Loch Ness, Culloden Moor, Cairngorms National Park, Ballater

Today started with a fine breakfast at the guest house in Ballachulish and then we revisited Fort William so that Laura could get a x-ray of her dislocated finger to get a clean bill of health. While she waited for that, the girls and I wandered around the Old Fort area and then the main pedestrian shopping street.

On our way again, we continued on the next stage of our drive today

which included a stop at the Lock Ness Centre and Exhibition for lunch. We decided to skip the actual exhibition and just had lunch and wandered the gift shop since we'd burned two hours in Fort William.

The kids got a kick out of finding Clan Douglas items. It made them feel like they were "part of the club".

From there we went to the Culloden Battlefield. There was a very fine exhibit that explained the battle in great detail and what it meant for both sides as well as an immersive 360-degree video presentation that put you in the middle of the fighting.

Then, we walked the battlefield and took in the scope of what happened there.

After we left Culloden, we drove through Cairngorms National Park to get to Ballater. Much of that drive was on narrow, country roads... some of them single track. It went through forrest and moor -- part of it was on The Malt Whisky Trail. Although, since none of us really like whisky, we didn't feel the need to stop.

The extra stop in Fort William this morning put a kink in our plans... we had counted on visiting Balmoral Castle, but the two hours we lost in Fort William killed that possibility. Instead we pushed straight through to Ballater and our guest house. We checked in and then walked the half-mile in a light rain to the restaurant we'd chosen for dinner. We enjoyed a fine meal, walked back to the guest house and settled in for a well-earned rest before we set out tomorrow.