day and tour. It starts out cloudy with a few light drizzles but end up nice. We travel to the village of Luss and we are the first bus to arrive. It is a beautiful village and while we are on the pier there Jim plays his bagpipes for us. It was a perfect start of a beautiful day.

Next up is a Woolen Mills coffee break stop. Out front they had a birds of prey display and for a small donation you could hold one for a photo.

We then traveled through the Rob Roy Country/ Trossachs National Park which was breathtakingly beautiful.

Next up is the town of Calendar for shopping and lunch, but first we stop to see Hamish the Highland cow who is 17 years old and his new friend, Heather.

We had a nice lunch which included banofee pie—banana and caramel—YUM!

Gordon was at our lunch stop and after they finished eating the guides started making music in the restaurant which was wonderful.

When we got back to the bus we found Jim playing his bagpipes which was our signal it was time to go to the next stop, Stirling Castle.

Stirling Castle is located in central Scotland high on a hill and is beautiful. Although it is a little overcast today, we can see all the way to Edinburgh.

It was a great day with a perfect guide and great driver. I am sad Tim missed today because I think it is my favorite port so far. I see a land trip to Scotland in our future to explore more of the countryside and highlands of Scotland.