Inverness

Capital of the Highlands, river beauty, and music

The way I figure it, you can escape the Loch Ness monster we talked about last time by slipping into the River Ness at the north end of Loch Ness. The creature is just too big to fit in there, so you can cruise safely along the fast-flowing river right up to its mouth at the Moray Firth. A firth is a large inlet or bay that connects a river to the sea. The Moray Firth leads into the North Sea in the northeast of Scotland.

Where the firth meets the river is the city of Inverness, capital of the Highlands. Since inver (from “inbhir” in Gaelic) means a river mouth, the city was quite simply named “the mouth of the River Ness.” The River Ness flows smoothly and rapidly right through the center of the city, with pedestrian and car bridges over it every few blocks, making for many beautiful views.

There are walkways along the river, so it’s very easy to enjoy a walk of any length. At one point, going a little ways south, several small islands in the river are included in the system of walkways.

Being the capital of the Highlands, Inverness has a rich history. Along the river is Inverness Castle, with a good museum and art gallery situated next door. Inside the museum, I like the stairwell, where an ancient Celtic tree alphabet is painted on the wall. The permanent display includes a set of 1785 bagpipes that pipemakers Hamish and Fin Moore painstakingly replicated. They made four copies, all tuned like the original set to concert A rather than the raised pitches now used for bagpipe competitions. The Moores created a bagpipe quartet called Seudan to perform on this matched set of pipes. (One member of the quartet is Calum MacCrimmon, the long-time piper with the band Breabach, which I wrote about here recently.)

Walking around the city in the evening is beautiful in the summer. It’s so far north that there is very little chance for the sun to disappear for the night. Here’s a photo I took from a bridge over the river at about 11pm on a summer’s night.

Of course, there are lots of shops and amenities. A short walk north from the castle is an award-winning bar and music venue called Hootananny, which hosts bands and sessions. Here’s a night-time photo of the outside of the bar, and the inside where we played in a session round their big table.

In recent years, another award-winning music bar was opened a few blocks north of there by the great Inverness fiddler Bruce MacGregor. Simply called MacGregor’s, the bar has good food, whisky tastings, and hosts lots of musical events, including regular sessions. During the pandemic they broadcast a weekly online session for homebound musicians and listeners to enjoy. Here’s a photo from across the street.

One regular feature of our music & walking tours, during our visits to Inverness, was a concert by the great fiddler Gordon Gunn. He’s from Wick, about two hours north, but is in demand throughout Scotland and beyond, so he travels a great deal. His playing is often exuberant, and sometimes slow and expressive (playing what Gordon likes to call the “miserable tunes”!). We were fortunate to hear him play with great accompanists: several times with Inverness guitarist Marc Clement, and other times with pianists Brian McAlpine and Andy Thorburn. Here’s a photo of Gordon playing with Marc in a beautiful room lined with windows looking out on the fast-flowing River Ness. Also a photo of the time we had a wee session with Gordon, and Bruce MacGregor showed up to join in.

About 12 miles west of Inverness is a little town called Beauly, which was named in 1563 by Mary Queen of Scots as she passed through. Since the queen’s mother was French and her father, King James V, liked to please his wife by including French architecture and language in his court, it’s no surprise that Mary called the town “Beau Lieu” (French for “beautiful place”), which eventually became “Beauly.”

Beauly is home once a year to a great music event created by Bruce MacGregor. Bruce has always been a busy man (in a couple of weeks, we’ll learn more about Bruce MacGregor’s life and work). In addition to running MacGregor’s bar, he hosted the BBC Scotland “Travelling Folk” radio program for many years, and also founded the popular Highland fiddle band, Blazin’ Fiddles. See the video at the end of this post for a sample of their high energy. Every October, the band gathers musicians of all levels to enjoy concerts and classes in Scottish music. It’s called Blazin’ in Beauly and turns the small town into a very happy and lively place for the week.

I was very fortunate to have been a guest instructor at Blazin in Beauly in 2005, and while there, met a store owner who showed me a room in his shop here the great Victorian fiddler and composer, James Scott Skinner, once lived for a while. The room has been kept intact, and is full of amazing memorabilia. The owner, Donald Fraser, allowed me to show this special place to the travelers on our music and walking tours. Hanging on the walls are many pictures and manuscripts. Below is a photo of a large framed manuscript of a tune Skinner wrote, with his photo in the center (he was anything but shy!), inscribed to his friend, the owner of the shop at the time. Next to it is a photo of me speaking to our group about Skinner and the room — notice the old victrola wind-up record player, and to the right, a photo of Skinner and a collage of photos from 1903 displaying all the founders of the Highland Strathspey and Reel Society.

Beauly’s long history includes a 13th century abbey right in the center of town. Called the Beauly Priory, its ruins are quite striking. (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist also showing you the sign of the fish and chips shop next to the Priory!)

Next week, we’ll interview and discuss about a popular contemporary band based in Inverness, called Elephant Sessions, which is rooted in traditional music but takes it to new places.

Below, enjoy a set of tunes by Blazin’ Fiddles.