Historical Adventure

Stunning Defeat

Plenty of history, and adventure. Let's start with the history. Just outside of Inverness is the historic Culloden Battlefield. Since we are big fans of the Outlander TV series, we wanted to see how accurately that 1746 battle was depicted. Turns out, the TV series was spot on. The Jacobites were slaughtered in no time flat; only 40 minutes. Some 1,000 of the Jacobite army, serving under Charles Edward, the Young Pretender (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) were killed by the British Redcoats, who lost only 50 men. The Battle of Culloden marked the end of any serious attempt by the Jacobites to restore the Stuart dynasty to the British throne. Our tour guides brought the bloody history alive in a most humorous way.

Then, on to Urquhart Castle for more history. Once one of Scotland’s largest castles, Urquhart saw great conflict during its 500 years as a medieval fortress. Control of the castle passed back and forth between the Scots and English during the Wars of Independence. The power struggles continued, as the Lords of the Isles regularly raided both castle and glen up until the 1500s. Scotland sure has a violent past.

By the way, the castle sits on Loch Ness. Yes, that place. No monsters. The 30 mile long, half mile wide, lake is surrounded by beautiful Highland mountains. Since the weather was warm and sunny, we drove around the lake stopping repeatedly to take in the views. This is where the adventure happened, the driving. Many of the roads were single track, meaning the road is so narrow that only one car can fit, even though the traffic is two-way. Lots of oncoming surprises around blind curves and blind hill crests. White knuckle adventure.