september 16

Day 16

I pick my things and came to Inverness by bus. The journey is magnificent: Scotland highlands is such a beautiful sight. It make me a bit sad for I have no much time left. Inverness, like Glasgow has a lot of red stone buildings, like some cities from England like Birmingham. Cities like York and Bath has more grey limestone. Inverness like Glasgow is very vivid and looks busy. The city is quite close to two important water sources, the Loch Ness, an incredibly deep, long and thin strip of water and the Moray Firth which connects with the North sea, apart from the river Ness, which cuts the city.

I got a B&B for three nights, an Ordenance Survey from the area, an small book on the Picts, and some music, as I was very curious to know what they listen here. I had this curiousity in mostly places I’ve been, and whenever possible I would acquire something. I am listening some Scottish songs now.

The museum just besides the Tourist Information Centre was my natural choice of visit as I was a bit tired already, and had planned a short trip to a site nearby.

They have a nice collection – and to be honest the only I’ve seen so far- of Pict carved stones, and they are beautiful. As the Picts continued to live in the Highlands without the Roman disruption that ocurred in England and Wales, it can be difficult to date some of their carvings. But they can be considered at least from the Iron Age.

The Roman by the way won all the battles they fight against the Caledoneans, this means, the people from Roman would never win the war, and never settled in the Highlands. If an inhabitant of the area were captured alive, it would be sold as a slave.

There is a Pict fort just outside the museum, you can see by the window. In this place were found vitrified stones indicating that the place it would be burned from time to time, and then occupied again.

Another objects of the collection: the usual amount of flint, hand axes and bronze axes found in almost every collection. Iron swords, pottery and other ceremonial objects, and last but not least, some stone balls. They have two in the collection, made in gray stone.

It is quite strange that nobody even tries to explain their existence, they are just those mysterious objects.

After that I tried to reach some “Castle Earthworks”, as it appears in my OS, but no much luck. I just get to the place, but it is a Golf camp and horse training place. I get to some places where it could be name “earthwork”, but this basically means "anything".


I got tired to look for it, and tomorrow will go for some more specific search (like chambered cairn, or whatever).

Not bad at all, the city fancies me, it is beautiful and there’s a lot to do. I sure want to visit the lake and the sea.