Inverness today and the weather outside is mental. Snow in parts of the Highlands too for a laugh. This should be interesting. So having a cuppa tea & some chocolate before I head out because tea fixes everything and chocolate is just delicious. Now to find out if the bridge over the Firth of Forth is open because apparently that closes in high winds.
The drive to Inverness was beautiful. There was snow in the Cairngorms and it was a tad windy. Scotland has the magic of average speed limit cameras so people tend to stick to the speed limit. Because it was snowing they were going slower than normal. I forgot how nervous people are driving in snow. Having spent the last 5 winters in the Midwest, it’s not considered ‘snowing’ until there’s at least an inch of the stuff on the road. So by my measure it was more like flurries than snow. I must have looked like a lunatic keeping to the speed limit of 60 mph.
There was a lay-by on the side of the road so I stopped to take pictures. It was breathtaking and instantly felt like I was home.
Over the next hills was a sign ‘Welcome to the Highlands.’ My heart knows when it’s home. God I love this place! I hate snow but here it just makes sense. I stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop on the side of the road and inhaled a cock-a-leekie soup and a fresh bun. Holy Hannah it was AMAZING! I’ll be making that soup when I get back stateside!
At one point my GPS took me down some wee winding roads, which still had a 50 mph speed limit. HOW? Those roads are 1 car wide! Thankfully it passed without incident and I got to Culloden Moor. It was more than a little bit cold and there weren’t many people there. I had the moor to myself for virtually the entire time I was on it.
There’s an energy about the moor that’s hard to explain. It’s like they’re still there, waiting. The wind was bitingly cold but it was oddly calm at the same time. The Clan stones crushed my heart. At the Campbell stones it felt like my throat was closing and I couldn’t breathe. I don’t even know anyone named Campbell… I didn’t want to leave. God, it’s hard to put it into words; the knowing without knowing how you know something you can’t even be sure that you know at all.
Culloden is a war grave and it’s impossible to forget when you’re surrounded by Clan grave markers. Some are so faded, you can barely make them out.
I don’t know how long I stayed on the Moor but I eventually went back inside and had a cream tea to warm up again. While I was eating, it started snowing. Apparently it snowed on the day of battle so it seemed a fitting end to the day there. I need to come back here.
It’s also Friday, 13th.
