Scotland - Days Sixteen & Seventeen Thurso to Dingwall to Loch Ness

Day 16 and 17 today, combined, because that’s how we roll.

Day 16 I was a bit late posting, as for reasons that are unexplained and not recommended, we were indulging in yet another unnecessary 3 course meal. When I do get home none of my clothes will fit and at present, I’m ok with that.

What is perhaps most surprising is that I barely slept last night and was convinced the Favourite Husband had either;

A) poisoned me or

given me his tummy bug.

Because sharing is caring and he’s certainly that. But obviously I have the constitution of an ox and was able to still carry on and eat enough for a family of 4.

We left Thurso and headed off leaving our West Coast and top of the North adventures behind, embarking on the East Coast. The scenery was quite different to the other side, more verdant and calm in a way.

We are more than halfway through our trip now and have been swept up in a rapidly moving current of discovery and adventure and exploration. And food. The next few days seem marginally more relaxed. On paper.

Our first stop was Brora Beach. I think we are so spoilt where we live in New Zealand that we take beaches for granted. We have 16+ kms of white sand beach at the top of our road and this wasn’t that. But I absolutely love a brisk walk on any beach, blowing the cobwebs away and pretending to frolic with the Favourite Husband. I don’t think he understands “frolic” and perhaps spells it differently to me … more “tolerate” or depending on his mood “rugby tackle.”

But today there was hopeful blue sky and nothing was going to cloud that, so next stop was Dunrobin Castle. We got there about 11, grabbed a quick coffee and then wandered down to the gardens to watch the falconry display. Which was excellent. I’d tried to get the Favourite Husband to volunteer to be the “rabbit” and be hunted down by the birds of prey, but apparently it was for children. We then explored the castle. Along with everybody else who had timed things the same as us. What we should have done, is got there at 10.30 when it opened, gone round the castle, got a takeaway coffee for the 11.30 falconry display and then legged it. Top tip for free.

On leaving the castle we drove through Golspie which looks lovely. There’s a monument up on the hill that we didn’t get to, which I believe is the Duke of Sutherland monument.

Then after a quick lunch stop it was a choice of 2 walks and we went with the Fyrish Monument. Miss Leading or whatever your preferred sat nav is, will tell you to carry on past the actual start of the walk to the monument. Ignore her, she is not your friend. This is a beautiful 3km walk to the monument. It was another example of utilising stonemasons and keeping them employed. Built in 1782, on the orders of Sir Hector Munro. Apparently, the hilarious Sir Hector would roll the stones from the top of the hill back down to the bottom, thereby extending the time worked and so paying the labourers for additional hours. So, he sounds like a bucket of fun. I’m not sure all of them would have appreciated this. Still, a beautiful hike with 360 degree views from Cromarty firth to Ben Wyvis.

From here we were off to Dingwall. The word Dingwall makes me have flashbacks to my murky misspent youth and a certain nightclub in Camden Town. Where the speakers on the dance floor were the size of cars and made your body vibrate and the walk to the bar too far so you made one beer last all night. Fun times. But this Dingwall is the home of the Tulloch Castle Hotel. My mum was a Tulloch and she visited and stayed here, hence we’re doing the same. So I was a bit emotional and also excited. We had splashed out and booked the Oak Room complete with copper bath, fireplace (electric) and a bottle of bubbles. The check in was smooth and we were shown up to the room which was beautiful. Really spacious, oak panelling, a little secret reading room, the fireplace, the windows, the bed and a modern bathroom which was nice. I’d been looking forward to a hot soak in the copper bath sipping on a chilled glass of bubbles. Maybe even an artistic sultry photo from behind to share with my loyal readers. Except there was an issue. An arse to bath issue. It was very narrow and whilst I could get in, at a squeeze, I was concerned that the suction of the water would disable my getting out. And I didn’t want us to have to call the poor young manager up. He’d never recover. So that and the fact there was no bubbles, I gave it a miss. I queried the missing champagne that was included and was told it was not included. He wasn’t interested. I did email them afterwards and sent a screenshot that clearly stated it was. They replied and advised (I thought this was interesting) that having spoken to Booking.com they’d learnt that the room descriptions are written by AI based on what the hotel “can” provide. They appreciated this was a “them problem” and said they’d refund me the cost of the bubbles. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, lovely young staff and the venison was outstanding. For me personally I didn’t think the room was worth the money, that’s all you’re paying for as there’s no real facilities. But, ever the optimist, the castle is supposedly haunted, perhaps we’d get a visit from The Green Lady ghost at least.

This is our anniversary splash out. Although the Favourite Husband pointed out it’s not actually anytime near our anniversary, which I felt was completely unnecessary and irrelevant.

Day 17 and the Favourite Husband and I talked about splitting up today. It was a really hard conversation. We both got a bit emotional. Splitting up as in doing different activities, to be clear!

I wanted to do the Loch Ness cruise and he wanted to do Urquhart Castle. We decided to stay together and do both.

Before that though we explored the Mitchell Hill Cemetery in Dingwall. It has a commemorative tower and it’s pretty big with exceptional views over the Cromarty Firth. I wish we’d been able to go up the tower, the views would be amazing. It also would have been good if we had more time to explore Dingwall, it’s bigger than I’d expected and the museum sounded interesting. But we already had plans; we were off to air our dirty laundry in public. Kidding! Kind of. We were off to Clootie Well. Clootie Well is a really short, easy walk from the car parking area at Munlochy and was on our way. The story behind it dates back centuries. Visitors leave a small offering at the well in the hope of healing. A rag or “cloot” is dipped in the water of the well and tied around a tree in the hope that an ailment or sickness will disintegrate with the rag. Signs are really clear that only biodegradable fabrics are to be left. The magic will only work if the cloth disintegrates. Man made fibres won’t help you here.

From here we carried on to Chanonry Point. Chanonry Point is associated with a local pod of bottlenose dolphins hanging out in the Moray Firth. Low tide is best, but one of us was enjoying being the Queen of the Castle just a bit too much this morning and overslept. But an hour either side of low tide still gives you a good chance to see them. I think it’s that time that the mermaids come out to pose, so the dolphins like to put on a bit of a display. Sadly we saw neither … Although I have since been advised that it’s not low tide at all that gives you the best chance of seeing them.

We hopped back in the “Porsche” for the 5 minute drive to Fortrose Cathedral. This is such a pretty area and the cathedral was beautiful. The history of the cathedral is explained in various boards around the site. You can kind of get an idea of the layout from the ground and also from an artists impression.

Then we were off again a little bit further this time. The Favourite Husband missed the speed sign increase.

“It’s a 60 and you’re doing 40 so you’re fine.” I said.

“Oh, like your credit card, it’s a limit not a target.” This “Favourite” title has clearly gone to his head.

And then we were at Loch Ness. Much animated discussion around our visit here had taken place prior, with the Favourite Husband asking “remind me, why are we doing this?” Had he sustained a bump to the head, I wondered. Wasn’t it obvious? This was our big moment. We could be stars. We’d have magazine deals, maybe a slot on the This Morning sofa. We were going to find Nessie of course.

“Are we though?” Was his response. I was picking up very little enthusiasm.

“We’ll go on the boat trip!” I announced with a flourish and much arm waving.

“Save me now.” He muttered.

He went to get coffee. He’s always better after caffeine. I trotted off excitedly to book our “cruise” tickets.

“It’s a trip, not a cruise …” he called after me. I pretended not to hear.

I plodded back to the cafe.

“The midday one is full!” I exclaimed.

“Oh. Shame. Off to the castle.” He smiled.

“Yup.” I smiled back “and then we’ll be back in time for the 2 o’clock one I’ve booked us on …”

So we were off again. This time down the road to Urquhart Castle. One of the nice things about today has been everything has been super close together, so not too much driving and all easily accessible.

The Favourite Husband loves a good castle and really enjoyed this one. My favourite has been Castle Sinclair as we pretty much had it to ourselves and got to explore. That said, this was interesting and a big site, and the cafe and gift shop exceptional. He was happy viewing the display area with things that had been found on excavation and history. Whilst distracted I bought a rather pricey small bottle of gin, thinking I might enjoy that this evening. And you guessed it, up he popped like a bloody ghost, made me jump ... I had to pretend it was for a friend back home. Dammit.

Then it was back for our 15 minutes of fame.

Board the luxury liner
Spot Nessie
Get it on camera
Back to celebratory fizz and fanfare

There has been a total of 1,141 sightings; 1,142 after today … 4 in 2022, 6 in 2021. I was surprised by the relatively high numbers.

I realised it wasn’t quite what I had in mind when the bus that was taking us to our launch turned up. The 12-seater mini bus. And the slot was full.

It was not a liner nor a ship, and definitely not a luxury cruiser. It was also very chilly. But we had the best time. Our skipper was informative and good fun. It was awesome. We got to see the castle from the loch. But see Nessie, we did not. Except for in the gift shop. And the cafe. And the village generally. Everywhere.

Other fun facts were; the first sighting was believed to be on Aug 22 564. St. Columba was at Loch Ness converting people to Christianity, they were at the side of the loch when a great monster appeared, they blessed it and it swam away. The loch has an average temperature of 6 Celsius, so zero chance of me paddling in it. And it is 23 miles long, which some attempt to swim. Most recently a lady swam it in 18 hours. I would rather stick pins in my eyes, but each to their own.

From here it was only an 8 minute drive to our Air BnB for the next 2 nights as a base to explore from. Weather permitting. Equally happy to light the fire, stay in my pjayjays, read, eat cheese and drink wine. I’d drink the gin but I was rumbled …