Late to Dunrobin Castle

Dunrobin Castle

We were late getting away from Dublin due to a problem with one of the electric motors that drive the ship so we didn’t dock in Inverness until about 11 a.m. this morning.  Our excursion to Dunrobin Castle was only four hours so we had time to take it in in the afternoon.  Our guide said the sunny skies were the first they’d had in weeks but it was still pretty chilly with a north wind blowing off the sea.  Our drive through the countryside wasn’t long and we arrived at the castle just in time to take in the bird show.  The bird man had an American hawk (I couldn’t hear what kind he said), a falcon and an owl.  All three performed beautifully.  The hawk was fast but not nearly as fast as the falcon and we were told the owl, an English eagle owl, was the most efficient predator of the three though much slower.  He’d had the owl since it was a hatchling and it is now 17 years old so they were an old team.  We passed the bird keep as the trainer was collecting the owl for the show.  As he walked into the open-front enclosure he asked the owl if he was ready, the owl made reply and hopped right up on the man’s outstretched arm.

As you can see from the pictures the castle was impressive.  We didn’t spend much time inside.  We were limited to where we could go without a ticket and Joyce and I didn’t want to buy one.  We may be getting our fill of cathedrals, manor houses and castles.  The drive through the country was nice, though.  There were lots of green fields with sheep and tiny lambs in them, very bucolic.  The town of Invergordon was nice enough but our guide told us since the aluminum plant and British navy pulled out a couple of decades ago they’ve had slow times.  They depend heavily on tourism now.

Yesterday was spent at sea sailing from Dublin up and around to the east side of Scotland.  Besides Inverness, we’ll stop at Edenburg and New Castle in the UK before heading off to Holland.