Me in Scotland

[Scotaidh]

Tonight I fly to Heathrow, and tomorrow take the train to Edinburgh, and then on to Inverness.  I'll be there about a week, before catching the train back down to London to fly out of Heathrow on the 11th.

Why?  My father, who is 94, has an old friend, Tim Longley, who lives outside Inverness - Dulnain Bridge.  My father wants to go and see him, but he doesn't want to do the trip alone - so I and my wife, and my three sisters are all going with him. 

[Also, Inverness is my grandparents' town, sort of - my great-grandfather was a doctor there prior to moving his family to Jura where great-grandfather set up his practice.  My grandfather, John Macdonald, was later sent back to Inverness where he attended the Inverness Royal Academy. 

It was in Inverness that he met my grandmother, Wilhelmina Macdonald (no close relation - family from Glencoe), and decided he needed a better job to make a life for them both.  He wound up as a manager on the Matelli Tea Estate in Mātiāli in Jalpāiguri (West Bengal Province).  My father, Alastair, was born in Calcutta (1924). 

When my father was 2 years old, his parents decided to take a furlough back to Britain.  On the steamer, my grandfather contracted a fever and died.  He was buried in a graveyard in Colombo (Ceylon, as it was then).  (My nieces and nephews visited his grave-site last year.) 

Grandmother never returned to Inverness, that I know.  She settled in London and raised my father.  He later joined the RN as an aeronautical engineer, serving on HMS Implacable as Flight Deck Officer - in charge of the maintainance of all the aircraft onboard.]

All that aside, I'm going to be in Inverness for the week.  Can anyone tell me of any model shops there?  Or perhaps events, or just to meet up for coffee? Thanks!

(I know I missed the Perth show - I very much enjoyed the photos!    )

[JayBee]

Welcome home.
I will sadly not be anywhere near you to meet up  but I welcome you none the less.

[PR19_Kit]

While you're up there it may be worth a 40 mile trip eastwards along the A96 to Lossiemouth to see the RAF Typhoons doing their thing. And hear them too, they're not exactly quiet...... 

[Captain Canada]

Nice story, good to get to know you ! Cheers and have a great family trip !

[Martin H]

I dont know if they are still there as its been at least 6 years since I was last in that neck of the woods.
But there was one based somewhere in the old town and another smaller one based in the old indoor market. Plus there is another one a bit further up the A9 in Dingwall, on the main shopping street. (looks like an outdoors sport shop from the outside, the model/hobby section is at the back of the shop)

[zenrat]

Edinburgh to Inverness by train looks like a nice scenic trip.  Hope you get good weather and are doing it in daylight.

[Doug K]

Enjoy that highland mainline, I hope the weather holds for you! I'm taking some US friends to the western isles in a couple of weeks, hoping for some spring sunshine

[NARSES2]

Edinburgh to Inverness by train looks like a nice scenic trip.  Hope you get good weather and are doing it in daylight.

It is a nice trip, as is the Newcastle to Edinburgh run.

Welcome and enjoy the trip 

[Scotaidh]

Thanks,all! :-) And, thank-you, Martin - I'll look for those shops. I'm actually staying in Aviemore, so I'll have only about two hours actually in Inverness - trains, ye ken. It's nice to be back,,, even if just for a week.

I'd have responded sooner, but there was a trouble with the wi-fi password, so ... :-)

[The Rat]

Some interesting things on the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulnain_Bridge

Just took a virtual drive through there, looks like a nice area. But no pubs in town! Nearest ones showing on the map are a few kilometres up the A95 in Grantown-on-Spey.
https://www.thedrinkingmansguidetoscotland.com/claymore-bar.html
http://www.thecraigbar.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/British-Restaurant/The-Wee-Puffin-599571763467659/
https://www.facebook.com/Sylhet-Brasserie-315172315168663/

Have fun, take plenty of pictures, and give your Dad best regards from all of us!

[Old Wombat]

I'd have responded sooner, but there was a trouble with the wi-fi password, so ... :-)

Your wife set it to your anniversary date, didn't she!

[Martin H]

Thanks,all! :-) And, thank-you, Martin - I'll look for those shops. I'm actually staying in Aviemore, so I'll have only about two hours actually in Inverness - trains, ye ken. It's nice to be back,,, even if just for a week.

I'd have responded sooner, but there was a trouble with the wi-fi password, so ... :-)

There used to be a stunning little model shop in Nairn but that closed ages ago.
And watch out for the average speed camera's on the A9. They have them all the way from Dunblane to Inverness. Plus mobile speed camera vans. In other words keep to the speed limit, they take no prisoners up there..........................

[JayBee]

Up here we always keep to the speed limit. 

[Martin H]

Up here we always keep to the speed limit. 

Yeah Right! lol

[Nick]

Up here we always keep to the speed limit. 

I'm just waiting to see if I got caught by any speed cameras last week! 

If you are being followed by a silver BMW it's wise to keep the speed down. I saw a pair of cops get out of one at Achnasheen - checking to see if the coffee shop was open on Bank Holiday Monday (it wasn't!).