Today was dads 40th birthday. I therefore decided to wake him up super early so he could make the most of his day. Mum had been up during the night putting his cards and present on a table; along with the fudge the hotel had given him as a present. Dad opened his gifts before we all went downstairs for breakfast.
This was the first hotel with breakfast included which we had stayed at in Scotland. We all had a cooked breakfast, though I stuck to just the toast. The breakfast was lovely and we were already looking forward to tomorrow’s. We went back to our room.
The weather was not amazing. It was dark and windy with a little rain. We eventually left for the day around 11am.
It didn’t take long to drive to cullodeon. The car park was surprisingly busy considering the weather. We got dressed in our waterproofs and walked into the battlefield’s visitor centre. It was here in 1746 that Bonnie Prince Charlie, having raised his army a year earlier in Glenfinnan, was beaten by the English and the Jacobite cause was over. My dad said that the museum was amazing. You were lead around a path which had Jacobite information on the left wall, and English information on the right. It meant that you could see what each side was doing at the same time. There wasn’t too much information either. Mum and I sat down and waited for dad. The museum ended with a video before we headed out onto the field itself.
The English and Jacobite positions were marked with flags. Mum and dad got me out of my push-chair and I was told that I was allowed to walk anywhere I liked. In that case I wanted to walk to an old house, behind the English line, before going back into the museum again. Sadly that wasn’t an option therefore after the house, I was put in my push-chair again. Mum and dad proceeded to cross the centre of the English line and head to the Jacobite line. There was a lot of ground between the two front lines and it was very boggy. I pictured Todays weather, of it being dull and wet, mirroring the battle day weather. I was getting wet.
We finally reached the Jacobite line. We walked from the Jacobite centre to the right flank, before walking back to the English line. The rain had started and it was windy. Once done we therefore headed into Inverness to find some birthday cake.
Inverness could be great … but it isn’t. There are some wonderful buildings; but these are in between some horrible ones. It didn’t help that we saw 3 youths get arrested for shop lifting. The final nail in the coffin was there wasn’t any great cake. Mum, admitting defeat, visited an M&S cafe where dad had a hot chocolate and a slice of chocolate cake. After this we left the city centre and drove around a little before we found a retail park.
After a little shopping we went to Pizza Hut for our evening meal. M&S and Pizza Hut … not epic for a 40th! The pizza took so long to arrive that afterwards we went back to our hotel and went to sleep.
Tomorrow we leave Inverness and I am glad too. We head to the Cairngorms and back into Scottish scenery.
Looking forward to that
Toodle pip!
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