July 20, 2018 – Invergordon, Scotland, another castle and a battle

July 26, 2018

So, today’s tour will have us touring a castle and viewing a battlefield

First the castle, well actually it is technically called a “Fortified Home”. We were informed this about 10 minutes before our arrival. I suspect the tour company’s marketing department felt they could sell more tickets for a castle tour, but the tour guide felt he had to tell us the truth at some point. That being said the tour was actually very interesting. The brochure calls this home Cawdor Castle and the home still remains in the Cawdor family and is occupied by the family in the fall and winter, being open to the tourists in the spring and summer.

The home is like any other home

It has a living room

A bedroom

Family portraits (this one of the current resident)

And portraits of the family’s ancestors

Of course, there is a kitchen

A lovely spiral staircase

A scotch cellar

With a entry that even Sheryl is too tall for

And what home would be complete without a trap door

And a dungeon

The exterior of this lovely home boasts the traditional drawbridge

And mandatory cannon

There are also two large gardens and a maze but we didn’t have enough time to tour them other then a quick photo.

From here we headed to the Culloden Moor, site of the 1746 Battle of Culloden, where the British defeated “Bonnie Prince Charlie” and the Highland clans. The battle only lasted about 1 hour, leaving almost 2,000 Scotsman and 300 British troops dead. Apparently if the British lost, we wouldn’t have a Queen Elizabeth today. We walked about a km out onto the battlefield when we noticed a slight drizzle starting which turned into a torrential downpour in less than 60 seconds.