Thursday 12 September – A 100 foot statue, a mermaid and a ferry ride.

We left our lovely cottage this morning and headed in the direction of Inverness, passing through Wick, a pretty coastal town, where we stopped to view the scant remains of the Old Wick Castle.  As we drove along the shoreline we saw the word “Twinkie” stencilled in large letters on the rocks just below the road, for whatever reason.

Continuing on, we paused just past the village of Helmsdale to walk through Couper Park to the Emigrants Statue, commemorating those who left the area to seek a better life after the Clearances early in the 19^th century.  Next stop was the delightful village of Brora, where we stopped for elevenses and a short drive along the Heritage Trail, passing the old Free Church, the Temperance Hall, several quaint fishermen’s cottages dating back a couple of hundred years, and a small house next to the railway crossing, where the tenant was given free rent in exchange for closing and opening the railway gates. We also had a distant view of the 100 feet tall statue of the 1^st Duke of Sutherland, erected high on a hall in 1837.  The story goes that it was positioned so that he was looking out to sea rather than over the lands from which he had driven his tenants during the Clearances.

On we drove, stopping for a quick look at Dunrobin Castle, then on to Dornoch for a walk through the town and to check out the cathedral, then a little further to Tain for a spot of lunch and a visit to the historic church, which contains a plaque to a young abbott (not Tony) who was burnt at the stake in 1528, a victim of the Reformation. John was so upset he took to the pulpit and rained fire and brimstone down on the congregation (Elizabeth). The cemetery contains a couple of stones from Viking times, possibly Danish Pilgrims.  We then diverted back onto the coast, to the village of Balintore to see the mermaid statue, one of a series of statues placed along the shoreline of the Moray Firth. 

We continued along the road less travelled and had our excitement for the day; boarding a two-car ferry for the short, bumpy journey through choppy seas to the other side of the Cromarty Firth, then a more sedate drive into Inverness.  A walk through town to the Old High Church (closed) which was used as a prison for Jacobite soldiers before they were executed in the graveyard. Then to the Inverness Cathedral (open), passing Inverness castle in the near-distance on the way, and finally to our B&B home for the next two nights.