First impression of Inverness, for such a small town, there's really quite a number of places to shop. Right beside the train station is a mall of which we spent our very shot afternoon there while waiting to take the train to Culrain. The train was very delayed and one of the train personnel was really angry...it was actually quite funny to watch a real life Scot in action. Hehe...
Finally reached Culrain station, after uncountable encounters from afar with sheeps and horses and rabbits (yes, rabbits, they are so many of them that I think they have a rabbit problem)...
We weren't quite expecting to alight in such a small unmanned station. Luckily, there was a bunch of Italian backpackers going to the same hostel we were going and that the sun is still shining like it's 4pm in the afternoon instead of 8pm. So we tailed behind the group and chatted with them along the hike uphill to the hostel.
Partway up the hill, one of the guys asked us if we watched some horror movie. It seems like the said horror movie was filmed where we were supposed to spend the night (Ok...glad that I am not into horrors, if not it will be a sleepless night, whew...). He then joked that the movie featured two Chinese girls killing a bunch of Italian guys in their sleep. Eyes roll. Talk about humor in the most unexpected places.
After super long hike, we finally caught sight of our hostel. Hurrayy...my legs are killing me...The hostel we are staying the night in is actually a castle (Haunted or not, that's up to debate. However, we spent an uneventful night there).
The Carbisdale castle was built by the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland during the 1906-17. The castle is dark and decor eerie, filled with statues and very old paintings. If not that the hostel was fully occupied, it does fulfill the mood of a horror movie setting....
Inside:
Level 1 (Main Floyer)
Level 2 (Hallway)
Truth be told, there was nothing much to do in Culrain, the nearest town is two train stations away and surrounding it is just the wilderness and some some community of farmers.... so the next morning, after a cold continental breakfast, we walked around the area.
There's truly nothing to do but the walk did freshen us up and the serenity of the place is really nice. Finally, bored by the lack of activity, we went to their library to read books (which is our favorite pastime), while passing time to wait for the train back to Inverness @ 3.25pm.
