Menootandaboot; Bus-y Bus-y Part Three

Good Morning Peeps!

Picking up on the wee trip northward by bus to Inverness. The first night in the B&B was dandy. (The second night not so much, as other guests had changed and were considerably noisier and apparently unaware of there being other rooms in the place.)

Anyhoo. Breakfast was a full continental offering with truly delicious fruits, yoghurt, croissants, et cetera. Then Sandy prepared hot dishes according to requirement. I had a poached egg on toast both days - perfect! On my first morning, I was joined by another solo-traveller, a lady from Down Under, and we had a good old natter with our copious tea and blueberries. This was extended by Sandy joining in. We didn't leave the brekky room until 0930h! (sitting at 8 am.)

The excellence of the breakfast removed the focus from the choice of decor...

The order of my day was to see as much as I could while making my way to the Inverness Archive Centre.

Wandering down Raining's Stairs in the cool but very bright morning, I first turned past the Baile and down towards Ness Bridge. Crossing over the river, I was reminded that it is one of the major waterways of Scotland, indeed, of the UK. It runs deep and strong and dark. As I crossed, the cool breeze was already giving way to what was rapidly becoming a surprising warmth.

That's a fully embedded map for you to have a play with! I was walking down that left path first. Ignore those timings - at least as far as the YAMster is concerned. It took me half an hour to get to where it says 28 minutes! I can actually walk faster than that, but I wanted to absorb as much as possible. The sun was out, for heaven's sake!!!

Thus, it was, I came to the cathedral (zoom in on the map - it's under that 28 minutes.) As mentioned previously, I intended to spend some time admiring this building. That time turned out to be an hour and a half. A whole hour just enjoying the ambience and taking time to light a candle and offer prayer. Rather than words, I now regale you with imagery.

No words required, really. It was a delight. After my hot chocolate in the refectory, I then took an ice cream out and sat by the river in the baking sun and called my father to boast about it!

The reason for going to the archives was that he wanted me to try and add to his family research. However, it soon became apparent that there was nothing to actually be achieved beyond what I could do with Scotland's People anyway; although my fifteen minutes there with the lovely young lady at the desk did give me a couple of pointers I had not thought of for searching. Not a wasted visit by any means. What is more, the walk to get there was incredibly picturesque.

It paled somewhat when I embarked on the return walk, though. This took me across a wee iron bridge and onto the Ness Islands. OH. MY. WORD.

Narnia is real! Twisting paths, hand-carved seats everywhere, ancient trees, dogs off-leash, people smiling as the tranquil beauty and sound of the Ness's hurry all created a perfect balance of peace.

War Memorial

As we came closer to the city centre again, we sat and enjoyed the water, the sun, 
the passers-by, and, in Sadhu Mouse's case, the comparison of the 
yellow leaves with his own fine colouring.

...and that was another day over. More to come!