Inverness

The day started with the news that owing to reasons outside of their control Syd and Jo were having to postpone the trip up north. (I am going to have a struggle finishing the large can of beer I bought for our reunion.) We resolved to do the trip together another time which we will be pleased to do as the little we have seen so far reminds us so much of the beauty in New Zealand. The weather has improved too and we have been sitting outside for our meals. We can't believe how lucky we are to be bathed in sunshine this far north.
The A9 road from Perth to Inverness passes through some beautiful and rugged countryside. We didn't linger as the worrying red light on the dashboard of the van refused to turn itself off so we hot footed it to a Fiat dealership in Inverness.
Its just as well we like it here as we may be some time as our Hazel requires major repairs to the fuel/turbo system Ouch. Parts are not in stock so we shall probably be here for a day or two (at least) - more than we expected. There are worse places to be stranded as our current view is a field full of sheep with spring lambs who are very frisky.
We spent the day on site waiting for the parts to be delivered to the garage. Karen had a great day with her needlework - working outside in bright sunshine. Alan took his road bike out for the first run of the year. I took the B9006 to Nairn then the back roads to the sea side. Nairn has a nice stray and is on the mouth of the Moray Firth. Bathed in sunshine it looked quite pleasant and a long beach too.
We took the van to the garage first thing Wednesday morning and set off bright and early on our bikes to visit the Culloden Battlefield, which is a Scottish National Trust site. It is the site of the final battle between the British Government and the Jacobites in April 1746, resulting in a defeat for the latter led by Bonny Prince Charlie. Clan Maclean were represented by family members on the losing side, although how many were there history does not record.
The displays in the visitor centre are very well done and very informative. We took part in a quiz presentation - one other member of our team clearly had not bothered to read any of the information in the displays and was adamantly wrong on virtually all of the True or False questions. We walked through the battlefield in glorious sunshine.
After that we cycled down into Inverness to find the river (Ness) and we rode along the river side to the Botanical Gardens. The gardens were full of colour and the riverside very green and pleasant.
Returning to the garage the works had not been completed so we are parked up against another Autotrail in the garage car park for the evening - we should be on the road again tomorrow. The adjacent van is four years younger than ours and is in for a complete engine rebuild and another van will join us later this evening on a low loader recovered from Skye - a 2004 Hymer A class which has a fault with the automatic gear box. We are not sure if we are meant to feel comfort for our problem or worry about what could come next. The garage clearly does good business repairing Fiat based motorhomes.Read more