Day 284 Thursday 26 Jul 2007 Inchmore to Aberdeen, Scotland

We’ve booked the car in for its fifth birthday treat at the BMW dealer in Inverness so we resort to the bus which does a circuit of outlying sites. First stop is Culloden battlefield giving us a chance to catch up on a little Scottish history. It’s the site of the last main battle fought in UK when the Jacobite army attempting to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the throne was resoundly defeated. They didn’t exactly chose the best place to fight as its very boggy, making their fearsome highland charge rather ineffective.

Then it's back on the bus to Cawdor Castle of Macbeth fame. It’s a splendid castle dating from the 1600s, still lived in by Mrs Thane of Cawdor, with beautiful gardens and quirky notes which appear to have been written by Mrs Thane.

Next stop is Fort George, which we were told was on the world heritage list but isn’t. Still its a large fort similar in style to Suomelinna in Helskinki (see earlier blog), still used by the British Army although not now to subdue the Scots. Back on the bus we return to Inverness to pick up the car which has been fixed and which surprisingly passes its MOT first time. Its Oz registration expires today so apparently they will accept a UK registration inspection. To our relief the suspension repairs were less extensive (and less expensive) than the BMW guys in Norway had suggested so we feel vindicated in ignoring their advice and continuing on with the journey although perhaps venturing out to the Lofoten Islands in the middle of the North Atlantic was perhaps a bit foolhardy.

Then it's on to Aberdeen over the Cairngorms and through Braemar, stopping for dinner of haggis and salmon en route.