Traveling to Inverness

I have been busy with school work and haven't had time to write a post about the weekend trip to Inverness and Loch Ness I did some time ago with Isoc. First let me tell you about the Saturday's journey to Inverness.

Our first stop was Pitlochry. I came here in September 2013 with Taylor and we watched the Highland Games. It felt like ages ago, I felt kind of nostalgic coming back. This time I got to see sides of Pitlochry I didn't know existed, like the Power Staion, fish ladder and Blair Atholl Distillery.

The River Tummel

Pitlochry Power Station

On the left you see the fish ladder the salmon use to get up to the dam .

Blair Athol Distillery, founded in 1798.

Pitlochry has a lot of these cute metal structures standing around.

And they have a giant pine cone,

and ladybug benches 

The city centre.

The next stop was supposed to be Blair Castle, but because people weren't on time back to the bus in Pitlochry we missed it. There was a wedding going on, and we just missed passing through the gates before they closed it for the wedding.

The mystery castle gates (foggy because camera lens was clouded).

Blair Castle from a distance.

We drove on to Aviemore, a small town with a bit over 2000 inhabitants. It is located within Cairngorms National Park and is thus a popular base for skiing and hill-walking.

The town.

The prettiest bike stand I have ever seen.

A hotel.

A cute, little distillery.

I had lunch at this cute little place. It was me and a bunch of locals. It was fun observing them.

After lunch we drove to Inverness where we spent the night. Inverness is regarded as the capital of the Highlands, and it is the northernmost city in the UK. Over 60 000 live in and around Inverness. I quickly dumped my stuff at the hostel we were staying at and went out to explore Inverness.

There is a lot of things to see in Inverness. I walked up to Inverness Castle and had a look at the lovely view. And the Castle. Inverness Castle as it appears today was built in 1836 but there has been some sort of fortification on the hill since the 11th century. Today the castle houses the sheriff's court and is closed to the public, but you can still walk around outside on the castle grounds.

Inverness Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrews, built between 1866-1869.

I took a walk along Ness Walk, a road along the river Ness.

I crossed over to some islands in the middle of the river.

And I found Nessie! Or one of her cousins, perhaps.

It was a long walk and I was exhausted coming back to the hostel. Most people went out exploring the night life, but that is not for me so I stayed in my room, studying for the project that I had upcoming at the time. I went to bed early, charging my batteries for the day to come.

Part 2!