Inverness

I will have to keep this fairly brief as I feel I could go on and on. I will do my best and use pictures to sullplement so I can keep my words few(er).

We flew from Amsterdam to Inverness and spent three nights in a great little hostel there. We spent our first day walking around the city, familiarizing ourselves and enjoying the river that runs through town. We explored a cemetery and climbed a hill for what would have been a view of the city if there weren't so many trees in the way.

The room we stayed in the first night was at the back of the hostel with a separate entrance. There were only three rooms back there and we had our own kitchen to use so it was a delightful little secluded area just for us. And our room had a view of both the river and the castle - yes please.

On day two we made our way to Drumnadrochit for the day. We went to Urquhart Castle which is situated on Loch Ness. We sadly did not see Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, but the castle was lovely and the Loch was stunning. We decided to walk back to Drumnadrochit from Urquhart as it was a two mile walk that winded along the Loch. The clouds were clearing and the sun started shining just as we ventured off and it made for an absolutely lovely stroll. Along the way we happened upon an Equestrian... Farm? We walked on up and ended up booking an ride for the next morning. Then we were going to head to some exhibit in town but saw a sign for a footpath to some waterfalls just three miles out of town. The sun was shining and warming our bones putting us in exceptionally jovial moods so we decided to follow said path. I am so glad we did as it was incredible. It took us up the hillside, through fields, along deserted roads, into forests, and to the falls. The falling water itself wasn't impressive, but the icicles certainly were. There were icicles clinging to the rockface behind and around the falls. It was beautiful.

On day three we started the day with a horseback ride. It was more like horseback skating as the ground was incredibly icy. The lady taking us riding kept apologizing saying she didn't realize how icy it was. My horse, Florry, was particularly prone to slipping for some reason. We didn't make it very far as we had to move so slowly. It was a little disappointing, but I am still glad went. After our horse adventure we made our way back to Inverness and there we waited for the bus to take us to Stirling.

Ok, that went way different than I anticipated. I am far too lazy to edit or shorten so this will remain as is. Sorry about that... The rest, if they are written, will be less wordy. Well, maybe not less wordy, but less like a " and then we went here, then here, then here, then here." You know??