Inverness: Day 2 (AKA Day 13)

HIt was a beautiful day in Inverness. Abut 57 degrees, with sun and a sligh breeze coming from the River Ness. 

It's very strange being this far North. I woke up around 4 in the morning and it was bright morning outside. It screws with your sleep patterns. I felt a bit like Al Pacino in "Insomnia", but the nice day made up for it. 

To start with, I noticed this cool carving I didn't notice last night. 

When I leave the hotel, that's what I see, which is pretty awesome.

As is this. This is the view from off the pedestrian bridge that leads to the center of Inverness and which is less than 5 minutes from the hotel.

The bridge stops right in front of this Gothic church.

But that view, with the mountains in the back, is incredible.

There's been construction work going on all around the city, so you will see some of it interrupting the view. 

I headed down the Ness walk road. That's the River Ness, which flows to Loch Ness many, many miles down.

There were lots of people heading down this road and on the opposide bank, many with dogs trotting beside them. These dogs, by the way, are the best behaved I've ever seen. Some of them were even off-leash and stayed right by their owners. 

That's part of Inverness Castle. I have full on shots, too.

And then this raven hopped on the fence to see what I was up to. He was very interested in what my iPad was.

I gave him some food, of course. Probably didn't need to tell you that by now.

Another small church.

That inclination at the back is the road that leads you to the castle.

Another pedestrian bridge in the distance. They are very interesting, because they bounce quite a bit when there's a bunch of people on them. 

I was following directions. 

There was a lot of movement in the water, lots of waves.

Most of the homes have beautifully cared for gardens with roses, azaleas, and all kinds of other flowers. You'd imagine flowers would have a tougher time growing in places like this, but it looks like it's harder to keep the Miami sun from frying them to crisps than it is for the colder Inverness weather to destroy them.

These two ducks were hilarious. As soon as they saw me stop to take the picture they got up jumped in the water, and swam right up to me, quacking away. They, too, got fed.

That small bridge leads to where the Great Glenn Way begins. The Great Glenn Way is a long path that leads down, out of Inverness to Fort Williams, I think. It's a very long walk which can take a couple of days to complete, but it's supposed to be beautiful. I started it out and then turned around. 

The walk gets you closer to the water.

The landscape gets wilder, too, though there is a very clearly defined footpath and signs along the way

An ivy colored wall.

The water was really wavy here.

Another solitary-looking bridge.

You can't even see buildings.

It was such a peaceful walk.

This is what I came here for.

There were a few houses spattered around, but I noticed that many of them were up for sale.

I'm so glad it was such a lovely day, with only a thin shower in the afternoon.

Here I was crossing the bridge to head back to the city. 

I went to the road that leads to the castle and saw bunnies! There were so many of them digging, running, eating grass, and sleeping. I also saw a raven eating something small with lots of fluff on it, so there's probably a family of rabbits missing a baby somewhere there.

It's a pretty castle. That tour bus or whatever it is ruins the view, but what can you do?

There's not much you can do at the castle. You can't go inside or anything, so I headed back down again.

Though not before seeing this. 

And a curiosity-laden bunny.

I went to Victoria Market, which is a nice covered market that sells all kinds of things and got some lunch, then walked back out of the city for more pretty sights. 

This is from the other bank, when I was walking back a few hours later. I ate my lunch on one of the many benches along the footpath and sat to read for about two hours, until I started really feeling the air's bite.

I think the castle looks best from this angle.

Very mysterious looking.

Oh, and that is a funeral home. Isn't that the most appropriate-looking funeral home ever? Just the right amount of Gothicness 

That's a picture I took last night after dinner. I had no idea they lit the bridge up at night. 

So I have to check out of the hotel tomorrow at 10 and then wait around until 8 at night to catch the Caledonian Sleeper train back to London. I'll probably see if I can leave my bags at the hotel for a few hours and head down to read by the riverbank again before heading to the train station.