May 17, 2015

May 17, 2015

Our excursion is not until this afternoon, so after breakfast we walked down the gangplank to the still wet pier, from the recent shower, to explore the town of Invergordon.  Invergordon is nestled on Cromarty Firth (meaning fjord).  One of its main industries is maintenance and repair of North Sea oil rigs. It is the largest United Kingdom port servicing North Sea oil rigs. The temperature to start was 4 C, with overcast skies, a 25 mph wind and an 80% chance of rain.  Loch Ness in only 45 minutes by car from Invergordon.

Our first stop was the museum where the admission was by donation. Larry asked if the 1985 Bank of Scotland one pound notes, leftover from our last trip decades ago, were still legal money and was told yes. When he put them in the donation box it caused a bit of a discussion among the museum volunteers, wondering if they might be able to get more than one pound from a collector for each bill. We learned about the town’s war effort and its natural deep harbor that the British Navy used until they realized that, during World War II, they could be blockaded by German U-boats due to the narrow opening to the harbor.  We strolled about the town looking at the murals starting with the ones on the exterior walls of the Invergordon Museum. The first town mural was completed in 2004.  There were “Pipes and Drums” as well as “Natural History of the Cromarty Firth” and”The Way We Were”, to name some of the 11 murals. We walked up a small hill to the Invergordon Church of Scotland. As we walked along Cromlet Drive, we had a great view of the harbour, the oilrigs waiting for repair, and distant mountains.  The Ocean Valiant was the name of one of the oilrigs. Steps 8.042. After three hours we returned to the ship for lunch on deck 16’s Horizon Court buffet and prepared for our afternoon excursion in one of three tour buses to Cawdor Castle and Culloden Battlefield.

In Scotland, it seems like there is at least one whisky distillery in every town. As we drove through the picturesque Highlands toward Inverness and Cawdor, we saw many sheep grazing in fields. We passed through an area near Inverness called Black Isle, which is not an island.  It is a territory mentioned in the Ian Rankin’s book, “Standing In Another Man’s Grave”, that Larry is currently reading, where Detective Inspector John Rebus travels on the same highway, the A9 to Black Isle, while investigating a murder. At one bridge over River Nairn, the road narrowed road so much that there was a traffic signal light to direct vehicles from either direction when it was safe to cross the single lane bridge. As we neared Cawdor Castle, we came to the quaint village nearby. The first construction of part of the castle started in 1372 with additions built in the 17^th and 19^th centuries. We were given two hours to wander through the castle and its gardens.  Cawdor Castle, a medieval Tower house or Keep, is still used as a residence, the seat of the Earls of Cawdor. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth this is the castle where Duncan is slain although the castle did not exist in the period in which Macbeth was set. No interior photos of the large wall tapestries, antique furniture and paintings are allowed.  The exterior walls are two meters thick.  There is a pleasant gift shop in the old keep as you exit Cawdor Castle. There was a light rain as we exited the castle but it only lasted a few minutes. Pictures of the castle exterior and lovely garden are allowed. Also on the grounds is a nine hole, par 3, golf course which is open to the public and near the parking lot is a Scottish Wool Mills shop and a snack bar. Our next stop was Drummossie Moor, site of the 1746 Culloden Battlefield where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Scottish Jacobite army was defeated by the English government army of English and Scottish soldiers in battle lasting a little over an hour in April 1746. It was very windy and cool as we observed the flat field.  The English victory ended the Jacobite Uprising with Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart) escaping back to France. This was the last battle fought on British soil.  

When we returned to the ship we had enough time to change for dinner and dance before joining the group in the dining room. We briefly spoke to Karen and Peter who had found and bought a pin and two family clan books of my father’s ancestors for me.  Only one table was occupied by our group tonight with Trudy & Eisa, Brian & Brendene and ourselves. Appetizers were grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, then Minestrone soup or mixed greens & spinach salad with bacon. Entrées were Veal Scaloppini with beans & mashed potatoes or grilled scallops & shrimp with mashed potatoes. For dessert there was tiramisu or cassato torte. The 8:30 show in the Princess Theater featured  a hypnotist comedian. After the show, at the coffee bar by the Piazza we tried some cold Frappés before going back to the stateroom to read.        Total steps for today 14,791.