Inverness and other places

Hi, I'm currently staying overnight in Inverness after driving up from Glasgow this morning. It's cold here but the sky is clear and the weather in the next few days should be fine. The forecast is for snow on Thursday. On the drive up it reached minus 7 degrees but in Inverness it has been about one degree all day. I've had a great lunch and dinner here at Cafe 1 and The Kitchen. Both were Dawn's recommendations and they were excellent restaurants. Tonight at The Kitchen I enjoyed some beautifully cooked Highland beef and watched the Ness River flow by, at a great rate of knots, I might add.

I went out to the Culloden Moor this afternoon to see the battle field where Bonnie Prince Charlie was defeated by the government troups in 1776. It is an open field for the most part but it has a distinct aura about it: in a sense it is a place of war graves. About 1500 Jacobites lost their lives here in the battle.

Yesterday I met up with David Mould (a really good landscape photographer) and he took me for a drive around The Trossachs to take some photographs together. We also returned to Loch Ard but the sun couldn't break through the mist so that part of the trip did not produce any worthwhile photographs.

On Saturday I went to Inverary and found it to be as beautiful as the last time I was here. Loch Fynne was like a mirror and the light was wonderful. I climbed to the top of a hill behind the Duke of Argyle's Castle and got a great view of the loch at sunset.

This is a photograph of Salvadore Dali's St John of the Cross, Christ's Crucifixion which is in the Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. It is a wonderful painting and one of the attractions to the place. I took a guided tour of the gallery and really appreciated the range of works. The painting by the 'Glasgow Boys' were fabulous and in a way they mirror the impact of the painters from the Heidleburg School in Melbourne. It was a similar time period, at the introduction of the impressionist period.





I keep saying how wonderful the landscapes are here and hopefully the following shots demonstrate that.

David Mould took me to this place at dawn. It is one of his favourite trees. You can see why. It's on the Carse of Stirling.

The wonderful Loch Ard. It's not large but it certainly has some beautiful places to see, especially when it is misty and like glass, as in this photo.

This is a photo of Arrochar looking across Loch Fynne.

Loch Ard again.

A seagull in flight across Loch Fynne.