Scotland!!!!!

To quote the great Robert Burns;

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

Aahhh that really reminds me of my lovely late Grandma.

But is also appropriate since I've just got back from a fab few days in the Highlands. I flew into Inverness on Thursday then after a few hours I took the train across to Aberdeen through some amazing landscapes at sunset. Picked up by my lad, and we went for a big family dinner!! Mad, there was a whole houseful, and I met the rest of the family which was great!! We stayed at Pete's brother and sister-in-law's, very comfy and warm! On Friday I was taken on a tour of Aberdeenshire (sort of).. the weather was pretty dreich (overcast) and so we didn't see alot. I had to buy lunch after losing at Crazy Golf, we also visited the (highly cultural) Union Square shopping centre before heading to Westhill's Tesco, Post Office and Golf Course hehehehe!! Then we popped into see the bride-to-be and family, and later I was invited to the pre-wedding girly night, yay! We drank wine and had our nails done and looked at pics from when Alison was little!! Jenny and I then headed over the airport to pick up cousin Sarah at which point I was made aware just how many cousins there are!!! Arrrhh!!!!!

After a chilled cup of tea we hit the hay for the night in preparation for the big day on Saturday!!! Had a chilled breakfast and morning before getting all dressed up and heading to the fantastic Maryculter House Hotel. Alison and Gareth's wedding ceremony was really simple, with lovely readings and the weather cleared up so all the photos could be done outside! Met more cousins and Granny, and chatted to lots of people while Pete was busy ushing! Brilliant speeches, moving and funny - the perfect combination of emotion and hilarity! Dinner was great and the first dance was a total classic - the Wannadies' You and Me Song. Brilliant!!!! The reception was a massive ceilidh, lots of energetic dancing involved, it was great!!

On Sunday we headed to Westhill to see everyone post-wedding. Luckily everyone feeling a little the worse for wear, so we had a chilled catch up, looking at photos and meeting more cousins I hadn't met before!! hehehe. We headed over to Inverness around 2pm and had a wander around and a drink in the famous folk bar, Hootenanny's. We had dinner both nights at the hotel which was delicious and very convenient!! On Monday we did SO much.

We visited the site of the last ever hand-to-hand battle on British soil, in 1746 between the British Government and the Jacobite rebels under Bonnie Prince Charlie, at Culloden. There's a fantastic visitor centre that shows the timeline of events leading up to the battle (that lasted less than an hour but totally decimated the Jacobites - quite horrific), and then you get an audio guide to go out onto the battlefield. It's so marshy and heathery, it really hits you what conditions must have been like.

We then went on to Urqhart Castle after stopping at the Clansman Hotel en route, on the banks of Loch Ness for some lunch. This is a fantastic castle but it's a real shame that the government people that abandoned it also took the decision to set light to all the gunpowder, leaving the castle in ruins. It had so much history - there had been some sort of structure on the site for over 1,000 years. Really fabulous views over Loch Ness too. No luck spotting Nessie though :(

We then headed south to a little town called Fort Augustus which links the Caledonian Canal with the Loch. There are a series of around 7 locks going down through the town, which was quaint and pretty! We rounded the bottom of Loch Ness and went up through the countryside alongside another huge loch, through small towns and we stopped off at Foyers where there is an amazing waterfall! We walked down the precarious path dotted with quotes from Robert Burns, who was so inspired by the waterfall that he immediately wrote a poem on the spot!! Really impressive, so much power!

After getting back to the hotel we had another delicious meal, and had a couple of drinks before an early night. Today we packed up, had a walk around Inverness and then headed to Fort George. It's a military base built on a remote promontory shortly after the Battle of Culloden to ward off any further attacks by the Highlanders who were hugely repressed following the rebellion (they were banned from wearing tartans, playing highland instruments among other persecutions). Still, Fort George is an impressive, organised structure that is still used today as a military base!! We were again given audio guides with which to walk around the base, it was so interesting, with amazing views across the Moray Firth. On some days you can even see dolphins!

I had to be at the airport for about 2pm so we just had a drive around the countryside, through Nairn, towards Cawdor and then back to the airport :( My flight left on time and I got home to Bristol around 6.30pm. I'm not going to say anything about my feelings about tomorrow! So I'll post more on that later. Suffice to say I had a fantastic break and we had a great time exploring the beautiful Highlands. Looking forward to going back there for a holiday early next year! Yayy!!!!

xx