2019 Holiday in Inverness: Days 7 - 8: Ness Islands Walk, Nairn, Findhorn Bakehouse, Cullen and Dunkeld

The Ness Islands Walk in Inverness was our morning dog walk. You can walk on either side of the River Ness and cross at the islands and over the bridges in the city centre to make a variable length of circular walk.

 Rob lurking suspiciously on a bridge to the Islands

Inverness Castle and the view towards the City Centre

 Brock and I and a carved wooden bench on one of the Ness Islands

Next, we drove East to the seaside town of Nairn. We gave Brock another long walk along the beach and up through the town, stopping to sit at an outside table of The Classroom Bistro for a coffee and cake.

The Bakehouse Cafe at Findhorn was our lunchtime venue (our third visit this holiday!). It was still warm enough for us to sit outside with Brock. I ate GF bread with halloumi and roasted vegetables; Rob had scrambled eggs on toast. The freshly baked bread is fabulous.

Further East, we came to the small fishing village of Cullen, home of the famous Cullen Skink soup (made from smoked haddock, onions and potatoes). We headed downhill to the harbour first.

Then we had a tasty rum and raisin, and coffee ice cream before exploring the three antique and bric a brac shops in the town. We saw some beautiful brass port holes, painted stained glass windows, vintage clothing, costume jewellery, books, and just about every other item you could wish for.

Saturday came round all too soon, and we were up at 7.00 am to give The Bothy a clean and vacuum, getting on the road for home just after 9.00 am.

We stopped off at Dunkeld once again and this time the lovely Kettles of Dunkeld cook shop in the town was open. I bought a silicone spatula, tiny whisk and two top notch dishcloths.

We had morning coffee and cake in the excellent The Scottish Deli. It is dog friendly, so Brock was able to accompany us and met a lively, 'free range' friend in there who was full of beans and trying to get him to play (without much success, since Brock was firmly on the lead!).

We arrived home at 2.00 pm and said hello to the Minnow Cat and Connie Chicken, who did not seem to have missed us at all, since our friends and neighbours Neil and Babette had looked after them so well.

2019 Holiday in Inverness: Days 1 and 2: Journey Up, Dunkeld, Findhorn and Croy

Rob, Brock and I were on holiday last week, staying at The Bothy, near Croy, Inverness.

We set off at 9.30 am, stopping just up the road at Johnstonebridge Services for coffee and a dog walk.

Lunch was at Dunkeld, a convenient half way point for us. It was warm and sunny so we decided to have a picnic in the park overlooking the River Tay, with food from The Scottish Deli. I had a hummus and sundried tomato salad; Rob had the same in a roll.

[Please click on any photo to see a larger version].

Findhorn was our next stop (via a 'Google Special' back route). We had a walk by the sea, then afternoon tea at The Bakehouse Cafe, again sitting outside - all four of the outside tables were taken on this sunny day. This was one of our favourite places to eat on our previous visit, and it was as good as we remembered, with fresh 'real' bread baked daily, homemade food and cakes, including gluten free options. I had a GF cranberry slice and Rob had the citrus cheesecake - both were delicious.

It was time to head to our holiday cottage, and we were soon in and lighting the wood burning stove to warm it up, before giving Brock a walk nearby. I saw a roe deer, and heard another crashing about in the gorse. The Bothy looked to have had a make-over since our last visit, and had a new bathroom and kitchen. All very nice and cosy, with a vase of yellow tulips and a packet of shortbread awaiting our arrival.

The countryside surrounding the holiday cottage is quite flat, and you can see distant views of the mountains and sea. The photo above shows the fields and trees nearby.

On Sunday we headed to Culbin Forest for our morning walk. There are dozens of small trails to follow, including ones that go down to the sea. The pine trees are growing on an area that was once sand dunes, and run to many acres.

Our next stop was at the Findhorn Foundation. We always enjoy looking at all of the eco houses on the site. There are also craft studios, a wholefood and craft shop, two cafes (I recommend heading into Findhorn itself to the Bakehouse Cafe, rather than eating here, however) and The Moray Art Gallery on site.

We headed back to the Bakehouse Cafe for a filo vegetable pasty for Rob and a GF chocolate brownie to takeaway. There was a mixture of bright sunshine and heavy showers, so we could not leave Brock in the car, nor sit on the wet seats, so bought some tomato soup to take home for lunch at the holiday cottage. We had a quiet afternoon reading the Sunday paper, walking Brock, watching tv and generally relaxing.

 

Holiday to Inverness: Days 7 - 8

29 - 30 March 2013
Dornoch, Tain & Inverness
The Journey Home

The beach at Dornoch was our first stop of the day, for a walk along the sands. This was followed by coffee and a cake in the town, and a look round some of the shops. It is a picturesque town, with some beautiful houses and buildings, surrounded by lovely countryside and a long, sandy beach. It is about 40 minutes drive north of Inverness.

Lunch was at Tain in the 'Sunflowers Too' Coffee Shop, where we ate jacket potatoes, which were okay. Nice staff, but lots of children running about, so not very relaxing.

Brock enjoyed yet another walk around the River Ness islands, back in Inverness. We did a bit of shopping in the city centre (including some 'Herbalism' cleanser for me from LUSH) before heading back to The Bothy.

 Still plenty of snow in the mountain ranges (this photo taken through the car window on the journey home)

The end of the week had come around so quickly and we headed for home just after 10.00am on the Saturday. Being the Easter weekend, we decided that Dunkeld would be too busy and stopped off at House of Bruar instead. It is a site near Blair Atholl in Perthshire, where the company sells clothes, food, souvenirs etc; like an outlet centre without the discounts! This was somewhat of a mistake as it was packed with holiday makers. We made a bee line for the restaurant, where I had a main salad plate, Rob had vegetable lasagna and salad and we both drank Americano coffees. The bill was around £21. The food and staff were very good, but we couldn't enjoy it, with the packed in crowds of people. The ladies loos had a 10+ queue waiting to use them. We were glad to be back on our way, and got home in time for dinner.

Holiday to Inverness: Days 1 - 2

23 - 24 March 2013
Journey up and visit to The Black Isle

Rob, Brock and I are just back from a week's holiday staying at The Bothy, Croy, near Inverness.

On the day that we were leaving for our trip, our area was hit by a heavy snowfall, with drifting of up to 4' deep in places. Our nearest neighbours were completely snowed in, we were luckily able to get away as our house is on a hill with two directions to travel in.

We stopped off at Dunkeld for lunch and to give Brock his third walk of the day, along by the river. We found a cafe that allowed dogs, albeit in a tiny annex area. We stocked up on some nice wine and food at the deli before heading to Croy.

We arrived at 5pm and got the wood burning stove fired up.

On Sunday, we started with a walk along the River Ness, from the South Kessock area towards Inverness. We saw lots of interesting buildings along the way, but this graffiti caught our eye. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Rob and Brock with Rocpool restaurant in the background. Rated the #1 restaurant in Inverness on TripAdvisor - but only has one vegetarian option on the menu!

Next, we headed to the Black Isle. The weather was cold, with an icy wind.

We walked Brock at Chanonry Point, then headed back to Rosemarkie for lunch at the community-run cafe on the beach.

The lighthouse at Chanonry Point

The beach looking towards Rosemarkie

Master Brock on the beach

Cromarty was our next stopping point, where we had a warming, 'luxury' hot chocolate in a cafe and bought some cheese, second hand books and handmade soap in some of the lovely, little independent shops there.

A view from Cromarty harbour.

We drove round a little more, before heading back for a glass of red wine next to the log fire at the cottage!