After the windy and rainy night, we wondered what weather we would find in the morning. It was certainly grey, but there was not much rain, and no rain at all by the time we finished our Full Scottish Breakfast. We once again loaded the car and headed down the road.
First stop, Culloden Battlefield. Culloden is where the Jacobite army, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, faced the Government troops led by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in 1746. The Jacobites (Latin for James) sought to return the Stuart line to the throne. It was the final confrontation between the two sides and resulted in a complete rout of the Jacobite troops.

Don trying out the weapons

The site had a very well presented museum alongside the field where the battle actually took place. In the museum, there were presenters in period costume, realistic reproductions of period weapons that you could try out, and a large visual display that showed the detailed movements of all the troops throughout the battle. It seemed to show the troops down to the man, and it was possible to see how each battalion moved and reacted throughout the battle. Fascinating. There were more displays that showed the whole background to the conflict and events leading up the the battle. We then walked out to the battlefield area and it was so much easier to imagine what actually happened.

Our next stop was Cawdor Castle, which is a 17th century castle that was built around a 15th century tower house. It is still inhabited by the Dowager Countess, but she lives in a nearby cottage during the summer while the house is open for public viewing. We were there just days before it was due to be closed for the season. The Countess, however, apparently hangs out around the grounds pretty much all day every day.

Cawdor Castle

She had just been through the castle a half hour before we went through and was still around somewhere because her car was parked out front. One of the guides was quite chatty and told us quite a bit about the family. The Countess sounds like a character!
At this point we came to the unfortunate conclusion that we were not going to have time to make it to the Speyside distilleries. That was a sad decision, but there is just so much to see and do in Scotland. Clearly we should have scheduled weeks, not days!
We therefore took a shortcut down to Grantown on Spey, where we had lunch and shopped in a “country wear” store. There were lots of wonderful Scottish hunting jackets, etc., at quite steep prices. We did not splurge. Tami enjoyed seeing a fellow with his dog. They both went into the local butcher shop, and when they came out the little dog had a large fresh bone, wrapped in plastic, in his mouth ready to take home.

A dog and his bone

After lunch we headed back out and drove through some of the Scottish Highlands. This is the kind of countryside you so often see in pictures — rounded hills covered in heather (many other areas we had been in were heavily forested). Tami would have liked to stop and go for a hike, but we just did not have time. We wanted to get to Pitlochry in time to find a place to stay.
We were lucky we got to Pitlochry when we did — the town was almost all booked. The nice people at the tourist office did manage to find a couple rooms for us, however. The Fasganeoin Hotel turned out to be a wonderful place. No, we can’t pronounce it either. It was truly a great find. It was built by a local wealthy business man who spent much of his time in Japan but built this house in Pitlochry to entertain his friends in the summer. It was a gorgeous old house with many bedrooms for all those friends. It was of the era to have bell ringers in all the rooms for summoning help. It was decorated in period decor but was quite comfortable and the grounds were beautiful.
After settling into our rooms and greeting the local cat who was stretched in front of the fire, we headed back into Pitlochry to find dinner. Pitlochry is very picturesque with a winding main street lined with shops, restaurants and bars. They have a local theater that puts on shows all summer and their current offering was some sort of light and sound festival in the forest that seemed to be quite a big deal. That explained the lack of rooms! There were lines of buses along the street of this little town, filled with theater-goers. We were happy not to be getting on a bus. We found a delicious dinner, ate too much, and stumbled back down to our hill at the end of the street. After a nice stop in the lounge to relax and chat, we headed to our beautiful rooms for a nice quiet night. On to Edinburgh tomorrow!

Pitlochry main street