A dreich Saturday in January was brightened up tremendously by a Thistle Excursion to Clava Cairns, the Culloden Viaduct, Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness and Beauly Priory. Our engaging local guide provided a heady mix of history, culture, tales and legends while taking us up close and personal with a number of Outlander locations.Although we didn’t catch a glimpse of Nessie the loch side drive gave us a great sense of the size of the loch and and we saw for ourselves how easy it is for her to escape detenction by all but the keenest, most patient eye!Leaving the quaint little village of Drumnadrochit behind we had the excitement of climbing up and over Culnakirk, a testing 15% gradient climb. Glad not to be cycling over that one! Once over the top we were treated to rugged open moorland and rolling hills almost all the way to our next stop in Beauly thought to have been named by Mary, Queen of Scots, meaning ‘beautiful place’. Despite the weather Beauly was teeming with life and after a spin around to find some parking we tucked into some great food at the Priory Hotel.Great road trip which showed us that the Highlands have much to offer whatever the weather!

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