"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Culloden Battlefield, I'll be your tour guide, Awesome-Voice McGee. Please, take as many pictures as you like, but please don't re-enact any parts of the battle I'm going to describe to you as we walk along the paths. We aren't the only people on the field, please be courteous to others, turn your cell phones on vibrate, keep your arms and legs in the paths at all times, and don't tap on the clan stones, the irate Scots ghosts don't like the noise."
"If you look off behind us, you can see, just beyond the treeline there: that is the hill that Prince Charlie sat and ate his picnic with a front-row seat for the end of Scotland's freedom. Too bad Brave Heart wasn't there."
This Clan Fraser stone is for all of those Outlander fanatics. Especially Shelly and Michelle.
Clava Cairns:
Again, for all of those Outlander fanatics, these cairns are stone henges. There is no Craig Na Dun that Diana Gabaldon depicts in her book, but I think that these stone circle cairns are close.
One of the outer stones of the henge cairns. Not as big as Stone Henge, but big enough.
Isaac and Leslie inside the North East Passage Cairn.
I did find a Cleft Stone similarly described in Outlander, but wasn't sucked into the past. Must not have the right DNA or maybe its not Beltane, Samhain, or Midsummer's day.
Culloden House Manor:
We had lunch in this beautiful manor reminiscent of Jeeves and Wooster. As we sat there, consuming our nice luncheon sandwiches, I couldn't help but think of Anatole, the Travers' chef, crying in the back as the singular wedge of tomato left on my plate went back to the kitchen. He may be giving notice soon. But don't fret. Mr Jeeves will undoubtedly persuade him to return to the Travers' kitchen staff. Also, Tuppy Glossip is a pig. But for realzies, that hotel was magnificent, as was their sandwiches.
Fort George:
Again, for the Outlander fanatics, there is no Fort William that we have been able to find, but there is a Fort George that fits the bill exactly.
The walls are anywhere from 5 to 25 feet wide.
Isaac is still trying to get Scotty to beam him up!
It was an amazingly wet day even for Scotland; 8 hours later and my jeans are still not dry.
And many stained glass windows.
(It should be noted, all paragraphs of witty banter are by Isaac.)
maybe the witty banter should some literary references the rest of the world could understand! Fort William is out by the Isle of Skye by the way. Not sure if there is actually a Fort there, but there is a town called Fort William.
ReplyDeleteKeri
As seen on the entry for Day 3, we did go to the town of Fort William. All the web sites had no reference to any actual fort there. In a museum, the ladies in the bookshop told us about the remains of some of the walls down across the road from the Morrisons shop. Photos of those walls are shown in that entry. The fort has been torn down these past 200 years or so. Much of the rock and other materials were re-used to make bits of the buildings in town, and an intact archway was removed to the local cemetery. It's obviously the way of England and Scotland to recycle the building materials into new buildings as needed. When block is ready-to-hand, leave it to the thrifty Scots to make good use of it. It's a bit surprising that the old Castle Inverlochy isn't any more knackered than it is - also as shown in photos from Day 3.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - a small St. Andrew's cross flag is in hand and intended for Dad's boot.
-Rob