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dougrobyngoold · 8 months

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Another Lovely Day - Inverness, Scotland

We started our last day in Inverness with a delicious breakfast at the Culture Cafe & Deli. To our pleasant surprise, it ended up being a vegan cafe - the food was delicious and pretty:

After breakfast, we walked out to Carnac Point. Doug did not want to go to Loch Ness, so we decided to just enjoy the bodies of water in and around Inverness.

Carnac Point is where the River Ness spills into Moray Firth.

A couple shots of Kessock Bridge from Canac Point. Kessock Bridge spans Moray Firth.

A short walk from Carnac Point and we were at Merkinch Local Nature Reserve, located along Moray Firth and Beauly Firth.

We walked along this path, which followed the shoreline of Beauly Firth and took us to the canal path.

We found ourselves at the Caledonian Canal - gateway to the Great Glen, Loch Ness, Western Isles, and Ireland.

We walked out to the end of the locks, great views of Beauly Firth.

This Swiss sailboat was going through the locks while we were there, notice how high the boat is compared to the canal wall in the photo above.

Notice how low the boat is in this photo, they were ready to head through the locks.

After checking out the locks, we walked along the canal back toward town, enjoying the shade on this side of the canal - it was a warm day!

We stopped along the way and watched a little bit of lawn bowling that was happening - we have learned all sorts of new sports this summer! (Cricket, rugby, and now, lawn bowling).

We stopped at McGregors for a little shade and a cold brew.

We were still a bit thirsty and a little hungry, so we decided to visit The Walrus & Corkscrew - a little wine bar we had passed by during our earlier walks through Inverness. We had a wonderful wine tasting and charcuterie board.

Slainte mhath! Perfect way to end our stay in Inverness.

#inverness #scotland #wineries #breweries

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lothiriel84 · 4 years

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Tracing of sparrow on snow-crested brown

In which I went all the way to Scotland and North Yorkshire, and still found the time to get really excited about The Monster Hunters Halloween special.

It’s been four days, and all the places I’ve seen have already started mingling with one another in my head - but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I shouldn’t think. At least, when my brain defaults to power-saving mode now, it has its pick of beautiful locations to use as its own internal screensaver picture - doesn’t matter if I don’t always remember which is which.

(It also makes for an interesting game - is this Scotland or Devon, Yorkshire or Colchester? And the answer is, nobody knows, nobody knows.)

Edinburgh

I was in Edinburgh last year for Flying Visit (go figure), but as I didn’t quite get the chance to explore it as much as I wanted, it was nice to be able to go back and wander the place some more. Climbed Arthur’s Seat once again - nearly got blown away by the wind, too - and took the chance to visit Portobello Beach, Dean Village, and Edinburgh Castle.

Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Highlands

I had picked Inverness as my subsequent destination because I wanted to see some of the Highlands, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Inverness Castle and the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew are built in beautiful pink stone, and there are a few lovely walks across the Ness Islands - complete with eerie space/alien-themed decorations, as we were getting close to Halloween - the Merkinch Local Natural Reserve, and along the Caledonian Canal. And Inverness Botanic Gardens May be tiny, but they still have a gorgeous tropical house.

As getting about using public transport only seemed a bit of a nightmare, I booked a couple of minibus tours in the area - Eilean Donan Castle and the Isle of Skye for my birthday, and Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, and the Highlands two days later. And my goodness, I absolutely need to go back to the Scottish Highlands at some point - in that time of the year when it doesn’t get dark at half past four in the afternoon, if at all possible.

York

As you can imagine, I mainly just wanted to retrace the various filming locations from The Atticus McLaren Mysteries: Murder at the Museum, which was shot there last February. (You can watch it here and here, in case you’re interested. Simon Kane is in it, and it stars plenty of talented local actors. Thomas Jennings is absolutely brilliant as the titular character, an autistic museum technician - turned amateur detective - from York.)

I actually managed to complete the York City Walls trail this time around, and without any further damage to my lousy ankles, too. I got to visit York Cold War Bunker, and stumbled upon the slightly incongruous sight that is Holgate Windmill.

As luck would have it, I was also able to see this intriguing staging of Antony and Cleopatra, starring among others Harry Summers (Elizabeth Lockwood) who played as DI Bruce Barnes in The Atticus McLaren Mysteries. And just as I was about to go to bed after the show, I found that The Funeral of Roy Steel had been uploaded to acast - and who am I to delay listening to a new episode of The Monster Hunters?

I distinctly remember very nearly screaming in the dark and scrambling for the light switch, as soon as I heard [SPOILER!] Susy’s voice, which I absolutely wasn’t expecting. Oh. My. Goodness - what an episode.

Scarborough, Staithes, Malton and Goathland

First one who guesses why I went to Scarborough wins nothing at all, in the well-honoured tradition of Yellow Car-adjacent games - and no, it wasn’t parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. By the way, did you know there’s a series of murals on Bland’s Cliff, including one bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain Bridget of time-spanning reminiscence?

Scarborough Castle is an interesting place to visit, and it’s lovely to walk along the marina, as well as both the South Bay Beach, and the North Bay Beach. Following the advice of one Matthew Woodcock, I also took a trip to the picturesque seaside village of Staithes, and to the village of Goathland in the North York Moors national park - both absolutely gorgeous, though I daresay nothing could have prepared me for the joys of having to wait for my return bus for nearly two hours in the dark, alone, in a village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sheep staring at me from the shadows. (All while listening to The Tomb of Arensnuphis of Infinitely Bad memory, which was even more of An Experience™.)

And yes, obviously the entire reason I was in Scarborough in the first place was John Finnemore’s Flying Visit, again - which I thoroughly enjoyed, never mind that it was my second time this year, fourth if you count last year’s tour as well. (This is totally normal. And healthy. What are you looking at me like that for?)

The cast are an absolute joy to watch on stage, and I absolutely recommend you go to the very last show of the tour on December 1st, at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, if you ever get the chance. Lawry’s facial expressions are a thing of beauty, and Carrie as Patsy Straightwoman surely deserves to get her own show; and I’m still impressed with how Simon managed not to break character while the audience dissolved into laughter for a full minute - and possibly even longer - as soon as he stepped to the microphone for one of the Missed Connections sketches.

(I am still trying really hard to ignore the notion that John not only appeared to remember that I’d also been to the Colchester show, he also actually called me out on me going to shows on people’s birthdays. Which is - yeah. No. Huh.)

I’ll leave you with two blurry pictures of Scarborough at night, taken after the show, I think. Between the salt water and the sea strands, as Simon and Garfunkel would sing.

#Scotland & North Yorkshire #October 22nd to November 6th #2019 #John Finnemore's Flying Visit #JFFV #Edinburgh #Inverness #York #Scarborough #The Monster Hunters #The Funeral of Roy Steel #MH spoilers #this post contains pictures #also - sorry about my face

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