July 3, 2018–Road Trip: Inverness to Gardenstown

We poked our eggs and let the yolk run between the baked beans and sausage and then stared longingly at our grilled tomatoes and small pork chops (Scottish bacon)—our hike was now complete and so we would soon be on our own with no landladies to pamper and nourish us. After today breakfast would back to toasted bread and point!

Inverness was a wonderful maze of bridges and streets that we wandered for a couple of hours while our stomachs settled. Leakey Books on Church Street and the Old High Church next door easily passed an hour on their own. Used books and antiques prints, extracted from antique books, were the main source of income for the fascinating, cavernous store that looked like it had been stocked and displayed by a society of meticulous hoarders. The Old High Church cemetery was striking on its hill with bright blue skies above and the River Ness below. Frasers got top billing at this venue (its amazing any survived at all!), but enough MacDonald had perished in the 18th and 19th centuries to keep us busy. We picked up a rental car at the train station and drove white knuckled back to our B&B to get our luggage. Driving on the other side of the road will take some getting use to!

Laurel programmed the GPS for Gardenstown and away we went. With frequent reminders to stay on the left hand side of the road and one or two revolutions though a few of the hundred roundabouts we encountered along the way, we made it to our destination after a short pit stop in Nairn.

Gardenstown is a picturesque seaside village built on steep hills of the Moray Firth. We're settled in to our cosy little harbour-view cottage, for the next four nights. With a harbour, a sandy beach, a local pub, an ancient stone church and graveyard on the hill nearby, and coastal paths to explore, it will surely be a relaxing and scenic stay.