After a very rough night, we were glad to have the Culloden visitor centre to visit. We learned so much about the battle that resulted in Bonnie Prince Charlie making his famous escape to Skye. The events leading up to the battle on 16 April 1746 are well documented here and the interactive theatre, really brings it to life. It was a surprise to learn that the battle, which had been on the cards for quite some time, was over in an hour. The conditions on the day were atrocious, and we could sympathise given theweather we were having. We made for a break in the weather to walk across the battlefield and were rewarded by a sudden downpour of horizontal rain – lovely!
After we warmed up with a bacon buttie in the van, we decided to drive out to Fort George which overlooks the Moray Firth. I braved the howling winds to walk across the car park to the fort entrance but I was thwarted as it was closed due to the terrible weather. I leant into the wind to take some pictures and read the notice board then battled back to the swaying van.
Not a good hair day ?. The fort is still occupied by the army which was a surprise to me.
Having changed our plans, we were quite keen to visit the new V&A museum in Dundee. We broke the journey with a stopover at Forfar and stayed 2 nights as we were able to get the bus from there to Dundee. The route from Culloden to Forfar took us through the Caledonian National Park which was very scenic. We also stopped at Pitlochry for a lunch break and spent a pleasant hour there. It is another pretty, small town which has become a centre for walkers. It was bustling with life when we were there.
We stayed on a campsite in a country park overlooking Loch Forfar. It was a short walk into the town and handy for stocking up at Lidl and catching the bus. Next day we went into Dundee just to visit the V&A museum. We had to queue to get in as it is newly opened and still very popular. The building was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The brief was to design a building that would be inspiring and also reconnect Dundee to the river Tay. The dramatic result is certainly worthy of praise. It is situated alongside the exploration ship RRS Discovery which was built in Dundee and sailed to Antarctica by explorers Scott and Shackleton.
Inside the museum is equally impressive and free to enter. The Scottish Design Galleries form the permanent exhibition and there is currently a special exhibition celebrating the cruise ships. We happily spent our time enjoying the Scottish Design Galleries as there was plenty to see.
The visit to Dundee was an extra pleasure to end our Scottish adventure. We will return, but this was more or less our final destination before travelling back into England.
We had a 1 night stop at Thirlestane, a small village that has grown up around the castle. Lovely little place, although closed when we arrived at 1700.
Our next viewpoint was at the Scotland/England border. It was a popular stopping point and with good reason. The scenery stretched for miles into both countries. This is one of the oldest border crossings in the world.
Now we were really making tracks for home. Next stop Whitby.