The weather in Scotland has definitely turned, but as someone said to us the other day, it’s not a problem because the Scottish have waterproof skin. As we drove over the Kessock bridge the top of it was actually in cloud – or possibly mist but it looked like cloud. We were heading to Dunrobin but our first stop on the A9 was The Royal burgh of Tain which was granted the royal charter in 1066. Although obviously settled early in history the majority of the buildings in town seem to have been built in the 1800’s as they all look quite Victorian. As we walked round the town the rain stopped and we found most of the sites listed on the town map except the toll booth, it wasn’t obvious where it should be! However when we got back this evening we realised that we had actually been standing under it when we had been trying to work out where it was. The medieval church (St Duthus) which is now only used for memorials is very plain but actually very spectacular, a number of memorials were dedicated to those lost during the 1st world war, unfortunately this made it clear that a number of members of the same family were lost.
Our next stop was Dunrobin Castle, which is a very spectacular. The castle has been home to the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland since about 1235 when the Earldom of Sutherland was created. The early castle was fortified but remodelled in 1845 to change it from a fort to a house, this was done by Sir Charles Barry who was the architect of the Houses of Parliament. This is thought to be the oldest inhabited house in Britain. They also have Falconry displays every day so after walking round the castle we went down to the gardens and watched the display which was great. From there we drove to Dornoch via the coast road and on the way we saw some harbour seals at Loch Fleet, they were just sunning themselves on a sand dune. Dornoch is another burgh which has the most northerly Cathedral on the mainland. After walking round the town we drove to our final stop of the day which is the Falls of Shin, we went via Bonar bridge which I have to say isn’t what I expected. The falls are where the salmon leap the waterfall but unfortunately it is the wrong time of year so we didn’t see any but the falls were running very fast possibly due to the rain this morning. It was then time to head back to Inverness and plan tomorrow’s assault on the very north of Scotland!
