Sherramore Lodge Day 2 - 9/30/08

The men got up at dawn for an early, pre-breakfast hunt. They came back around 8 for breakfast with us then were scheduled to depart again at 9:30 but had a rain delay (imagine that?!!) for an hour.

Meanwhile, Diane and I went with Mitch touring. First, we stopped to see a private house that has been turned into a hunting lodge, called Ardverikie, which was built in 1870. It’s gatehouse is an exact replica of the lodge, and at one time Queen Victoria had thought about purchasing it. However, she decided that there were too many midges (small, biting insects) and bought Balmoral instead. The house is currently the site of a BBC television series called “Monarch of the Glen”.




Next we stopped at a cemetery, Cille Choirill (St. Cairell’s Chapel) that were on the top of a hill. The cemetery included a large number of Celtic crosses, and there were several bishops and clergymen buried there. The cemetery was still in use, but some of the earliest graves were from the 1500’s. The site has connections that go back to the days of the Irish missionary, Cairell, about 600 AD.



Then we drove to the World War II memorial. Mitch told us that many of the armed forces (including the US) had gathered there to train before they went into battle. The terrain was very hilly and mimicked the ground that they would be fighting on.

Since the glen was full of peat moss, wood was laid down, and the road was built on top of it. Therefore, the road floated and the weight of the car would cause it to go up and down slightly.

We stopped to see Neptune’s Staircase, which is a canal with a series of 15 locks that was hand dug between 1810 and 1820 as a shortcut between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This canal was dug for Scottish ships to get safely from one side of the country to the other. If they went around the north of Scotland, they kept getting attacked by French military or American privateers during our War of Independence. This set of locks is still be used and costs around 380-400 pounds for a two-way pass.


We went to see the Bonnie Prince Charlie Memorial. This is where he landed when he returned to Scotland from France. He did not speak Gaelic (only French) and was not well-received until he started winning battles, like the insurrection of 1745.


I also took the hike up the hill to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct. This viaduct was used during the filming of Harry Potter.


Next we drove into Fort William to eat lunch and shop. Mitch took us around to a couple of shops looking for gators for the hunter’s boots. Then he left Diane and I to find a place to dine and shop. We ate at The Tavern then meandered through the street. We walked down by the river, and Mitch told us it was 860 ft deep. They did deep sea training in it for welding.

Mitch picked us up at 2:30, and drove us to Inverlochy Castle. This castle was built in the 1280’s, and was the home of the Red Comyn’s (which is the clan that Mitch belongs to). He told us that Robert Bruce killed the head of the Red Comyn’s in 1308, which solidified his place as King of Scotland. If Red Comyn had won the battle, he would have become King instead. After that, the Comyn’s were rarely heard from again.


The main hall, Comyn Hall, had three levels. There was a spiral staircase that ascended to the Great Hall, which was on the second floor. Above that was the bedroom, and above that was the roof where the soldiers lived and defended the castle. The walls of the castle were 15 ft thick and constructed of stacked stone from the river. The bottom of the walls were flared out so that the soldiers could drop rocks on them, and they would ricochet into the chests of their enemies stopping their hearts.

We headed back to the lodge, but stopped for a few pictures. One of these is the island in the middle of the river where the former Kings of Scotland are buried from when there were four kingdoms (400-600 AD).


About 6 p.m., Mitch took us to where Diane and the men had been hunting. We saw a 6-point red stag shortly after leaving the lodge. Then we saw a Sika buck standing along the forest. When we got to the hills, we “glassed” until we found more red deer on the ridges.

Around 7:15, we returned for dinner which was chicken and tomato casserole, rosemary potatoes, peas and apple crisp.