Barge Cruising the Scottish Highlands

Day 1 : Inverness > Muirtown

Guests are met at a designated meeting point in Inverness and transferred by private chauffeured minibus to Scottish Highlander. Champagne Welcome and perhaps an early evening stroll to the sea lock with wonderful views over the Moray and Beauly Firths. Dinner on board.

Day 2 : Muirtown > Dochgarroch

Travel up the Muirtown lock flight and through the Tomnahurich swing bridge, with an option to walk alongside River Ness to the hamlet of Dochgarroch. After lunch on board, visit Culloden Moor, scene of the last major battle on British soil in 1746 where English Government troops faced the Highlanders of “Bonnie Prince Charlie”. Next, it’s on to Tomatin Distillery, established in 1897 in the hills south of Inverness. You are given a fascinating description of the maturing and ageing process of their whiskies, each with its distinctive characteristics, followed by a special tasting of several single malts. Dinner on board.

Day 3 : Dochgarroch > Fort Augustus

This morning enjoy a visit to Cawdor Castle, forever immortalised in Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play”, Macbeth. The picturesque gardens have been listed amongst the top 100 in the UK. The castle contains a superb collection of tapestries, pictures and furnishings and the Dowager Countess of Cawdor still lives there for part of the year. If time allows, take a tour of Clava Cairns, a pre-historic clan chieftain burial site dating back to 2,000 BC and setting for the Outlander TV series. After lunch onboard, cruise through Loch Dochfour and across Loch Ness, where en-route you pass Urquhart Castle, navigating closely beneath its spectacular 13th century ruins, before continuing to cruise to Fort Augustus. Dinner on board.

Day 4 : Fort Augustus to Cullochy

After breakfast, visit the private Highland Club, a spectacular exclusive set of residences and a former 19th century Benedictine Monastery. Here you will be treated to a falconry and birds of prey demonstration on the banks of Loch Ness. The majesty of the swooping birds against the backdrop of the sweeping Scottish Highlands is not easily forgotten. There is time to explore the pretty village of Fort Augustus before lunch on board, after which your cruise takes you up the “flight of locks” and then on to your pretty mooring at Kytra. This evening dine ashore at a local restaurant.

Day 5 : Cullochy to Laggan

This morning’s cruise can be partially walked as you cross the very scenic Loch Oich, perhaps stopping en route for a spot of fishing, and onto the pretty Laggan Avenue. As you approach Laggan, a Highland Piper may greet you with a stirring rendition of traditional Scottish music. After lunch on board take in some of the finest scenery Scotland has to offer as you drive to one of its best known and most photographed castles, Eilean Donan, which has featured in movies such as “Highlander” and James Bond’s “The World Is Not Enough” and overlooks three sea lochs. Dinner on board.

Day 6 : Laggan > Banavie

The final cruise today will see a crossing from Loch Lochy to Gairlochy, where you will rejoin the canal and continue on to Moy Bridge, the last fully hand-operated bridge on the waterway. From here it is a short cruise to the mooring at Banavie beneath Ben Nevis and a stroll from Neptune’s Staircase leading down to Loch Eil. After lunch on board, your tour today takes you to the dramatic scenery and mystical battlefield of Glencoe, famed for one of the darkest days in Scottish history when soldiers of the Campbell clan massacred 30 members of Clan MacDonald. If time permits, you can also visit the ruins of Old Inverlochy Castle. Captain’s Farewell Dinner on board.

Day 7 : Banavie > Inverness

After breakfast, guests are transferred by private chauffeured minibus to their choice of location in Inverness.

Please note: The excursion to Cawdor Castle is only possible between early May and the end of September. A visit to Fort George will replace it either side of these dates.  The falconry and birds of prey demonstration is “weather permitting”.