After picking up a nice breakfast from the supermarket, we drive to Nessie. Or rather, to the northern end of Loch Ness. You can’t get to the shore anywhere else, and it’s an absolutely perfect spot. We enjoy our meal whilst, just a few metres away, a Nessie researcher is offering pieces of his trinkets. And sure enough, we soon spot a wild animal in the water: a black Labrador is over the moon that he’s allowed to jump into the water and swim for a stick.

Now we’re exploring Inverness’s old town and have actually found a souvenir shop well worth a visit, which has more to offer than just the usual kitsch. And the town has plenty of lovely views to offer elsewhere too.

At lunchtime, we drive on to Cawdor Castle, our main destination for the day. We enjoy a lovely lunch in the castle café, which offers a surprisingly extensive menu: a panini for Gabi, a sausage roll (sliced!?) for Chrige and a baked potato with bacon, chicken and tarragon mayo for me. That way, everyone has enough energy for another special activity. And the ‘normal’ castle tour afterwards.

I go on the tour of the castle three times. I’m particularly interested in the holly tree trunk in the basement. Unfortunately, Gabi can’t come with me here or to the rest of the castle. So I take lots of photos and a video for her as I make my way through the different rooms on the tour… up and down the stairs.

The various gardens are definitely a highlight. Unfortunately, the maze (complete with a Minotaur!) is closed – apparently it has been like this for around ten years, as the plants need time to recover from the large numbers of visitors. But even so, everything looks wonderful. The avenue lined with laburnum trees around the lower part of the gardens is particularly beautiful.

And Gabi’s wish is granted: Shaggy Highland cattle are grazing on the nearby meadow, and she was desperate to see them up close. It turns out that’s not so easy! Whilst we’ve often driven past sheep pastures, and rarely seen horses or ordinary cows, we’ve hardly seen any so far. Even though these ones here have black coats, they’re still very Scottish.

The drive to Aviemore, where our next hotel is located, is absolutely fascinating too. The road takes us along narrow country lanes through vast forests that give way to wide, barren plains. In the distance, the ground appears white. It can’t be snow – it’s far too warm for that. When we reach the white patches, we stop to find out more. And lo and behold: it’s cotton grass growing on black peat soil! The many fluffy flowers cover the ground like a white carpet.

Then we arrive at our hotel. From here, we head out again to get a chippy tea. We share some fried sausages, a fried pizza and the traditional fried fish. We have them with chips as well as curry sauce and gravy for dipping. Healthy? No, but we’re on holiday!