Our next day was pretty much travel. Dropped the car in Bilbao airport, glad to be finished with driving on the wrong side of the road. Also, I am really over the yankie GPS woman who I think is called Delores or Laverne or something equally as shrill. She is the most annoying GPS voice ever recorded and she gives incorrect, badly timed advice, then insists you are going over the speed limit when you are not. She nags. One time she told me to stop getting things out of my pocket and concentrate on the road, then wanted to know why I bought the flip sunglasses. Ok, I admit she had a point, but as I told her, I needed a pair and the hawker was a nice, friendly guy. Anyway, now we are in the UK and the car we picked up here in Scotland has a polite British lady GPS who is reassuring and very considered and all is well again.
So, yes, we are in the UK. Heathrow was a nightmare. I wont say any more, only that we are paying the price of terrorism in these big airports and it is reducing people to cattle. Spilling an entire coffee at the feet of a lovely American couple didn't add to the experience. They were very understanding. She did look at my flip sunnies strangely though.
Anyway Aberdeen was just one night, an Italian meal, breakfast and bye but then followed a grand touring day to Inverness via magical Scottish countryside.
On a whim decided to stop at Cawdor castle, a grand old castle manor house surrounded by beautiful gardens, babbling brook and nine hole golf course. The castle is still home to the thanes of Cawdor. I was a little disappointed to learn that this was not connected with Macbeth or King Duncan, Shakespeare just stole the setting of this castle for the murder. But it was a fantastic place, all stone, Chippendale furniture and velvet drapes.
We decided to head to Inverness via the battlefield of Culloden. This vast moor was the site of the last battle on British soil, a full scale face to face barney between the Jacobites, sympathisers of the Scottish claimant to the throne of England, bonnie Prince Charlie and the government troops led by Lord Cumberland. The Jacobites were undefeated and the uprising was riding the crest of a wave until Culloden where the King's troops massacred the Scots. This was followed by the Highland Clearance (no, not a half price kilt sale), an ethnic cleansing of all things Scottish, murder, rape, plunder of the highlands that continued in many forms for a long time. Charlie escaped to Skye, then Europe where he hid and became an alcoholic. The battleground tour is one of the best historic tours I have seen. It was a shame it started to rain, but it sort of added to the atmosphere, with the thunder overhead coinciding with the headset talk of cannons and musket fire. Thousands died here and it stands as a Scottish monument akin to Gallipoli, but the info is remarkably balanced. Loved Culloden.
Had a nice meal in a pub in Inverness, our apartment is close to the centre of town and very nice.
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