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Outlander

From £400

The popular novels and TV series, Outlander has brought great attention to many iconic landmarks across Scotland. This tour visits the must-see Outlander destinations in and around the Inverness area. These may include:

Culloden Battlefield – The site of the last battle of Jacobite Rising in 1746 between the British Army and Prince Charles Edward Stewart’s Jacobite forces.
Clava Cairns – One of the most sacred historic sites in Scotland, the mystical Clava Cairns is a Bronze Age cemetery complex. Dianna Gabaldon is said to have taken inspiration from this location for the Outlander series.
Loch Ness – Considering its depth and surface area Loch Ness is regarded as the most volumist loch in the UK. You may even spot the Loch Ness monster in its natural habitat!
Urquhart Castle – Urquhart Castle, better known to Outlander fans as the spot where Claire sees the Water Horse dates back to the 13th Century
Beauly Priory – Beauly Priory is one of three priories founded in Scotland in about 1230 for monks of the Valliscaulian order.
Wardlaw Mausoleum – On the end of the original Parish Church, the mausoleum was built as a burial place for the Lovat Frasers in 1634

1 – 3 people: £400

4 – 8 people: £500

Duration: 7 – 8 Hours

Included:

Local guide
Private tour
Comfortable vehicle
Bottled water and snacks for the journey

Not included:

Entry admission fees to any attractions
Meals

A £50 deposit is required to secure your booking. Deposit payment details sent after tour availability confirmed.

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Loch Ness & Cawdor Castle

From £400

As well as visiting Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle we also visit Inverness, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns and Cawdor Castle.

Firstly, we proceed along the shore of the Cromarty Firth and make our way to Beauly where we visit Beauly Priory.

Beauly Priory was built in the 13th century for an order of Valliscaulian Monks from Dijon in France.

Most of the Priory was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in the 16th century and he removed a lot of the stone to build a citadel. In Inverness when the citadel was destroyed after Cromwell’s death the same stone was then used to build the Dunbar hospital in Inverness – you will see this building later in the day.

The Priory was an ancient burial ground for the chiefs of clans Fraser and Mackenzie.

Outside the Priory grounds you will see the Mercat Cross, this is where punishments were administered and most towns in Scotland had one.

Leaving Beauly behind us we make our way over Culnakirk Hill to Drumnadrochit.

After passing through Drumnadrochit and at the top of the hill we stop at Urquhart Castle which sits on a promontory overlooking the loch.

Urquhart Castle was once one of Scotland’s largest castles and has been fought over many times with control of the castle passing back and forth between the Scots and the English during the wars of independence.

It is near here that St Columba is purported to have seen the loch ness monster in 580 AD, the monster came out of the water to attack one of his disciples and St Columba banished it back to the water.

The castle gatehouse was deliberately destroyed in 1692 so it could never be used again as a military stronghold.

Following our visit to Urquhart Castle we start to make our way back to Inverness along the loch side and a few miles along we stop at the Wellington layby. This layby takes its name from the wellington bomber “R for Robert” which ditched opposite the layby on the 31st December 1940. The bomber had developed engine trouble shortly after taking off from RAF Lossiemouth and was forced to ditch in the loch.

7 of the 8 crew on board survived but unfortunately the rear gunner was killed. The bomber lay in the loch until 1985 when it was recovered. It is now in an aircraft museum in Surrey where volunteers spent 600,000 hours restoring it.

Continuing back to Inverness we stop at Inverness Cathedral, this is the most northerly Anglican cathedral in the UK and was completed in 1866.

Driving through Inverness we pass the Old High Church where the Jacobite prisoners were held after Culloden before they were executed in the graveyard, you can still see musket ball marks on the church wall where the executions happened. Opposite the Old High Church you will see the Dunbar Hospital, built with stones from Cromwell’s citadel, the stones originally from Beauly Priory. Further along this street we pass Abertarff House, the oldest house in Inverness dating from 1593 and once the townhouse for the chiefs of Clan Fraser.

Continuing through Inverness we pass Inverness Castle and you will see the statue of Flora Macdonald, famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to Skye after Culloden.

Heading out of Inverness we come to Clava Cairns, this ancient burial ground is more than 4000 years old. Diana Gabaldon is believed to have taken inspiration for her outlander series. The winter solstice was a very important time for these people and the cairns are aligned in a south westerly direction to face the midwinter sun.

Less than a mile from Clava Cairns we come to Culloden Battlefield where on the 16th April 1746 the last battle on British soil took place.

The battle was fought between the Jacobites who wanted to restore the Stuarts to the throne and the Hanoverians who were the government.

In less than one hour more than 1600 men were killed, 1500 of them Jacobites. The battle lasted just over one hour.

The result of this battle was to change the way of life in the highlands forever.

After Culloden we head to Cawdor Castle. Cawdor Castle has been home to the Thanes of Cawdor for centuries and is one of the few castles in the Highlands to be left unscathed after the Jacobite uprisings, this is very surprising considering it lies between Auldearn and Culloden where two battles took place. The castle is still lived in today by the Dowager Countess of Cawdor.

1 – 3 people: £400

4 – 8 people: £500

Duration: 7 – 8 Hours

Included:

Local guide
Private tour
Comfortable vehicle
Bottled water and snacks for the journey

Not included:

Entry admission fees to any attractions
Meals

A £50 deposit is required to secure your booking. Deposit payment details sent after tour availability confirmed.

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Loch Ness Circular

From £400

This tour takes you all the way around Loch Ness and back to Inverness.

Heading south west out of Inverness we pass Tomnahurich Hill on our right hand side. This hill was also called “the hill of the fairies” as legend has it that two fiddlers were enticed in to the hill by fairies to play for them and when they came out it was 200 years in the future.

Continuing on our way towards Loch Ness we stop at Dochgarroch where hopefully we will see some Highland Cows.

Just after passing the little village of Lochend we come to the Northern end of Loch Ness and we stop at the Wellington layby. This layby takes its name from the Wellington Bomber “R for Robert” which ditched opposite the layby on the 31st December 1940. The bomber had developed engine trouble shortly after taking off from RAF Lossiemouth and was forced to ditch in the loch.
seven of the eight crew on board survived but unfortunately the rear gunner was killed. The bomber lay in the loch until 1985 when it was recovered. It is now in an aircraft museum in Surrey where volunteers spent 600,000 hours restoring it.

As we head further along the loch side we come to the little village of Drumnadrochit which is Gaelic for ridge of the bridge, the bridge and the River Enrick which we pass over. Drumnadrochit also sits at the widest point of Loch Ness which is one and a half miles wide here, the loch is also twenty-three miles long.

After passing through Drumnadrochit, at the top of the hill we stop at Urquhart Castle which sits on a promontory overlooking the loch.

Urquhart Castle was once one of Scotland’s largest castles and has been fought over many times with control of the castle passing back and forth between the Scots and the English during the wars of independence.

It is near here where St Columba is purported to have seen the Loch Ness Monster in 580 AD, the monster came out of the water to attack one of his disciples and St Columba banished it back to the water.

The castle gatehouse was deliberately destroyed in 1692 so it could never be used again as a military stronghold.

The next place we stop at is Invermoriston, where the river Moriston flows into Loch Ness. Inver in the Gaelic language means mouth of the river. We go to see the Thomas Telford bridge which was built in 1813 and spans the Invermoriston Falls.

A few miles along the road from Invermoriston we come to Fort Augustus. Fort Augustus was one of three forts built to suppress the Jacobite uprisings, it was completed in 1742 and was named after the Duke of Cumberland. The fort was captured by the Jacobites in 1746 before the Battle of Culloden.

We stop for lunch here and this will give you an opportunity to see the Caledonian Canal Locks as the pleasure boats pass through. The canal was completed in 1822 and was designed by Thomas Telford. The canal comprises four natural fresh water lochs which are joined together by more than 20 miles of man made waterway.

After lunch we start to make our way back towards Inverness on the south side of Loch Ness and we climb up to the top of Glendoe to the Suidhe viewpoint. On a clear day the view from here is quite spectacular as you will be able to see down through Sratherrick and into Strathnairn.

It was through Strathnairn and Stratherrick that Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped after the battle of Culloden.

As we continue our journey back we come to the little village of Whitebridge. The hotel here was used as accommodation for General Wade’s troops when they were building the old military road. The old white bridge is still standing although it is not white anymore and it is not in use either.

The next stop on our travels is at the “Falls of Foyers”. This spectacular waterfall drops 140ft into the gorge below at this popular natural beauty spot where you’ll get marvelous views of the falls.

The pathway winds through some stunning woodland where on rare occasions you may spot a red squirrel and takes you down some steep steps to the upper viewpoint where the surrounding rocks open up to give you some marvellous views of the falls.

Leaving Foyers behind we continue our journey back towards Inverness and just a few miles down the road we pass Boleskine House.

Boleskine House was once owned by a devil worshipper called Alister Crowley and was also in more recent times owned by Led Zeppelin lead guitarist, Jimmy Page.

There are some rumours that there was a tunnel from the house to the old cemetery on the opposite side of the road.

This road was once the old military road after Culloden and locals will tell of the story that one day a government horse and cart was passing and a loaf of bread fell off the cart and was pounced on by a dog. Some locals who were there started laughing and the redcoat soldiers put them against the wall of the cemetery and shot them.

We continue along the loch side and we come to the village of Dores at the north end of Loch Ness. We stop here to give you an opportunity to stretch your legs on the beach and maybe have a chat with “The Nessie Hunter”, Steve Feltham in his caravan. He has been living here and searching for Nessie for 32 years.

This concludes our tour although if we have some time we may stop at “ James Pringle”, Holm Mills Shopping Village on our way back.

1 – 3 people: £400

4 – 8 people: £500

Duration: 7 – 8 Hours

Included:

Local guide
Private tour
Comfortable vehicle
Bottled water and snacks for the journey

Not included:

Entry admission fees to any attractions
Meals

A £50 deposit is required to secure your booking. Deposit payment details sent after tour availability confirmed.

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Outlander

Loch Ness & Cawdor Castle

Loch Ness Circular

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