Invergarry Castle

Warning: stampeding herds of TL:DR ahead (that means too long, didn't read, or in Internet speak teal dear).

Invergarry Castle was really cool. The facade was used as the backdrop for the BBC show Monarch of the Glen, and I love the show and have watched it several times. That made it really odd, because I kept expecting to see the show sets and I didn't. Some of it looked similar, but it is definitely not the same interior. I'll take it though!

The castle is close to Port Augustus, which is this tiny little town on Loch Ness. We went there the first day for dinner and I continued my never ending search for perfect fish and chips. It was good but not as good as what I had in New Zealand, so the hunt continues. The castle has an 11:30 curfew, plus we had Finn, so we went back and went to bed early. The next morning we had full Scottish breakfast at the castle dining room. It included blood pudding...I ate the haggis the night before but didn't go near the blood pudding. When the wiki article says it is blood stuffed in casing and cooked until it congealed, I don't want anything to do with it. The rest was totally overcooked, which I'm not sure if that is a Scottish thing or just a castle thing. Then we walked down to the ruins of the old castle Invergarry. That one was built around the 1500-1600s and destroyed by the British after the Battle of Culloden. I totally get why the battle is still so fresh in Scottish minds, the remains of it are everywhere! We walked back along the loch which was beautiful. I love the countryside here.

Then we went in to town for a Nessie hunt tour on Loch Ness. We did a speedboat which was fun but COLD! They gave us suits to wear to try and stay warm but the pictures are all on Patrick's camera. I'll have to steal it and post some of his pictures of me soon. We also saw the remains of another castle destroyed by the British after Culloden.

Then we hit NessieLand. Finn loved that, I think I put up pictures a couple of days ago. Inverness was a really cool little town that we hit next. There is a huge castle and tons of churches everywhere, including the church where Christianity was supposedly brought to Scotland. Hmumh as the Scots you'll say (according to Diana Gabaldon anyway).

Back at the castle I laid down in a patch of heather to try it out. It is surprisingly comfortable! I took a picture but it's only on my phone so I can't upload it. It's on my facebook though.

Next entry: the drive to England.