Moray Coast - Inverness

Sketch at Clachnaharry, Inverness

Once again, we had our main holiday in Scotland. My Munros Man had headed north on Saturday 11th May for another round of Munro climbing. I followed a few days later. After meeting him in Inverness on the Friday, we had a week in the Northwest Highlands at Gruinard Bay, based in a cottage. Munros Man left somewhat pessimistic about the weather. The arrival of spring in Scotland was been even later  than on the south coast of England, though it was cool and windy at the mouth of the River Arun  the  Saturday - not many beachgoers / ice creams sold. On the Tuesday I left to head north to Scotland,  the daytime temperature was about 10C, both in Inverness and back home. Nonetheless, the weather  cooperated for Munros Man at least some of the time, enabling him to climb five more Munros, though it was very cold. In In his text messages, he reported snow on the mountains:

Hi, T and cake after 1 Munro in driving wet snow, had 2 wear orange-tinted ski goggles, made it look like Mars! 

River Ness - Grieg Street Bridge

While he walked 13 miles, in "endless snow showers, but still caught the sun" and saw golden eagle, who saw his lunch on the Tuesday, I took the train to Gatwick and flew to Inverness. It was a dull, murky down south, though from the train, I waved to the River Arun, passing close to the spot where Munros Man proposed to me. It took time to sink in that I was getting married, but about a year later, we had our honeymoon in Scotland. There, Munros Man introduced me to the Northwest Highlands, before heading over to Speyside for the second week. I now looked forward to returning to these areas again, all the more after the tough time I had last year when I was unwell and very uncertain about the future.  It had been a while since I'd flown anywhere, so I was a bit nervous, not about flying, but the airport stuff. I arrived with about three hours to spare before take-off, in case of any agro with the trains. In the event, everything went smoothly and I enjoyed the flight, espeically, the cloud formations and glimpses of the Scottish coast shortly before the plane came in to land.  Saw both coasts, beginning with lochs, inlets and islets of the northwest coast, then the Moray coast close to Inverness, the airport being on the coast at Fort George.

After taking the  no.11 bus from the airport, I arrived in Inverness city centre early evening. After checking in at the B&B, I had dinner the Chinese restaurant overlooking the River Ness.

On Wednesday, I walked along the River Ness and Caledonian Canal, before taking the bus to Elgin, my base for revisiting the River Spey on Thursday.

Inverness - Wednesday 15th May

Ben Wyvis from Clachnaharry

Typical confusing Scottish weather. A bright start first thing, but then it clouded over. Rest of the day was, in the main, showery, with the best of the weather in the morning. Milder than expected when the sun broke through, out of the wind along the river, only for showers to come in promptly from the west. 

Began by following the river upstream from the Grieg Street footbridge along Huntly Street, past Ness Bridge and along Ness Walk. Views across to castle - only not a castle, apparently and spire which leaned after an earthquake in 1816. Supposedly a bottle of whisky hidden in one of the balls on the weather vane. Crossed over to the east side of the river at another footbridge, the Infirmary Bridge. A wide river considering it's only a few miles long. Carries a lot of the water feeding into Loch Ness around the Great Glen. Recall major flooding in Inverness in early 1989. You'd think that at lake as deep and big as  Loch Ness ( greatest depth 745 feet / 227m) could hold back the flood. However, as I contemplated during our  the drive along the lochside in the Great Glen during the first half of our trip home at the end of the holiday, the loch has a bathtub profile. This was excavated by a deep glacier during the last ice age. Anyway, however deep the bath, it will overflow if enough water pours in. Effectively, the River Ness is the overflow pipe for the entire Loch Ness catchment.

RMS Titanic model, Caledonian Canal

In contrast to the loch the river, appeared to be very shallow. A good fast flow to it, though faster further upstream where the tide from Moray Firth wasn't running against it. Some bugs about in the sheltered areas. Don't think the midges were out yet, but they made it feel uncomfortable out of the wind nonetheless.

I couldn't get over to the Ness Islands, as there was work going on, closing the bridge over there, which was a pity. Crossed back over to Bucht Park. Quite a bit of greenery along the river. Reckon spring was 2 or 3 weeks behind the south of England. Some of the bigger trees had yet to come out. Daffodils still flowering.

Muirtown Locks

A rain shower as I followed the road round the Bucht Park, near the sports centre. It eased off for a while when I walked up the bank to the Caledonian Canal, only to start again later on. A towpath on both sides, though a couple of awkward A'road crossings at swing bridges. First the A82, near where I joined the canal, then the A862 Beauly road just after the locks. Past a marina and a model of RMS Titanic, then shortly after that came to the Muirtown Staircase, a flight of 4 lochs. View down from there to the Kessock Bridge. After crossing the Beauly Road, followed the canal to its exit into the Beauly Firth at Clachnaharry. Stopped near the railway swingbridge to sketch the view beyond the railway crossing to the end of the canal. Beyond the Beauly Firth, the tops of the Ben Wyvis mountain range were still snow covered.  Men in orange hi-vis working on the swingbridge. When I first arrived, it was open. While I was sketching, they closed it to let the train pass over it a bit later, as I began heading back up the canal (in the rain). At the end if the canal, a lock keeper's cottage.  A big slab of rock, marking the end of the canal, built 200 years ago as a shortcut for shipping along the Great Glen.  I meant to sketch the Kessock Bridge from here, but the wind off the firth was very cold. 

Clachnaharry swing bridge / railway crossing

A heavy, longer shower funnelled along the firth, making for a  wet walk back over the railway and road to the locks. Dried out fairly quickly once it stopped. Shortcut back to the city centre along Fairfield Road. As we saw on the way to / from the NW Highlands, major work on the Kessock Bridge, in all weathers, closing one carriageway. It has been going on at least since February when Munros Man was up here for winter walking. The queues during peak times haven't stretched quite as far back as Ullapool (where the road signs warning of delays start), but around Inverness, they've been significant. West of the bridge Beauly Firth, into which the River Ness flows, Moray Firth eastwards. The bridge was completed in 1982. Apparently, there are seismic buffers on the north abutment, in case the Great Glen Fault, which heads offshore NE from Inverness to Shetland, gets moving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessock_Bridge

Kessock Bridge from Clachnaharry

Back in the city centre, the rain stopped for now, I picked up a sandwich and ate it by the river, not very comfortable, some irritating mossies. Also eyed up by herring gull. Signs up about not feeding gulls.

Finally, I believe a relatively obscure Scottish punk band released a single, Inverness - what a mess, in 1979. I don't remember it registering during my listening to the Radio 1 Top 40 rundown of a Sunday evening, though earlier in 2013, Jarvis Cocker played a burst of it during his Sunday Service show on BBC 6 Music as part of his A-Z of Peel feature.

All I can find online for now is
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/prats.htm