We arrived in Invergordon at about 7:00 AM. invergordon is a small town that is famous for repairing Oil Rigs and so on the way in you see a lot of Oil rigs anchored in the harbor or under tow to the harbor for repairs. They were interesting to see up close.
Also since it’s such a small harbor and the dock is not really long enough for a cruise ship there are these freestanding square cement structures that are parallel to the dock where the lines for the ship are tied up. They need to ferry the guys who take tie the lines out to these structures and then bring them back when they have finished. When we were coming in we say a little boat that looked like it was hiding behind the structure, but it was actually delivering the guys to tie up the ship.
Here are some pictures as we are heading into harbor
We had our usual breakfast in the Lido Market (buffet) and then headed to the World Stage to wait for our excursion to begin. There were hundreds of people in the theater waiting for their excursions to start and so it took a while to get off of the ship to meet our tour but we eventually got there. We decided to take a small group excursion with a local photographer to take pictures in the scottish highlands. It turned out to be a local photographer named Tim. He is originally from Wales, but now lives about 45 minutes outside of Invergordon. He takes pictures professionally of mountain biking and many other things. He was a chemist who attended Cambridge, but he loves to climb mountains and to mountain bike and so he left that career to take pictures of those sports and that allows him to travel and to do those things regularly.
He took us first to an area overlooking the Fjord where our cruise ship was anchored. It was low tide by the time we got there and the tides here are very extreme so when we arrived it was really all mud flats, but later in the day we would see whitecaps on this same area.
Oil rig in the mud flats
Next we went to Balmore Distillery which is a very old whiskey distillery to take photos. The buildings were very interesting. On the outside of any buildings where alcohol was being distiller was this thick black mold that develops over time but where you scratched away the mold, the wall underneath was very light and pink in places. We were able to take photos of an old classic whiskey delivery truck which is driven to town. The head distiller at this particular location is retiring, so they are issuing a set of old whiskeys which will sell for over 900,000 pounds.
Old Whiskey Delivery Truck at Balmore Distillery
Old Whiskey Delivery Truck at Balmore Distillery
Whiskey Barrels
Distillery Building
Next we headed off along the countryside looking for additional places to take pictures. Many of the roads that we were on were effectively no wider than one lane but every once in a while there was an area to pull over to allow others to pass. At each there was a sign called Passing Place. We pulled over into one of these to take some pictures. This was near the castle where the show Highlanders is filmed but the castle was very far away, and no good pictures.
We also headed to a nice hotel where we took a few photos. It was a very old building and an exclusive hotel which had really nice gardens and a very bumpy 400 year old road to exit the area.
We climbed high above the farmlands on a small back road to get some better views. At one point we stopped to take some pictures of a cow pasture. The cows were very curious of us, watching us the whole time that we were there. Especially the two “twins” on the left who never took their eyes off of us. As we were getting ready to leave the farmer arrived with more food for them so we guess that they were wondering why we hadn’t given them any and that’s what they were looking at us for.
We stopped at more overlooks along the way getting additional pictures, with Tim helping us to use different filters and other camera capabilities as the conditions allowed. Unfortunately it was quite overcast all day but that’s how it is in Scotland much of the time, and at least we didn’t get rained on.
As we turned back towards the ship we stopped and hiked down into a very pretty waterfall, taking pictures along the way.
Path to the waterfall
On the path along the way to the waterfall
Mushrooms that had grown along the path to the waterfall. They had 7 inches of rain about a week ago so we assume that’s why these guys came along.
Waterfall
View from beyond the waterfall
Next along the way we stopped at a very peaceful Loch (Lake) where we were able to get a few more pictures.
Our final stop along the way was a high vantage point above the rolling valleys and farmland below.
Conrad picked out this viewpoint and it ended up being my favorite picture of the day.
Once we returned to the ship we walked into town to have a look around. This little town is trying to become more attractive to visitors and cruise ships. We walked along the main street of town. They had a few stores and cafes, and a Subway which seems very popular in Scotland since we’ve seen one most everywhere. They also have large murals on a number of towns in the buildings.
Mural of an Oyster Catcher which are fairly common here based on what we’ve seen.
We headed back to the ship and had lunch aboard the ship and some Gelato. It was a fairly lazy afternoon. We had some dinner and walked 2 miles on the Promenade deck before returning to our rooms. The captain announced that we would be heading into rough waters due to a storm during the night. The waves were between 15-18 feet. The ship did rock and roll all night long. We are st sea tomorrow and it will probably remain very rough for most of the day but it’s not bothering us.