Day two of our UK summer adventure started off with a jolt. We woke late with the Parliament due to begin in 10 minutes downtown at the Town Hall.  John raced out the door, but no good can become of a day without coffee, so I set off to explore Inverness a little more slowly along the way. Downtown Inverness seems to have changed drastically over the 7 years since our last visit, with much more expansive shopping, dining, and many coffee houses. I picked up a couple semi-skim lattes before joining the clan. I was immediately impressed to find most people wearing their tartans, whether it was a full out kilt, vest and jacket, or tartan dress, skirt or scarves for the women.

Chief Ruairidh MacLennan (center), Alistair MacLennan, Chairman (2nd from left)

Our clan chief is Ruairidh MacLennan, Scotland’s youngest. Over the next hour or so, Ruairidh worked his way through the parliament agenda discussing the MacLennan museum, future gatherings, and made well-deserved leadership appointments for Canada and Australia. There was a presentation from the clan genealogist regarding the new clan database and DNA testing. The parliament last met in 2009 but it was decided the next gathering will be in four years in 2018 to coincide again with the Commonwealth Games which attracts a lot of people to Scotland for Homecoming.

Alex Graham, the Provost of Inverness (Mayor) then welcomed and addressed the clan first in Gaelic, and then in English. He most generously offered an expansive buffet lunch his staff had prepared and set out in the council board room for us.

The Town Hall Inverness is a gorgeous historical building with many plaques, paintings, flags and memorabilia that interest history and genealogy buffs such as us.

In 2007, we had been walking past the Town and came upon a children’s performance when we went inside to look at the WWI and WWII plaques. We enjoyed their dancing, piping and singing and their families welcomed us to their coffee and cookies social hour afterwards. The Town Hall always reminds me of the friendly folk of Inverness.

After lunch there were to be the mini Highland games in the Northern Meeting park. As it was starting to rain lightly, we decided to explore downtown and shop for John’s sporran, which was needed to complete his formal attire for the formal clan dinner.

We stopped in the churchyard of the Old High Church to peruse the headstones, before making our way down through the raindrops to Leakey’s Secondhand Bookshop and Cafe.
We follow Leakey’s on Facebook and are treated to the day’s soup and sandwich menu from 3,600 miles away. I had been craving a bowl of their hearty soup with “a chunk of crusty bread or oatcakes” for over a month, but was no longer hungry after the Provost’s luncheon. Leakey’s occupies a former church and is warmed by a wood burning stove next to the cash register station. The second floor cafe and print selection are accessed by a metal circular staircase.

We enjoyed looking down on the stacks and stacks of books while enjoying perfected steamed lattes and sharing a piece of pecan shortbread tart. It was unusual to see all those books in one place as we usually read on our iPads. Even when we go to the library to enjoy the reading room, we have not seen the massive amount of books that Leakey’s has on their shelves. It was very cosy and I can imagine spending another rainy afternoon by the warmth of the wood stove skimming through the stacks. We did find two prints verified over 100 years old, with sketches of the MacLennan and Munro crests, so we scooped them up as souvenirs of Inverness.

We continued to explore in the rain and found a wonderful old indoor Victorian Market. Huge black and white historic photos are displayed over many of the shop’s arched doorways. There were some expected touristy shops including one that sold Yankee Candles, a dentist, spice shop, hair salon, and an inviting coffee shop.

Marks & Spencers was close by, so we stocked up on wine and bottled water (travel essentials) and shopped around. It’s always fun to see what is on grocery stores shelves in other countries. My grand-cat Max might enjoy the cat milk?

The high street around the corner from Marks & Spencer and Eastgate Centre Mall is closed to cars for pedestrians to enjoy. Where we would have teenagers with guitars busking for change, we found delightful bagpipers in full Highland dress – across from McDonald’s…at least it sounds Scottish.

The search continued for the elusive sporran as it had to be authentic and created in Inverness. We shopped at Highland House of Fraser and Ben Wyvis, but the windows at Chisholm’s Highland Dress had caught our eye, so we ended our search there.

Upstairs we found the perfect combination of old world craftsmanship, attention to detail, and with the help of a very knowledgeable and sweet saleslady, we found the perfect pewter silver thistle sporran made in Scotland. What about me you ask?  I did find a brooch for my MacLennan sash with purple amethyst-like stones as a remembrance of Inverness. Lovely.

Later in the day, a shuttle delivered everyone to the Dores Inn  for pre-dinner drinks and socializing down by the shores of Loch Ness. Clansmen gathered with children, families, and new friends for photos, to raise a glass, and to gaze at the amazing scenery.

After an hour or so, Chief Ruairidh picked up his pipes and called us all to the street to march behind him and his colours to the Dores Parish Hall, where we were to have the traditional ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee).

At the hall great room, we quickly found ourselves at the last vacant table and were seated with a fantastic couple, Jane and Dave from the area, and 3 wonderful new friends from Ontario, Marilyn, Leslie, and Kristin.

The catered dinner started with prawns and Scottish salmon appetizer and was delicious as all Scottish salmon usually is. When it came time for the main course, they had run out of food for our table so there was a fair amount of joking and teasing while we waited for the hotel to prepare and deliver the missing meals of stovies (Scottish meat stew) and cranachan, which is literally a huge container of whipped cream, honey, whiskey and fresh raspberries.

Creaky Dores provided music for dancing and our new friend Jane got my husband up on the dance floor to learn a reel. He had been hiding his prowess on the dance floor all these years, so there is definitely dancing in his cards soon! There were raffles for prizes and a very cool bottle of Scottish whiskey with a Clan MacLennan label and games with pitching coins.  A great evening was had by all. Soon it was midnight and time to drive back down the country roads in the moonlight to the Beaufort.

Tomorrow we travel to Eilean Donan Castle.

This year we decided to visit the country of John’s MacLennan ancestors…Braveheart & William Wallace. On August 16th we flew business class Luftansa to Edinburgh…a wonderful relaxing start to this 2 week hiking adventure in the mists of Scotland.

Our first day in Edinburgh, we headed up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, which is perched on top of a dormant volcano. We had tickets to the Military Tattoo that first night. There was a huge metal stadium constructed in the front courtyard of the centuries old castle. When night fell, we were huddled together at the very top of the stadium to view a spectacular display of military bands, horses, motorcycles, and fireworks.

During the week we traveled to Inverness, Loch Ness, Uraquart Castle, Culloden Battlefield, Cawdor Castle, Clava Cairns, William Wallace Memorial, Eilean Donan Castle, Isle of Skye, Dalwhinnie Distillery, and Glasgow.

Boat trip on Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle

Clava Cairns prehistoric Bronze Age burial ground

Clava Cairns (for those of you who read Diana Gabaldon) was our first stop on our cycling trip through the countryside around Inverness.

Our cycling adventure included a stop at Cawdor Castle, for a tour and a spot of tea.

We also took a side trip to Stirling to visit the National Wallace Monument. After a hike up to the monument, & then up many cramped stone circular staircases inside, we found ourselves overlooking the scene of Scotland’s victory at The Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

The view from the top of the Monument looks out across the countryside towards Ben Lomond, the Trossachs, the River Forth, and the city of Stirling.

MacLennan Plaque on the 2nd floor of the castle

Portree Harbour on Skye

Hiking on Skye – The Old Man of Storr is the highest point on the Trotternish peninsula. We chose this Grade B climb after the young woman in the tourist office suggested we would be interested in a walk in the park near our B&B. Being skilled adventurers, outfitted with new hiking boots & Thorlo socks from REI, we were prepared for any climbing challenge, & it was quite an adventure. The 2-1/2 mile climb 1,000 feet up to the top of the Old Man was extremely wet & windy. After ignoring the safety notice & laboring on, pelting hail/rain threatened to blow us off the top. We are smiling in this photo because we are on our way down…

Royal Yacht HMY Britannia

Our second weekend in Edinburgh we continued to explore the other end of the Royal Mile – Holyrood Palace, more shows at the Gilded Balloon & the Udder Belly. We had tickets to Puppetry of the Penis, an Australian Eagles tribute band, and a group of Canadian women comedians. We also had lunch at a new little restaurant on the way to Holyrood Palace, near The End of the World Pub, called The Wedgewood. We highly recommend this for wine selection & a nouveau French menu.