Loch Ness,cawdor castle,inverness,Culloden battlefield,& more from invergordon

We’ll start by travelling west past the town of Alness and over the Cromarty Firth towards Beauly, where we will arrive at Beauly Priory, a beautiful ancient monastery that now lies in ruins but retains an air of reverence and mystery. Beauly Priory was founded around 1230 by monks of the Valliscaulian order. They came from their mother house in Burgundy, in France, and settled beside the Beauly River, at the place where it enters the Beauly Firth. They were invited to do so by the lord, Sir John Bisset. And there their successors lived for the next 300 years, until the Protestant Reformation of 1560 brought their cloistered and contemplative life to an abrupt end. Today their legacy lives on, in their pretty, tree-fringed abbey church, roofless but otherwise largely intact.

Glen Ord distillery is a whisky distillery in the Scottish Highlands and is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle. They produce a 12 year old, 15 year old and an 18 year old single malt The Singleton of Glen Ord that's available for export only to Southeast Asia. tasting only

From there it’s on to Loch Ness, through the town of Drumnadrochit and towards the famous Urquhart Castle and its visitor center. The castle is a truely romantic ruin, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the loch. The castle is surrounded on all sides by waters over 600-feet deep, where the legendary Loch Ness Monster is said to make her home. Take your time wandering the historic ruins and learn more about its amazing history, before the tour picks up again, this time towards the City of Inverness, the capital of the Highlands.

Inverness is a city on Scotland’s northeast coast, where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth. It's the largest city and the cultural capital of the Scottish Highlands. Its Old Town features 19th-century Inverness Cathedral, the mostly 18th-century Old High Church and an indoor Victorian Market selling food, clothing and crafts. The contemporary Inverness Museum and Art Gallery traces local and Highland history.

As we proceed towards Inverness there will be more opportunities for some beautiful shots at spots near Loch Ness, the River Ness and Ness Islands, a group of wooded islands close to the centre of Inverness connected by suspension bridges and popular with visitors. The Ness Islands (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Nis) are situated on the River Ness, opposite the Bught Park, in the city of Inverness, Scotland. The first bridges to the islands were built in 1828, prior to their construction the only access to the islands was by boat. The original bridges were washed away in the flood of 1849 and were replaced in 1853-1854 by two suspension bridges designed by William Dredge.

THE CASTLE WILL BE CLOSED FROM 2ND OCTOBER 2023 / TILL MID APRIL 2024. WE WILL GO TO FORT GEORGE INSTEAD . From Clava Cairns, it is just a short drive towards Cawdor Castle. We will spend around 1 hour here. Take some time to wander the beautiful walled gardens and natural woodlands while taking in the castle’s extensive history dating back as far as 1180. The castle is a popular destination and a must-see, not least for its connection to the Shakespeare play Macbeth. Cawdor Castle built as a private fortress by the Thanes of Cawdor. An ancient medieval tower built around the legendary holly tree. Uniquely for a Scottish Castle, Cawdor boasts three very different gardens. Each with their own history that generations of owners have over the years, transformed and extended. As a result, these ideas are represented today by the Walled Garden, the Flower Garden and the Wild Garden. We will then head back towards Invergordon, returning at least 1 hour prior to your ship’s departure.

Clava Cairns is a deeply sacred place within the landscape of the Highlands is steeped in history, with the first usage of the site thought to date back over 4000 years. Set within a beautiful forested area, there is evidence that ancient peoples returned here again and again; there are even the ruins of a medieval chapel here. The Clava Cairns serves as the inspiration for the fictitious Craigh na Dun standing stones in the book and TV series Outlander, in fact, the famous “cleft stone” that transports the main character Claire back in time can be found here. Clava Cairns or the Prehistoric Burial Cairns of Balnuaran of Clava are a group of three Bronze Age cairns located near Inverness. A hugely significant and exceptionally well preserved prehistoric site, Clava Cairns is a fantastic example of the distant history of Highland Scotland.

The tour then takes us east towards Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre. Culloden famously played host to the bloody Battle of Culloden, the outcome of which had ramifications far outside the local area and is intensively documented at the visitor centre. Get up close and personal with the history of the battle with artefacts, re-enactments and talks by local historians. On 16 April 1746, the final Jacobite Rising came to a brutal head. Jacobite supporters, seeking to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones, gathered to fight the Duke of Cumberland's government troops. It was the last pitched battle on British soil and, in less than an hour, around 1,500 men were slain – more than 1,000 of them Jacobites.