Inverness/Invergordon

The Clava Cairns - or more correctly Balnuaran of Clava - is one of the best preserved Bronze Age burial sites in Scotland. There are three cairns here, two with passage ways aligned to the Midwinter sunset, and all with more subtle features, incorporated to reflect the importance of the South-west horizon.

The site consist of 3 small, relatively well preserved burial chambers, aligned on a North-east to South-west axis. Each cairn consists of a multitude of large water-worn pebbles and boulders, piled in a bun shape, with an outer kerb of larger stones, around which stands a stone circle. The two outer cairns have passages to a central chamber aligned South-west to the Midwinter sun, while the central cairn has only an inner chamber with no connecting passage.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/invernesshire/featured-sites/balnuaran-of-clava.html

When you walk into the chamber you will immediately feel a coolness and dampness.

The 'Clootie' Well, Munlochy, Black Isle, a healing well at Munlochy was dedicated to St Boniface (or Curidan). There is said to have once been a chapel on the site.  -In Scots, a "clootie" or "cloot" is a strip of cloth or rag.

Clootie wells are wells or springs, almost always with a tree growing beside them, with an assortment of garments or rags left, often tied to the branches of the trees surrounding the well. 

The tradition is that if you are ill you need to tie a piece of cloth that belongs to you to the tree near the well after it has been dipped in the water of the well.

Traditions do vary, at some wells the person who wants to be cured washes the affected part of their 

body with the wet rag and then ties the washing-rag on the branch; the ailment is supposed to fade away as the rag disintegrates. In some locations the ceremony may also include circling the well a
set number of times and making an offering of a coin, pin or stone. It is interesting that at the Munlochy well, the water flows into a small concrete basin, at the bottom of which are some coins.

Tradition states that anyone removing a rag will succumb to the misfortunes of the original owner. 

The road leading to the Clootie Well.

Cawdor Castle dates from the late 14th century, having been built as a private fortress by the Thanes of Cawdor, with the ancient medieval tower built around the legendary holly tree – wherever you look, Cawdor Castle is steeped in intrigue and history.

On to Culloden Battlefield where the British Army's battled the Highland Clans and over 1200 people were killed in 50 minutes. Very sombering.

Stopping in Inverness at a church.

Beauly Priory was  founded around 1230 by monks of the Valliscaulian order. They came from their mother house in Burgundy, in France, and settled beside the Beauly River, at the place where it enters the Beauly Firth. They were invited to do so by the lord, Sir John Bisset. And there their successors lived for the next 300 years, until the Protestant Reformation of 1560 brought their cloistered and contemplative life to an abrupt end. Today their legacy lives on, in their pretty, tree-fringed abbey church, roofless but otherwise largely intact. 

Did you know there are 5 million or so people in Scotland and 18 million sheep? 

I finally get my picture of the Hairy Coo and some sheep. So Scottish.

The sheep photo bombed my picture and was not about to move.

Up through the Highlands and very narrow country roads to look for the Loch Ness Monster. We even see the infamous guy who gave up his girlfriend and job to live on the loch for his search. He paints rocks and creates mini Loch Mess souvenirs for tourists as his means of income.