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 2016: 26 - 27 September 2016

Brock had his morning walk at Culbin Forest on Monday. Culbin is a Forestry Commission plantation on sand dunes. There are dozens of tracks through the trees: some emerging onto the beach. I would recommend printing off a map from their website before starting out!

 A devil's coach horse beetle.

Pine trees growing on the dunes.

The ever-popular Findhorn Foundation was our next stop. It was incredibly busy and hard to park, even at this time of year. The cafe we had hoped to visit (La Boheme - found near the entrance to the site) was closed so we had to resort to the renamed 'Phoenix Cafe' further into the site. An attractive wooden building, with seating areas inside and out, but, as on our previous visit two years ago, the service was atrocious. There was a long queue; the till broke down; they ran out of coffee beans; no menus were available apart from one at the till point; there was a 30 mins + wait for the food to arrive (Rob had ordered a pie which simply needed to be put on a plate, and my choice was a jacket potato with cheese). So disappointing, when this could be such a nice cafe with some proper management and staff training. Until that happens, I would avoid it at all costs!

Afterwards we enjoyed looking at the lovely eco houses on the site. Here are a few of my favourites:-

There is a great wholefood and crafts shop on the site, which is well worth a visit. We stocked up on some food for the next day's breakfast: mushrooms, tomatoes, Quorn bacon and FR eggs.

Next, we headed to the village of Findhorn - another hard-to-park place. We headed to the Bakehouse for afternoon tea and cakes. This superb bakery has everything that the Phoenix has not: excellent food, friendly staff, and fast service. There are half a dozen homemade gluten free cakes to choose from: I had a cranberry slice that was delicious. Rob had a huge slice of pecan pie, and we sat outside enjoying the sunshine. Highly recommended!

Dinner that night was an Indian takeaway from Saffron in Inverness. The food was pretty good and they delivered to the door, which was a bonus. The price for two curries, two rice, poppadoms and a side dish was £26.50 (including delivery). A bit more than we would normally pay, but enjoyable.

On Tuesday we had a three mile walk at Glen Affric, taking in two of the trails at the unfortunately-named Dog Falls. The walk takes you past the water fall/gorge, through forest and around tiny Coire Loch. The pine forests, fungi and late flowering plants and bilberries were wonderful. It was surprisingly busy in the car park, but most people just go as far as the waterfall, so the longer trails are not too busy. It is very quiet, with a light wind in the trees being the only sound you can hear.

The Bothy at Fort Augustus was our lunchtime stop. It is dog-friendly, but service stops at around 2.30 pm, so we only just made it in time. Rob had veggie burger and chips. There were no GF vegetarian main courses, so I just had a mushroom/cheese starter without the bread, and a side of chips. With a tea and a mineral water, the bill came to £18.80. Despite the bad reviews it gets on Trip Advisor, we found the staff to be pleasant and welcoming. I probably would not return though, unless some GF veggie options were introduced.

Afterwards, we walked down to Loch Ness to see the tiny lighthouse, or 'unoccupied beacon' as it is less romantically referred to.

 Loch Ness in the background.

 The Caledonian Canal with five locks, seen from the bottom ...

... and the top.

A pretty town, but a bit too touristy for my taste. On a previous visit, we hired a boat and went out onto the loch - no sign of the Loch Ness Monster, though.

Holiday to Inverness: Days 5 - 6

27 - 28 March
Forres, Culbin & Findhorn
Ullapool & Achnahaird Beach

We started the day with a 4 mile walk around the woodlands and coastal trails at Culbin. It is a huge area of forest-covered sand dunes. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

 

 

Lunch was at Simply Red in Forres. We chose their small dishes offer of five plates for £22:- salad, Chinese vegetable rice, ravioli with pumpkin filling, garlic mushrooms with bread, and potatoes dauphinoise. It was quite an eclectic mixture and I fear that the Chinese dish contained some unwelcome fishy essence, but these were the only (supposed) vegetarian options. (The menu didn't have a notation for vegetarian dishes.) The waitress was friendly and service was pretty fast. The one downside was the table we had picked: next to three doors for exit, toilets and kitchen!

We went back to the Findhorn Foundation to have a look around the Moray Art Centre, which had been closed on our last visit, then had a coffee at the Blue Angel cafe. The exhibitions were:- Coastal Scenes by Ian McLachlan Scott and a collection of modern art from students. The sea paintings were beautiful - very impressionistic.

On Thursday, we drove to Ullapool, stopping off at Rogie Falls to walk Brock.

We all had a walk round Ullapool, before Brock went back to the car for a rest, while Rob and I had lunch at The Ceilidh Place. It is lovely inside, with a bookshop selling books, mainly about Scotland and the local area; a woodburning stove, polished concrete flooring and wooden-beamed ceiling.

The waitress was friendly, but we had to wait half an hour for our food to appear: too long when you are hungry! Rob had potato, cheese and leek bridie (pasty-type pie) with chips and salad. I ate grilled field mushrooms with taleggio cheese and salad. The food was good. I had ginger beer and Rob had Sencha green tea, which he did not enjoy. I thought it tasted like nettle or comfrey tea.

We walked around the town, taking in the breathtaking views from the harbour. 

 

 Fishermens' crates on the quayside

We had an indifferent coffee and cake at the Frigate Cafe before driving on to Achnahaird Beach - about 40 minutes drive north of Ullapool. The mountain views are amazing and the beach is beautiful, with acres of sand, surrounded by sea and mountains, and only a few visitors. 

 

 

Holiday To Inverness: Days 3 - 4

25 - 26 March 2013
Nairn and Findhorn; Glen Affric and Inverness

Brock's second walk of the day was along the long, sandy beach at Nairn, followed by a walk back through the town.

We had lunch at The Bakehouse in Findhorn. The food and coffee were superb, but quite a long wait (half an hour) for the main courses to arrive. We started with an Americano coffee for me: green tea for Rob. Rob had a piece of pecan tart, while I had a delicious, gluten free chocolate cake. Probably the best gluten free cake I have tasted. Rob had a felafel, hummus and aubergine dip platter with home baked flat bread. I had hummus, olives and gluten free bread. (Bill came to around £22.) It was all first class and we would have eaten here again if we had been in the vicinity.

(Photo of The Bakehouse taken from their website)

The Findhorn Foundation was our next stop. Brock walked around the site with us, admiring the growing number of eco-friendly houses. One of the older, three-bedroomed houses is up for sale at £300K. The interior looks beautiful on the website. There is a really good food and gift shop on the site, too.

On Tuesday, we drove to Glen Affric and went on a 3.25 mile walk through stunning pine forest, with distant views of snowy mountains. The waterfall called 'Dog Falls' (we kept Brock firmly on the lead at this point, just in case ;o)), and the small Coire Loch added to the interest of the walk. Although we felt quite warm with the walking, there were icicles hanging in the gorge, and we had a light snow shower on the way round.

We had planned to drive on to Fort Augustus, but a bad traffic accident had blocked the route, so we returned to Inverness.

Lunch was at the Pizza Express. Rob had Giardina pizza followed by Cafe Reale dessert (figs, marscapone cheese and coffee). Rob ordered 'chips' and got polenta chips as a side order, which he didn't like. I had a rather oily Goats' Cheese Salad, and ice cream fudge sundae, with a Peroni beer and macchiato coffee. The bill came to £37. We had a bit of a shock at first because the waiter had added a third main course to our bill, making it £47. It was expensive enough without that! The restaurant looks a bit tatty, with chipped paintwork and food on the floor; our first choice of desserts was not available, and then we had the problem with the bill. We decided that we probably wouldn't go back there again for those reasons.

After a brief look round the shops, we bought some nice food from M&S for dinner and headed home to relax for the evening.