10th July 2021.
A good nights sleep was followed by an amazing breakfast. Will I ever tire of Haggis? Doubtful. I decided to load the bulk of the car up before showering, as the weather was so warm, I was undoing the good of said shower. After breakfast we got the rest of the bits loaded into the car then went for a stroll, in the hope of seeing some Red Squirrels. There was a large forest just down the road from the hotel. It was supposed to be rammed full of these squirrels. There were none in sight! This was a theme that was to plague us during our entire trip. We saw one red squirrel, and it was unfortunately intertwined with tyre rubber and tarmac (not our doing, I hasten to say). After an hour or so, we strolled back to the car, by way of an Art Gallery.
The next leg of the trip was just a short hop up to Inverness. The drive looked boring, A9 all the way pretty much, so we did our usual, and went off-piste. Somewhere along the way we came across an amazingly large bridge, crossing an equally large river. We access this via a narrow grassy track, which also had us exit across an old, low, rickety wooden bridge some yards downstream from the new monstrosity that carried a main road.
Our ultimate destination that day was the Bunchrew House Hotel. A pink castle just to the west of Inverness located on the shores of the Beauly Firth. It has a glorious long driveway, leading to a graveled courtyard. The only place I managed to fly the drone, footage to be added here once uploaded. We had spotted a large toyshop in Inverness on the way through, so Erin and I went and treated ourselves! Back at the hotel we had a stroll and explored the shore and grounds. This was an amazing place, great rooms, friendly staff, just let down slightly by an overbearing Maitre D’ (and a bloody long wait for food, which is unexpected in a 16 bedroom hotel). It was a good chance to unwind a little after the manic driving of the last couple of days. Fed, then bed by 11.30. Tomorrow is another long day of driving.