To celebrate our 25 years of marriage, my husband and I traveled to romantic Scotland. Although we spent about two weeks there, we did not visit many places. Rather than running around and seeing everything, we like to get a feel for what it would be like to live in the places we visit.

We spent 5 days in Inverness, the “capitol” of the Highlands. We stayed at the Bluebell House, a lovely bed and breakfast on Kenneth Street. Inverness is more town than city, and in our time here we learned to get around without a map and find our favorite places. I explored some residential neighborhoods to discover where the protagonist of my next novel would live and walked frequently along and across the River Ness, where some exciting events will take place.

Here are some pictures of the lovely Inverness:

 

 

 

As you can see, not your normal tourist photos. Still, there were some tourist-y type things we had to do. We visited Culloden Battlefield and the Clava Cairns.

 

We also visited the Isle of Skye, which has exploded with tourists–so much so, that the roads cannot handle the increased traffic. Potholes and the smallness of the lanes make for dangerous driving. Fortunately, we booked a Happy Tours guide who took us along Loch Ness and to the Isle of Skye, so we didn’t do any driving that day.

From Inverness, we visited Pitlochry and Aberdeen, then traveled to Cruden Bay and Slains Castle, the setting of one of my favorite novels.

My next blog post will be about that visit and what it is like to see places you’ve read about in a favorite story.