Inverness - Glen Affric - Loch Ness

 Inverness Castle

Throwback to a time where travelling was not yet a threat to humanity (yes, we are still under lockdown here in Scotland).

We went last January to Inverness and Loch Ness for the first time. We were very lucky with the weather, first dry week since probably august last year, and looking at the pictures people might think I'm exaggerating when I'm moaning about the constant rain here....

Inverness, the biggest city and the capital of the Scottish Highlands, is a very charming city situated on the banks of the river Ness. 

Inverness Castle

Inverness Cathedral

We had a nice stroll around Inverness and later went to visit Fort George an 18th century military complex built to secure the North of Scotland against a Jacobite uprising. But by the time the Fort was finished, the Jacobites were defeated at the nearby battle of Culloden. If you want to learn more about the Jacobite uprising I'd advice you to watch the first season of Outlander, as it is surprisingly historically accurate.

View from the Fort George

Nowadays the Fort is still in use by the military but it is also open to the public. We felt a bit weird visiting the Fort while soldiers and officers were around, on duty.

The next day we headed to the most amazing place,  Glen Affric, for a day hike. The glen (narrow valley in Scottish Gaelic) is claimed to be the most beautiful Glen in Scotland and contains the third largest area of Caledonian pinewood (mostly Scots pine trees) and is a national natural and scenic reserve.

The very remote Glen Affric is a combination of the best things Scotland has to offer: rugged mountains, lochs, moorlands, waterfalls and this incredible feeling to be completely lost in the wild.

By being quite close to the west coast the weather here was, unfortunately, a bit dreich (wet, drizzly), and sadly one of the streams we needed to cross on our path, without a bridge, had way to much water flowing, we had to turn around and come back on our steps. Nevertheless it was a great hike that I would recommend it, but better check with an information centre to make sure the loop around the loch is doable.

Loch Affric

Scots Pine Trees

I like travelling in January as it is the low season and we can find amazing deals for accommodation. We booked a 4 stars hotel in a beautiful pink castle by the Beauly Firth for only £40 for our first night. But the down side is that some seasonal touristic village can be pretty dead at this time of the year. We stayed the second night in Drumnadrochit (I can't pronounce it properly) which is a village in the middle of the world famous Loch Ness and there was only one pub open for dinner that night, all the other hotels, restaurants and cafés were closed for their winter hibernation.

We enjoyed the visit to Urquhart Castle on the Loch Ness shore, with a private little cinema session and a private guided tour. The history of the castle is a lot about fights between Scottish clans so it becomes quickly very confusing, but it's definitely worth a visit as it's the most picturesque castle I've visited so far.

Urquhart Castle

The visit to the castle was followed by a long drive back home along the impressive Loch Ness to try to spot Nessie. I believe she was having a nap at that time so we missed our chance to meet her. We took a little coffee break in the cute town of Fort Augustus at the western tip of Loch Ness, which has a very informative tourism centre about the fascinating construction of the Caledonian Canal which connects Inverness in the east coast to Fort William in the west.

View of the Loch Ness from Fort Augustus (the most westerly point of the Loch)

Fort Augustus

Loch Ness