Illustrious Inverness

We were lucky to wake up a bit earlier than usual and see the sunrise. Unfortunately, we had to hang around Balintore longer than anticipated as we had a flat tire 😕. Our van hosts kindly called a local shop to come and change it for us due to insurance legalities 🙃

Finally off and on our way around 11, we headed for Inverness. Just on the outskirts of town we noticed a standing stone shrouded in a glass enclosure. It's one of a few standing stones carved by the Pictish tribes, this one dated around the 9th century.
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/balintor…
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nQa1PMQkAm3u3Q8z6

We detoured a bit west so we could experience Loch Ness in its mysterious glory. We passed through the cute country town of Beauly and then into Drumnadrichit. Drumnadrichit very much cashes in on the Loch Ness monster myth with Nessieland and the Lock Ness Centre. We had a quick walk around, then a van picnic and continued on to Inverness. Only mild road rage might have occurred with incompetent drivers going much, much slower than the legal road speed... 🤯 The road signs indicating this issue were not followed, as it instructs the slow to pull over to allow passing 🐇

Google maps deftly navigated us to the parking area near the river. We then enjoyed a casual walk 3km loop along the footpaths and bridges. The weather was only mildly threatening rain, and the trees sheltered us from the wind.

We headed to a campground just east of Inverness, near Elgin. Our late afternoon arrival left us plenty of daylight to get settled and clean up after a couple night's of boondocking. Nothing quite like a refreshing hot shower!Read more