Yesterday was a traveling day as we made our way from St. Andrews, Scotland to Inverness. Along the way, we visited the Glamis Castle (birthplace of the Queen Mother) and enjoyed a very interesting one hour guided tour of the castle. After arriving at our home for the next two nights, Culloden House, Josh and Jessica went off to a local pub to watch the U.S. - Scotland rugby match whilst Claire and I saw some local sights.
Culloden Battlefield was the decisive battle in which the English put down the Jacobite rising of 1745 (led by Bonnie Prince Charlie). There is an informative visitors center as well the best done audio guides I've ever experienced. With GPS tracking, the audio guide recognizes when you've reached a point of interest on the battlefield and provides narration and dramatizations relevant to what you're seeing. I left the battlefield pretty much understanding what happened on that fateful day ... and why.
Our final stop was Clava Cairns, just a few minutes drive from the battlefield. This is a 4,000 year old burial site with several large burial mounds, circled by standing stones. The openings of two of the mounds are situated so that sunlight will illuminate the inside of the burial mound on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. An interesting (and free) attraction that's worth a visit after you see Culloden Battlefield.
copyright (c) 2015 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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