Scotland - Inverness

On a beautiful seaside Saturday morning, we tidied up our apartment before making the short walk a few blocks to the Oban bus stances, situated conveniently beside a Costa Coffee. We were catching the Citylink 918 bus at 930am, which would whisk us northward along the eastern shores of Loch Linnhe. 

The journey into the Highlands was comfortable and scenic, and two hours later we reached the head of the Loch and the town of Fort William. With a 40-minute layover, we grabbed coffee at Morrison's before boarding the Citylink 919 bound for Inverness.

The next leg of the journey was a little more jostly, with a little motion sickness at times. The scenery continued to be stunning, as we passed below Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. More sheep, and more hairy coos. Further up the A82, we skirted Loch Lochy and then followed the west bank of Loch Ness for many a mile from Fort Augustus to nearly Inverness.

We arrived in Inverness by mid-afternoon, but still a bit early to check into our apartment. We quickly found the old Victorian Market downtown, and the men sat with all the bags and had a beer (or two) while the women explored the shops. Time successfully killed, we made a short walk uptown to the Eastgate Apartments near the Eastgate Shopping Centre. There was also a handy Morrison's across the street for groceries and liquor. Jane made a great pasta dinner with our favourite spicy Dolmio sauce!

We were spending three nights in Inverness, at times enjoying the city and at other times just using it as a base camp for explorations further afield. When we did explore downtown, we had dinner and drinks with some live music at Highlander, and spent some time at the rowdier The Gellions - especially on the night before the bank holiday. 

I walked the both banks of the River Ness, and also got to check out Leakey's Bookshop, where I could have spent an entire day if we had the time. As the cultural capital of the Highlands, this town had just the right feel of old city, yet small town. 

Gorgeous scenery out the window between Oban and Fort William

Changing buses during a layover in Fort William

Parking lot laundry facilities!

1A Millburn Road, Apartment 3

Beautiful town!

Traversing the River Ness

Local scenery

Inverness slung along the banks of the Ness

Inverness Castle - now a courthouse and under renovation

Leakey's Bookshop - worth the wait!

Dinner and drinks at Highlander

Nights of live music at The Gellions

A lot quieter on the bank holiday - everyone partied last night!