Scotland Tour Day 2 of 5

After a rather non-eventful night at the haunted castle, we depart on our way.  Stopping first at a beach in the morning. It was a fun way to spend the morning, thought it was a bit on the cold side.  I imagine it would be nicer in the summer when it's warm. Our tour notes says it's the beach at Dingwall.

The big yellow bus then coasts along to Dornoch, a quaint little town. We didn't spend much time here, but what's interesting about Dornoch is apparently Madonna got married in their Cathedral.

Our next stop takes to a distillery. After all, this is Scotland! We must try some scotch whisky.  Our guides take us to the Glenmorangie Distillery which is one of their preferred choices.  Also for only two pounds you get a good tasting size.  We also had a tour of the distillery before some of us loaded up on scotch from the on site shop.  There also happened to be filming in one of the buildings, brought film set memories back =)

 A picnic lunch is next on the menu, after picking up supplies, we stop for lunch in a type of burial remains grounds full of piles of stones arranged in a way where the sun shines up a path to the body that would have laid inside.  We were sorely being at the tractor game at this point, so we also decided to take some pictures of tractors to use later.  We tried and despite their cheating ways, we were not allowed to use our pictures nor draw our own tractors.

A somber mood follows us as we head on to Culloden Battlefield, where the last major battle happened between Britain and Scotland.  A lot of Scots died there, and engraved stones marked the field.  Pictures-wise, we put down our cameras for most of it, like a sign of respect for the dead.

We head off then towards Loch Ness - the most famous Loch of them all with a quick photo stop for Urquhart Castle. Lochs for those who don't know means lakes, while Glens are valleys and Bens are Mountains.  Aside from staying on the shores of Loch Ness and one of our few tourist stops, it would be worthwhile to come back and really explore the Loch.  Our hostel was said to be the best in Scotland, and they didn't disappoint.  With an unusually large washroom and shower for hostels (we could probably fit another 2 bunk beds in there, and an in building bar with nightly activities, it was definitely a great 
stay.

Before we settle into our rooms there, one really fun historical trip.  We dropped into the Clans Center to learn more about the Scots from years ago. We learned about how they lived, how they dressed, and how they fought.

If you remember reading the story about the Campbells, well we had a Campbell on our tour - it lent to an interesting Scottish battle lesson.