October 2, 2013

I recently finished a book about the Jacobite Rebellions against the British and was interested in seeing Culloden Field. In 1745, Charles Stuart or “Bonnie Prince Charlie” sought to reclaim the British throne. He raised an army of Scottish loyalists, known as the Jacobites, and had a few successful battles. The Battle of Culloden occurred on April 16, 1746, with Stuart’s forces being destroyed and ending his campaign. The British came down hard on the Highlanders, many people were executed, the wearing of plaid or playing the bagpipes was outlawed and a lot of land was confiscated amongst other repercussions.

Rebuilt cottage

The English Stone

Memorial cairn for the clans

As usual, it was nice to be able to see something for real and correct my mental image. There were informative signs indicating the placement of troops and where items had been found. It was also nice to be the expert on something and teach Chandler and thing or two.

After a few hours wandering around the battlefield, we headed up to Spey Bay to hopefully see some dolphins. Scotland has largest bottlenose dolphins in the world, generally 2 meters longer and 100kg more than an average bottlenose dolphin. This is due to the fact that the waters of Scotland are much colder than else where, so they have to be extra fat. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any dolphins, but it was interesting to learn about them. We also went on a short tour of the largest ice house in Scotland and the history of salmon fishing in the area.

Stones on the beach

Stone in the ice house

Our evening ended with a little tour of Inverness.

River view of Inverness

Pretty city

Inverness Castle