I'll take the high road

Today was a mission to meet a friend. Leaving Shawlands about 10am Jean's uncle and I drove to the Arnold Clark rental car depot to pick up my rental car.

After about 15 minutes of processing and paperwork, who knows what they do during this time, I was shown out to my rental car. It was supposed to be a Hyundai i30, but that one must have run away, so they 'upgraded' me to a Peugeot 3008. I have to say this is a very nice SUV, with all the latest tech, including a fully animated computer dash. This meant that I simply had to spend the first 50 miles of my trip playing with the options.

Once I had stopped geeking out I settled down to enjoy the drive north to Inverness. Several people had warned me about the A9 and how tricky it was, but it's just like a typical New Zealand highway, so it was a doddle for an automotive athlete such as myself.

Just 5 miles out of Inverness lies the Culloden Battlefield, so I made time to stop there first and go through the visitor centre. It is extremely well done and clearly explains the events leading up to the fateful battle and the crushing of the Jacobite rebellion. The clans never really stood a chance and some poor decisions and bad luck sealed their fate. Despite this they still fought with incredible spirit and bravery. After paying my respects to the fallen I carried on into Inverness City and met up with my longtime friend and fellow Invercargillite Annalise. She has lived here in Inverness with her two sons for almost a decade and loves the place. It's not hard to see why as it's a beautiful, wild part of the world which reminds me a lot of the area around Kingston and Queenstown. I also think by law she must live somewhere with 'Inver' in the name.

After visiting her home, which is a lovely old farm house, we drove into Beauly for a meal and a night of reminiscing at the Priory Hotel restaurant. The craic was great and I realised it's been far too long since we've seen each other.

Tomorrow I'll bid a sad farewell to Annalise and the Highlands and head back for one last night in Glasgow.Baca selengkapnya