Through hills and fields of heather

On Wednesday we drove through the Northwest Highlands towards Inverness and stopped on our way at the Black Isle Brewery whose logo is 'Save the Planet, Drink Organic'. This was a quaint micro-brewery that makes 6 types of beer and even a blended scotch. They gave us a free brewery tour and tasting - which is a definite bonus given that everything (even parking) costs money here! Its products are all organic, some beers (like the wheat beer) have an extra fermentation (live) in the bottles. They do hand bottling there so they can really only produce 9000 bottles a week (1500/day). We all liked a different type, so we bought 4 to have for lunch – Syd with Blonde, me with Wheat, Mom with a dark scotch ale, and Dad with an IPA.
We only drove through the old town section of Inverness to pick up some food for lunch at a massive Morrisons. The main destination today was the moors of Culloden. This is where the main battle was fought that ended the rebellion of the Scottish Jacobites against a unionised British parliament/government army.

The Battle of Culloden in 1746 was short (1 hr) and brutal, led by the young pretender of the Scottish throne ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ before he fled to France and not to be seen again. The ‘red coat’ government army won by a landslide and obliterated 1500 fatigued Scots who had tried to ambush overnight but never made it to the location of the army in time for the plan to be successful. It's amazing that the Scots revere Prince Charlie considering this defeat was so dire...my grandfather liked him but called him 'soft like puddin'.
The visitor centre for this battlefield was very modern, and very extensive. There were animated videos and exhibits, including a movie where you stand in the middle of room with 4 screens on all sides and they recreate the battle for you. It was quite neat. We then walked around the battlefield itself but it was far less impressive once we had all of the overwhelming of the senses in the exhibits. There was a thatch cottage that made for a great pic though.
Our guide book told us about some prehistoric funeral cairns and standing stones only ½ mile from the battlefield so we went there as well. There were 3 cairns made out of various naturally coloured stones formed into domed structures that were surrounded by concentric circles. It was built around the same time as Stone Henge so was quite impressive. Both doorways of the cairns faced the same direction so that the dead spirits could see the sunset during the solstice. It still fascinates me how they had such mathematical brains back then!
Our next hostel in Braemar was in the heart of the UKs largest national park – Cairngorms – Driving here was also interesting as Syd was behind the wheel taking some of the sharp corners and bumps and my dad said that he drives the car like a racecar and can be quite nerve-wracking. I just thought it was fun! Though, its easier for me to say since I was in the back seat. We saw a few castles tucked in the park, like this one.
And other cool scenes like this one.
The view in the park was hills on both sides that were covered with bright purple fields of heather. It was just beautiful. We tried to get a picture of it, but I’m not sure it does it justice.