As the road leaves Glencoe and begins to head north in the direction of Loch Ness, it passes several smaller lochs... we saw old granite mountains covered in fir trees, stooping down to misty lakes... people were camping to fish along the shore, and as we stopped at one viewing spot, the slow rain and woodsmoke gave me a vivid recollection of early mornings in Algonquin Park. I was struck by a sudden twinge of nostalgia for Canada's shield country...
Interestingly, there might well be a good geographical reason for this... the Great Glen fault - along which Loch Ness lies - was formed about 400 million years ago, at the collision point between the Laurentian and Baltic plates, when the supercontinent Euramerica was formed, but the rocks found there are a lot older. I would imagine that they are quite similar in composition and age to those of the pre-Cambrian shield that is so familiar to eastern Canadians. Yes, I did say "Laurentian" plate, as in the Laurentian mountains, the gulf of St. Lawrence, etc. ; it's not so surprising when you remember that the Atlantic Ocean didn't even exist before about 60 million years ago, and for some time before that there was a supercontinent called "Euramerica", with what is now the UK right in the middle.
But enough geology... we continued on that day and stayed over in Fort Augustus, at the southwestern end of Loch Ness. No sign of Nessie, so we decided to take a chance and dangle our feet in the water... very cold!
We continued along the western coast of Loch Ness straight into Inverness, where we walked around a bit and had a peruse at two different kilt shops located there. It turns out that a custom-made kilt costs around 400 pounds if you're lucky, and you only save maybe 40 pounds buying just the fabric. There are some places that do a reduction in price for off-hire (former rentals) but it's still a big investment. We took down some numbers and prices, but didn't purchase anything at this time, and carried on through Inverness on our way to Culloden Moor.
Culloden is definitely a stop that you must make, should you travel through the highlands. The visitor's centre provides audioguides, should you wish to stand on the moor, see the memorial cairns and so on, but we opted instead to stay inside and do the indoor exhibit.
For those of you unaware of the significance of the Battle of Culloden, it was the last formal battle fought on British soil, and was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. The objective of Charles Edward Stuart, or "Bonnie Prince Charlie" had been the overthrow of the reigning House of Hanover, and the restoration of his father and the House of Stuart to the British throne, and he had met with some success in prior engagements against the loyalist forces. It was not to be so on April 16th, 1746, however; when the smoke had cleared after the battle, which lasted perhaps an hour, the army led by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government, had completely routed the Jacobite forces. Charles never mounted any further attempts to challenge Hanoverian power in Britain.
The aftermath of the battle brought many changes to Scotland, not least of which were the removal of hereditary justice rights for clan chiefs, and the stripping of lands from clan leaders who had supported the Jacobite cause. England moved strongly to incorporate Scotland within the rest of Britain, and aggressively targeted highland clan culture, prohibiting the wearing of tartans or kilts and requiring all swords to be surrendered to the government. This increasing control by England led to the continuing land seizure and relocation of highland families which became known as the clearances, and these resulted in great waves of Scottish emigration, that populated much of Canada in the 19th century.
By 1871 the Scottish population in the four original provinces of Canada reached 549,946; that's about one-sixth of the total Canadian population at the time.
We should count ourselves lucky that they came, too. Ever heard of John A. Macdonald, Simon Fraser, or William Lyon Mackenzie? Did you know that eight of the ten "Fathers of Confederation" were Scots? Did you know that Scots founded Dalhousie University, McGill University, the University of Toronto, Queen's University, St. Francis Xavier and the University of New Brunswick? Pretty good, eh? I guess Britain's loss was our gain...
Anyway, back to Culloden. The visitor's centre is a marvel, not only because of the many artifacts on display, but for the attempt to portray both sides of the conflict. One large hall has the Jacobite point of view displayed and illustrated on one wall, and the Hanoverian point of view on the other. We were all quite moved by the exhibits, and the boys had found a further connection with their shared heritage. They were proud to be named Malcolm and Duncan that day, but also were sobered by the sad story of the killing of so many highlanders in the battle, and the consequences for Scottish culture.
From there we continued on towards Kilravock, the castle that had been in the Rose family for many years, but is now used as a retreat centre. Notably Mary Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie were guests there. The castle was closed to the public, but we had a quick look round the gardens; there were some absolutely huge trees, including a layered beech tree that is probably around 325 years old.
We kept on, and had lunch at Cawdor Castle, while keeping a close watch for the murderous Thane himself...
We stopped off at the castle of MacPherson of Cluny, and then continued south, arriving at the Dalwhinnie distillery just after the last tour of the day. We had already done the Glenkinchie tour near Haddington, two summers ago, so we didn't feel too disappointed, especially because we were in time for a little whisky tasting, and we picked up a nice bottle of the limited edition Dalwhinnie, distilled in 1990. Yum. Perhaps it was all this highland ambiance, but Maggie has started to appreciate single malts in small quantities, especially the Tobermory that we had in Fort Augustus, so I am going to have fun trying out some of the sweeter malts from the back of our cabinet with her; normally these bottles are reserved for really special occasions, or when we have guests, but I am interested to see what she thinks of them and to see if my tastes have changed with time.
After Dalwhinnie we carried on to Garvald, and met our friends for dinner that evening. I have posted a few pictures of Garvald before, but want to re-emphasize what a nice little village it is, nestled into the hills by the banks of a river in East Lothian.
Duncan liked coming back for lots of reasons, not least because the next morning he found some fresh eggs! I wonder if I can fit a coop like that on the back terrace here? Hmmm....
It was nice to relax again and visit with our friends for what remained of the weekend; we were just in time for a community barbeque which was held on sunday afternoon. The sun cooperated and the thermometer crept up to 20 degrees, a welcome change, as it had been lurking in the low teens all week. Along with BBQ there were games and even bubbles, which everyone likes, especially Malcolm...
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