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Tag: Inverness

Travel Day

Travel Day

Published on 20 June 2025

This Friday was to be another travel day: a train, two buses, and a ferry… Well, I could have saved myself the two buses, but then I would have missed out on a quick stop at a brewery! 

On a check-out day, just having breakfast in the hotel is the most convenient, so that’s what I did. All packed and dressed for a hot day, I headed to Inverness station to catch the ScotRail train to Inverurie. Unfortunately the airconditioning wasn’t working, so even in first class, I was in for a sauna… Luckily the train conductor kept his sense of humour! 

With a slight delay, I arrived in Inverurie, where I had a couple of beers in the local BrewDog, conveniently located right next to the bus station. There I got on the Watermill Coach that would get me to Ellon. 

Those who know me—or beer—immediately realise Ellon is where the main BrewDog brewery is, and the DogTap attached to it. Since my stay in Inverurie was too short to have lunch—especially after my train had a slight delay—I had my All the Meats Sub and some dragon fries at DogTap. 

A Stagecoach bus then brought me back to Aberdeen, where I met up with couple of dozen of hashers at the Krakatoa bar. It was no coincidence that we met right next to the harbour, since we all had the get on the same NorthLink ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick: the Hrossey. 

After boarding, I made myself comfortable in my room, had a curry for dinner in the Magnus Lounge, and then joined the other hashers again for some beers. When I finally decided to go to bed, it was still light outside…

More Inverness

More Inverness

Published on 19 June 2025

After a good night’s sleep, I was ready to properly discover Inverness. Well, after some breakfast and coffee of course! 

The plan was to have some kind of breakfast taco from one of the vendors around the food plaza in the Victorian Market. Unfortunately they apparently stopped doing breakfast a couple of weeks ago, so I had to find an alternative. Luckily Milk Bar, where I intended to go for coffee anyway, served some food as well, so I ended up enjoying a ham, cheddar, and caramelised red onion marmalade toastie. And then I had my planned coffee and some millionaire’s shortbread there after all. 

Time for some history then, and I started with Abertarff House, the oldest house in Inverness, and an important example of 16th-century domestic architecture.

Next was the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, which was mainly about the history of Inverness and the Highlands. All signage was in both English and Gaelic, as I’ve seen in more places in Inverness, and now I know why: Gaelic is on the rise! In 1891, one third of the people of Inverness spoke Gaelic. After falling to 5% by 1991, the figure today is back over 8%, higher than any other Scottish city!

For lunch I headed to Roots Café, a place I had been before when it had another name and owner, and I had a huge hangover… When I noticed the special was a black pudding and crispy potato hash, I simply had to have it! Not enough people realise that a ‘hash’ first and foremost is something you eat…

Even though I’ve now been a kilt wearer for over eleven years, I had never seen one made in person! The Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre—basically a little exhibition and a big window in the workshop of the Highland House of Fraser—fixed that for me. 

Just fifteen minutes before closing time—did I mention that the food plaza in the Victorian Market closes early?—I got myself a pork sausage roll at Bad Girl Bakery. I had to, just for the name alone! The sausage roll was good, though. 

The plan was to visit Inverness Castle as well, but apparently it still hadn’t reopened yet… Just a look from the outside would have to do this time, although it was impossible to get a view without scaffolding or fences!

On my way past the castle, I then had a quick stop at Number 27, for a couple of halves. 

The next stop was The Castle Tavern. Apparently I was a bit early for dinner—although my stomach on Belgian time disagreed—so I had to kill some time drinking beer… It was worth the wait though: both the haggis croquettes and the chipotle chicken sandwich were very nice!

The furthest I would venture today was Uile-Bheist, a distillery and brewery. As they only started in 2022, they don’t have their own whisky yet, and they don’t make any other distillates. So while they did have their bar well-stocked with other whiskies, I stuck to their beers. 

On my to-do list for ages, was Hootananny. Originally because they have a weekly ceilidh, but Thursday is not the night for that. They do however have live music every night, and tonight it was Tuath (Gaelic for ‘North’) that delighted us with their tunes. Neil on the fiddle, and Blair on the keyboard and the sass… Luckily I always carry protection in my sporran, because they were really loud! 

After the first set I moved on to the Black Isle Bar, since I noticed they had some new beers on. I mean, if you launch a Belgian Golden Strong Ale on my last night, I can’t skip that! After eleven they already started cleaning and closing tills, so that was the signal for me to head back to the hotel. 

Back in Inverness

Back in Inverness

Published on 18 June 2025

After a full Scottish breakfast—but is it still Scottish when it doesn’t include haggis?—we arrived about ten minutes early in Inverness. My Scottish adventure was about to start!

My first port of call then was the Caledonian Sleeper lounge, just across from the station. It was definitely smaller than the one in London, but it fulfilled its purpose, and I had a moment of relaxation with a nice cuppa and a cookie.

Rectangular plate with beans, sausage, a hashbrown with some other items hidden underneath it, a mini frittata, and a slice of toast

I then dropped off my bags at Travelodge Inverness City Centre, and headed to PERK Coffee + Doughnuts for coffee and—you guessed it—a doughnut. 

Coffee shop facade, people queuing out the door

Since the last time I was in Inverness I was quite hungover, I decided to once again take Stagecoach 27 to revisit Culloden Battlefield. 

From there I took the same bus back in the direction of the Black Isle Brewery. From the nearest bus stop it was still a 25 minute walk, but who cares when your walking in the Highlands? The brewery didn’t actually have a taproom—just some cans in a fridge. They did however spontaneously offered to give me a tour of the brewery, which of course made me very happy!

A sign pointing out the way to Black Isle Brewing Co., hilly meadows and woods in the background
A shed turned into a brewery

The way back from the brewery to town was even less convenient—Scottish public transport truly works in mysterious ways—so I ordered a taxi straight to the Black Isle Bar. There I actually managed to find a couple of beers not available in the brewery, so happy me!

After checking in to my hotel, and briefly closing my eyes, I popped by at the Victorian Market, where everything seems to close quite early… Moonshine was still open though, so I had a can of beer there. 

Since it was still a bit early to go for dinner, I also made a stop at Highlander. While most of their beers are pretty standard, they do seem to have a special place in their heart—and fridges—for a local brewery: Dog Falls. 

From there it was onto Mangrove, for some proper Indian food! I had the ttandoori mix, chilli korma chicken, and some garlic nan. 

Then I ventured into the lion’s den: MacGregor’s, historically archenemies of the MacLarens… They didn’t seem to recognise my tartan though, and served me beers with a smile on their face. Bullet dodged! 

The last stop of the night was The Malt Room. They initially recommended me a flight, but as appealing as that sounded, it simply would have been too much… I settled for one dram of Raasay, and then went to bed, to catch up on some sleep…

Flying Scotsman Trip – Day 1

Published on 12 September 2021

Inverness, Inverurie, and Aberdeen

After a day of quite heavy drinking in London, and a nightcap on the train, I fell asleep—or did I pass out?—as soon as I put my head down. I even forgot to take out my contact lenses, or set my alarm, so when I eventually woke up, I was already late for breakfast! Luckily not too late, and mere minutes after getting up, I was enjoying a Highland breakfast and tea.

The Caledonian Sleeper arrived ten minutes early in Inverness, leaving me with a little less time than planned… In the rush, I couldn’t find my toiletry bag until the very last minute—it was on my bed under the blanket—leaving me with a rather peculiar hairdo for the rest of the day.

When I alighted in Inverness, I had still some time to kill before the first Stagecoach bus to Culloden Battlefield would leave, so I first had a coffee at Velocity Cafe and Bicycle Workshop.. The bus then dropped me off right in front of the visitor centre and museum. As a fresh National Trust for Scotland member, I had free access to the exhibition.

After that, I walked upon the battlefield itself. It was a chilling experience to stand on the exact spot where the MacLarens must have stood in 1746, in line with many other Jacobites, just seconds before advancing to the enemy, and for many of them, towards their death…

At Culloden I also learned that the perfect amount of social distancing is two Scottish broadswords long, or four targes. I think people would keep their distance much better if everyone was actually still wearing broadswords!

Back in Inverness, I had a pizza for lunch at the Black Isle Bar, where they of course also served beer from their brewery on the other side of the firth. Before getting to the train station, I had to little walk through town, and quickly visited Leakey’s Bookshop. After all, since handing over a sixpack of 75cl bottles, and a couple of cans and small bottles in London, I had plenty of room in my bag for books!

After this little excursion, it was time for the first Scottish BrewDog bar of this trip, and my first stamp towards the Flying Scotsman reward: BrewDog Inverurie! I was still a bit rough from the day before, so I just had one beer there, and a whole lot of water. The staff was great though, and the Craig Fisher graffitis were awesome as usual!

My last train of the day brought me to Aberdeen, which would be my home for the next two nights. I checked into Travelodge Aberdeen to get settled, and to check out my obligatory day two Corona test kit. It looks like I’ll get to play doctor on Sunday!

All settled, freshened up, and hair finally combed, I then headed to BrewDog Castlegate for dinner. I didn’t account for the Saturday night crowds, however, and had to wait outside for a bit. Not for long though, and I only just had the first sip from my second beer, when the lovely staff told me they found me a table! It then didn’t take long before I was tucking into a Korean fried chicken burger, this month’s special.

My final stop of the evening was at the OG BrewDog bar, BrewDog Aberdeen. Here BrewDog News Podcast’s Rob left me a bottle of MMXXX I won in a prize draw a couple of months ago. Thanks for that, Rob, and we’ll surely meet in person another time!