Today started with a bit of fun: Irish Lindsay (from Northern Ireland, one of two male Lindays on our tour) had a bit of a late night last night. All we know is it involved an entire bottle of Scotland’s finest. Needless to say, he was less than eager to wake when Greg poked him at 8:30, and consequently was very late to the coach. His punishment, of course, was to take a swim in the icy 5.5-degree-Celsius waters of Loch Ness. He was a good sport, and one of the Aussie guys in the group joined him as well. As a matter of fact, they swam twice that morning in attempts to lure Nessie into the shallows.
Aside from watching the swimmers, we spent most of the morning along the banks of Loch Ness, taking in the views and gift shops and such. It’s quite a massive body of water, but we’re still not quite convinced on the whole monster bit. Jen and Katie particularly enjoyed the “Happy-Ness” plush doll at one of the shops.
We headed further north to Inverness, dubbed the ugliest city in Scotland—according to tour guide Graham—because of its people rather than its scenery. I’d say the jury is out on that one. It’s a pretty nice semi-urban area on the other end of Loch Ness.
From there, we paid a visit to the battlefield at Culloden, where Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites met the British army in 1746. It was the last battle on British soil, and was more like Scotland’s Gettysburg than anything else—the British had more Scots fighting for them than the Jacobites did, which made it somewhat of a civil war. Wikipedia can explain it better than I can. The battlefield was a moving sight with lots of cairns on the Jacobite side, each dedicated to fallen clansmen.
After that, our tour was coming to an end. We made one last stop in Dunkeld to see the church and play some pick-up frisbee by the river. The weather and old-city charm made it a nice finale to our time in Scotland. When we got back to Edinburgh, we said goodbye to Katelyn—who has an exam in a couple days—and found a bus to London. Scotland was great, and the tour was especially fun; it was hard to leave.
