We're here for the Guisachan Gathering of the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland

They have their first event on the Shinty Ground this afternoon, so this morning we're free to do some sight-seeing.

We head north to Inverness and out along the Moray Firth coastline for a drive.

Loch Ness . . . looking north up the loch from close to Drumnadrochit.

The Great glen is not all lake-filled, as here at Dochgarroch Lock at the top of Loch Ness.

The top part of the glen drains north via the River Ness into the Moray Firth

and the southern end drains out through the River Lochy into Loch Linnhe and the sea at Fort William.

The whole Glen can be navigated by quite large boats using the Caledonian Canal which joins the lakes together where necessary.

One of the larger tourist catamarans that offer visitors a boat trip on the lake is moored at the head of Lock Ness.

Anyone fancy a "Contemplation Cruise" ?

Loes and I stop off to see the waterfront in the centre of Inverness.

It's a lovely day and it is always nice to stop and explore places on foot.

Mid-morning and we head out on the Moray Firth road, stopping at the seafront at Nairn.

This holiday resort has extensive sandy beaches and grassy links behind, complete with bandstand.

From the beach we look north across the Moray Firth

to the headland of Cromarty and on towards Tarbat Ness and Dornoch.

A few miles further on our road, past the battlefields at Culloden and Cawdor Castle.

We reach Brodie Castle the ancestral home of the Brodie Clan. 

The building you see has stood here for over 400 years but their family has been in existence since the 12th century.

The property is now in the care of The National Trust for Scotland

Sounds like we should head for the Visitor Centre first.

We arrange a tour of the castle at 1pm so have a short while to look around and even sample the cafe first.

The "Brodie the Rabbit" sculpture was inspired by Clan Chief Ninian Brodie's acting career where he had an imaginary friend in the play "Harvey"

The castle has the most magnificent wild flower meadow in their gardens (much better than mine !)

I think the trick was to remove all the turf first and plant extensively on a rough earth base so there's no competitive grass.

[ That plus lots of seed, a good growing climate, lots of tender loving care and plenty of gardeners no doubt !! ]

The illusion of mirrors . . . nine glass pillars to confuse the senses.

The Brodies were famous in recent years for growing and propagating new varieties of daffodils,

though July was not a good month to appreciate them of course.

At the appropriate time we head over to the castle to join the 1pm tour.

The dogs had to unfortunately be left in the car but we left all the windows open on this hot and humid day.

The Brodie Family didn't get too involved in the 1746 Battle of Culloden between the English forces and Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobites.

The castle at that time would not have been as impressive anyway, as most of the structure dates from later than that time.

The 16th Century Guardhouse was flanked on one side by a cosy 17th Century wing

and on the other by a sprawling Victorian extension and servants quarters

We had an enjoyable and informative tour of the magnificent rooms and paintings within,

climbing numerous stairs and visiting everything from the children's rooms to the grand dining rooms and the kitchens.

May we say full marks to our knowledgeable young guide.

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Sadly while we were inside the forecasted thunder showers arrived

and we returned to a car which was now wet on the inside as well as the outside !

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Just up the road is Findhorn Bay, and as I've seen the small Findhorn Centre on Mull I thought it would be interesting

to visit the place that started their spiritual Findhorn Foundation

Picture from their website here.

The Findhorn Centre is tucked in the woodland on the outskirts of the village.

"For 50 years, thousands of people have shared transformative learning experiences with us. At our core, we serve as a spiritual community

and model for sustainable living. We offer retreats, workshops and gatherings that create time to pause and reflect on life,

while deepening our connection to meaning and nature."

Not wanting to intrude we drove on to the harbour at the head of the bay.

Village parking on the approach road to the harbour .

The Kimberley Inn . . . but we've already been refreshed so we pass on a big seafood lunch.

Out past the double harbour walls and instead we settled on a cup of tea at the yacht club pontoon.

An old picture of Findhorn harbour from a local information board.

Brightly painted beach huts line the back of the beach beyond the houses.

The white buildings in the distance is part of the Lossiemouth Air Base

famous for their Air Sea Rescue amongst other things.

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Time to be heading back to Drumnadrochit and Canish for our afternoon engagement.

The briefest of stops for Loes to have a 'repeat' picture by the wall to match one from many years ago.

We travel over to Glen Affric and the Shinty Field at Canish

where the Retriever Club have erected a large marquee and associated tents for the five-day event.

We make our way inside for the first informal event of the week.

It is a chance to meet each other and play a few silly games . . . involving a lot of four legged friends.

As we waited, the tent filled with more and more dogs . . . and their owners.

There were quite a collection of wonderful looking retrievers, all beautifully behaved and hardly a bark amongst them.

and picked this one as the winner !