September 26

Another stay over - it’s going by so fast! We had to stop for petrol and we followed a little blue van into the station. He took the pump on our side so Ryan had to whip around and back up to the nozzle so we could fill. A wee old man got out of the van and came up to Ryan and Fuzz and said, “I’m sorry, I believe I pinched your pump” Jen and I had a little giggle. Very friendly.

On to Culloden and it was pissing down rain, then it wasn’t, then it was a light rain, then it was pissing down rain. Walked through the museum and it is very sobering. Very sad chapter in Scottish history. This time when we toured they had people talking about the weapons and how the Scots attacked. Very interesting. 

Stopped in Inverness for soup and a pint but the pub was our least favourite so far. Needless to say we only had a pint there and moved on. We had to go to The Clansman on Loch Ness for a beer (it was a non-negotiable instruction from my mom). When I typed in “The Clansman” for directions Wikipedia came back with - “a romantic novel an out the Klu Klux Klan”….. I had to reread it. 🤨 Not sure about that one but I think I’ll give the book a miss. Pulled in to park and the Parking Warden came over to chastise Ryan about his parking. He had to move over 4 inches then back 2 inches, all the while this man is standing behind the vehicle while muttering under his breath, he did not find us as entertaining as we find us. Had a glass of wine and a bowl of soup while looking out over Loch Ness but no sightings of Nessie. 

Down the road a little further to Urqhart Castle. No problem with our park job there. Walk through the castle that was rebuild in the early 1900’s - to the tune of £20 million pounds. Did not dampen Darren’s dreams of building a castle. We left the castle and did some light shopping at the gift shop, of course we were highly encouraged to shop by the boys. They love it when we shop. Especially when it is for souvenirs. 

Fuzz was driving and, being slight hard of hearing and extremely bad at listening, he missed the old church and graveyard we asked him to stop at. We have new instructions- yell louder and sooner. So now it’s like Jen and I have Tourette’s- just yelling out random things. The boys love it! Souvenir shopping and back seat yelling. Who knew?! 

Back into Drumnadrochit to our hotel. A quaint little Inn where we had to pack 250 pounds of luggage upstairs. The good news is we only had to go back down the stairs for supper. We went down to have our pre-supper martini only to be told they don’t make cocktails and then they made cocktails for the boys. So no martini. Each couple ordered a Roasted Half Chicken to share. The portions were huge! Supper got a 10, cocktails got a 3. Played cards for 10 minutes and called it a night.