Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th April

Wednesday 16th April

We left Fort William after breakfast and travelled towards Loch Ness. It was a beautiful day – again, we have been very lucky over the past few days. We had a quick stop at the visitor centre at Loch Ness, before we visited Urquhart Castle. This is a very popular castle for photographs on postcards and calendars, so you may have seen it before. It is spread over a small area, so we all had a wander through the castle grounds, while taking in the spectacular views of Loch Ness and the surrounding hills. After this, the boys insisted on a stop where the togs could be put on and the temperatures of Loch Ness be tested! What a laugh, the boys facial expressions said it all, they were soon out and getting dry and warm on the coach once again. After a short trip, we stopped at Culloden Moor, the site of the last land battle in the UK between Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army and the Government Forces. It was a special day (by chance) as it was the anniversary of the battle (16th April 1746) and there was a new visitor centre that was officially opened that day. As a result, there were lots of historical costumes being worn by guides and lots and lots of ‘Highland Gents’ in their kilts.
A short trip from Culloden found us at our Youth Hostel for the night, it was very comfortable. After a couple of hours ‘rest time’, we all walked into the city centre of Inverness for dinner. We took the boys to a ‘Pizza Express’ restaurant, and although the staff were a little flustered at the large number that landed at their door, we were soon fed and watered, and had a walk back to the hostel for the night.

Thursday 17th April

We left Inverness today, bound for Perth. We had a lunch stop at Pitlochry, a quaint touristy village which is home to the Blair Athol distillery which we visited. The boys had the distilling and ageing process explained to them very well by our German guide – who would have guessed!
We arrived at Perth Academy at the end of their school day, we seemed to be quite an attraction with the students as they were leaving. We met the students who were hosting our boys, and they left to have dinner with their families. At 7pm, we all assembled again at the school hall for the Welcoming Ceilidh. Adam Bennett was the only All Saints boy in a kilt, and although he admitted to feeling ‘unusual’ he looked great and had a great time, as did all the boys. The boys were absolutely magnificent tonight, they danced from the moment we arrived until the moment we left, although the girls from Perth Academy have to take some credit for that I suppose!
The dance finished at 10.30 and the boys left with their billets having had a great night.