Walking, Cycling, Shopping and Visiting in Inverness

Today’s walk before breakfast covered much of the best bits of yesterday’s walk including the Ness Islands, but in the reverse direction for variety. A few short jogs were enough for the legs in their present state. Bellfield Park (with its lawns and foliage, 6 tennis courts and bike hire) was new to me and looked a pleasant place to find a spot to relax.

The shopping trip was aiming to buy stuff in shops close to Inverness Centre but not visited until today. As usual in a TK Maxx, bargains were irresistible. At Go Outdoors Express the exact intended product – light, waterproof, breathable longs that pack small (by Peter Storm, a Go Outdoors brand) – was purchased at pace from a knowledgeable assistant. Morning coffee was from the shop of the Inverness Coffee Roasters Company, where the opportunity was taken to tell them that their coffee had been enjoyed also at Cafe de Paulo WASP and that their suggestion to use a bike bought from New Start Highland was proving to be highly successful.

Lunch at Cafe de Paulo WASP was enjoyable as expected. On being told that Mum (Isabel Campbell) and her three sisters (Flora, Morag and Ola) had attended the academy that had the hall now used by the cafe, server Georgia asked if we had any pictures to compare with the present (impressively decorated) hall and we are searching. By coincidence, Georgia is a cyclist so there was plenty to start to discuss.

There was both plenty to discuss also with a relative and time available, including how many hills I had climbed in error after missing his turning (contributing to 800 active calories on a day not intended to be for training). There was feedback from me on following some of his excellent suggestions for places to visit and more details were filled in on three of the first Scottish ferries built to the same design.

The “hoist-loading” ferries had platforms that could lift or lower several cars at the same time according to the state of the tide in order to use a pier of constant height instead of a ramp. They loaded and unloaded from the side. “Columba” operated between Oban and Mull, “Hebrides” covered the Uig to Tarbert to Lochmaddy triangle and “Clansman” before conversion to roll-on-roll—off sailed between Mallaig and Armadale.

Also at my cousin’s flat, he spotted the red arrows! He knew they had been performing a display at Lossiemouth and that they were expected at Liverpool Airport.