cat shepard Posted July 24, 2019 #101 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Just now, GeorgeCharlie said: 🙂Credit for most of the pictures goes to my wife - Lynne. Thank you, Lynne! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sopwith Posted July 24, 2019 #102 Share Posted July 24, 2019 3 hours ago, GeorgeCharlie said: You can see George Heriot's School (aka Hogwarts) in the distance at the right middle of this photo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ontheweb Posted July 24, 2019 #103 Share Posted July 24, 2019 2 hours ago, GeorgeCharlie said: 🙂Credit for most of the pictures goes to my wife - Lynne. Cheers then for your wife Lynne. She definitely deserves them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 25, 2019 Author #104 Share Posted July 25, 2019 On Monday morning (May 20th) we arrived in port at Invergordon. Invergordon is a small friendly village - which is mainly seen as the gateway to the Scottish Highlands and offers a large number of shore excursions for cruise ships. Invergordon itself has a famous mural trail with 11 large colour wall paintings representing life in the Highlands past and present. Although, our view from the ship had a more industrial look. This clip shows a better view of the dock area. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted July 25, 2019 #105 Share Posted July 25, 2019 Your wife Lynn takes great pictures and wonderful videos. Love them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 25, 2019 Author #106 Share Posted July 25, 2019 We'd pre-booked a tour with WOW Scotland Tours, a well-regarded local tour company. Number 1 tour operator in Inverness as rated by TripAdvisor and 5 star rated by Visit Scotland. Gordon and Kay Pearson were born in Northern Scotland and founded WOW Scotland in 2010. Since then they have evolved into a company offering both the top tourist sights and, by using smaller vehicles, they ability to get-off-the-beaten-track and show the real Scottish Highlands. They claim, that other then at the major tourist stops, the chances of seeing other people from our ship on this route are slim to none. And I certainly agree, as none of the big tour busses would have able to traverse many of the winding country lanes we travelled on. Their two 30-seat mini-coaches feature Wi-Fi and you certainly will not have any problems finding your bus, as they are very brightly painted - to say the least!! You can tell which bus you are on by way of the stylized "O" in the WOW. Ours depicted highland cattle and the other one showing a bus on a bridge. And they are quite proud of the paint scheme, as noted by Gordon in this clip. Bus from space.mp4 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 25, 2019 Author #107 Share Posted July 25, 2019 We had Gordon as our guide and he came in typical Scottish attire. He was a fantastic informative and entertaining guide, continually regaling us of his tales of Scotland while he was driving. This one highlights the difficulties the large tour busses would getting out to see the Highlands like we did. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 25, 2019 Author #108 Share Posted July 25, 2019 1 hour ago, GeorgeCharlie said: We'd pre-booked a tour with WOW Scotland Tours, a well-regarded local tour company. Number 1 tour operator in Inverness as rated by TripAdvisor and 5 star rated by Visit Scotland. Gordon and Kay Pearson were born in Northern Scotland and founded WOW Scotland in 2010. Since then they have evolved into a company offering both the top tourist sights and, by using smaller vehicles, they ability to get-off-the-beaten-track and show the real Scottish Highlands. They claim, that other then at the major tourist stops, the chances of seeing other people from our ship on this route are slim to none. And I certainly agree, as none of the big tour busses would have able to traverse many of the winding country lanes we travelled on. Their two 30-seat mini-coaches feature Wi-Fi and you certainly will not have any problems finding your bus, as they are very brightly painted - to say the least!! You can tell which bus you are on by way of the stylized "O" in the WOW. Ours depicted highland cattle and the other one showing a bus on a bridge. And they are quite proud of the paint scheme, as noted by Gordon in this clip. Bus from space.mp4 23.34 MB · 0 downloads It seems like the video clip in this post did not post the same way others did and will not always run properly. So I'll re-post the clip and hopefully it will work correctly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #109 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Our first stop was in the village of Beauly. At its centre lies the Beauly Priory, which was one of three priories built in Scotland back in 1230 for the monk's of the Valliscaulian order. Today, extensive ruins of the Priory church remain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #110 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Standing in the market square by the Priory, is the 15th Century Beauly Mercat Cross - one of the oldest surviving standing market crosses in Scotland. Didn't get a picture of it, so I pulled this one from the internet. As you can see, it's definitely not as elaborate as the one in Edinburgh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #111 Share Posted July 26, 2019 He mentioned, for Outlander fans, the Beauly Priory was where Claire meets Maisri. Gordon suggested picking up lunch here and recommended getting something 'to go" from the local bakery, as there would not be an actual meal stop on the tour. Which most people did, but we were also able to grab quick snacks at a couple other stops if we wanted to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #112 Share Posted July 26, 2019 After Beauly we continued our drive to Inverness. we left the main roads and did a very scenic drive through the Highland hills. Here are some clips to give you a brief sampling of what we saw. We passed by many fields of pasturing Highland Cattle And even one deer farm. Not the best of picture as it was taken through the bus window, while we were moving. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sopwith Posted July 26, 2019 #113 Share Posted July 26, 2019 10 hours ago, GeorgeCharlie said: On Monday morning (May 20th) we arrived in port at Invergordon. Another interesting note: “Inver” means “Mouth of”, hence Mouth of Gordon in modern lingo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted July 26, 2019 #114 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Love your reports. Great pictures and videos. Thanks Lynn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #115 Share Posted July 26, 2019 9 hours ago, Sopwith said: Another interesting note: “Inver” means “Mouth of”, hence Mouth of Gordon in modern lingo. So in that case, Inverness translates to "Mouth of the River Ness", as it's on the River Ness. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pschweig Posted July 26, 2019 #116 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Thank you so much taking your time to post this very interesting and informative review. It is so helpful for those of us planning a future cruise with this itinerary. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 26, 2019 Author #117 Share Posted July 26, 2019 8 minutes ago, pschweig said: Thank you so much taking your time to post this very interesting and informative review. It is so helpful for those of us planning a future cruise with this itinerary. Thank you - at the speed this review is being done - I may still be at it by the time you depart on your future cruise.😉 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare erewhon Posted July 27, 2019 #118 Share Posted July 27, 2019 Thank you for the update. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFD1 Posted July 27, 2019 #119 Share Posted July 27, 2019 Outstanding pictures and a wonderful commentary. Great fun to read. I love Scotland and can't wait to get back. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 28, 2019 Author #120 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Our stop in Inverness was about an hour. Gordon parked the bus by St. Andrew's Cathedral and told us he would be providing a half hour walking tour of the downtown area (including the castle). He said anybody who didn't want to join the tour could tour on their own, but to be back to the bus in an hour. Besides the cathedral, there were a number of souvenir places, along with other stores and eating places in the immediate area. View of Inverness Castle from where we parked. On our walk Gordon gave a running talk on history of the Inverness area. We walked along the banks of River Ness, across a bridge into the main downtown area. View of the river bank area we walked along. A closer view of some of the restored buildings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 28, 2019 Author #121 Share Posted July 28, 2019 We stopped at this multi-level McDonald's to allow people to use the facilities and/or, grab a quick bite to eat. Then we headed up the hill to the castle, where Gordon continued his historical presentation. Although, his comments regarding Flora MacDonald helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after the Battle of Culloden were somewhat more hysterical, then historical!! Statue of Highland heroine Flora MacDonald. We didn't go into the castle, but spent some time enjoying the views. View of St. Andrew's Cathedral from the castle. Then we strolled back to the bus. Some pictures from on our way back. The Glenalbyn pub. Don't know if it is related to the Glen Albyn distillery, which operated in Inverness from 1846 to 1983. It seems like most areas of the world have their own version of "Dollar Store". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 28, 2019 Author #122 Share Posted July 28, 2019 A restored Victorian gothic townhouse. The High Street pedestrian way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GeorgeCharlie Posted July 28, 2019 Author #123 Share Posted July 28, 2019 After a visit into the cathedral, we departed Inverness on our way to try and get a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far down the road, when one of our passengers in a panic - asked Gordon to go back, as she couldn't find her purse and thought she had left it on a bench by the cathedral. So, we returned back to the cathedral, but while she was running around in the courtyard by the cathedral - one of the other passengers noticed it sitting on the floor under her seat. All's well that's ends well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3kidsplayingball Posted July 28, 2019 #124 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Wonderful pictures and enjoying the narrative too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruizer Bill Posted July 28, 2019 #125 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Thank you for your review. That was fun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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