THE PETTY PERAMBULATION

The first walk of 2008 was around the new Castle Stuart golf course in the Petty area near Inverness. Not a bad turn out either, given that some of us were in Glasgow at Celtic Connections, whilst others were at Caley Park for the Rangers Connection - and yes we wuz robbed - again!

However, back to the walk. At the golf course there was clearly some confusion over the rules - Jim and Jacque should have known that they were never going to be allowed to use these clubs!

After the sport - a little bit of culture. A nice picture of Jim with 2 cats and 3 kittens. You can see what I resisted saying there, can't you?

A grave decision to take lunch without asking for Dave's permission. Now, pay particular attention to the photo, because there is an interesting point of comparison with the next one.

A very nice group - just the sort of people you would want to bump into in a graveyard! However, note Hugh's hand action - and then compare it to Mac's in the previous photo - it must be a man thing or I suppose we could be charitable and say that the walk across the golf course had meant that they had to practise their grips.

It wasn't all fun and games on this walk. There was a serious side to some of the history as this plaque tells us. Poor old ginger Sandy - it seems a long time to wait from 1746 until 1997 to finally get laid to rest - was it worth the wait?

Finally, a nice view of Castle Stuart. For the anoraks amongst you I have copied in some information on the Castle.

A tower house to the East of Inverness, Castle Stuart dates from the 1620's and was a stronghold of the Earls of Moray.

Castle Stuart became a derelict ruin for almost 300 years. It remained empty - except for the ghosts.When Mary Queen of Scots came back to Scotland in 1561, after the death of her husband, the Dauphin of France, she gave this land to her half-brother, James Stuart, granted him the title 'Earl of Moray' and he ruled Scotland as Regent for her. Unfortunately he was murdered and the 2nd Earl of Moray was also murdered - stabbed to death 13 times. Thus Castle Stuart was finally completed in 1625 by James Stuart, 3rd Earl of Moray. He married Anne Gordon - it was her father, the Earl of Huntly, who stabbed to death his father, the 2nd Earl of Moray. We think he built the castle for protection from his in-laws.No sooner was the castle built than it was attacked by 500 MacIntoshes who came down the drive and took over the castle.The Stuart Family decided the best thing to do would be to pay off the MacIntoshes - they took the money and ran. Some 20 years later, with the power of Oliver Cromwell in England gaining strength, the cultured and melancholy Stuart king, Charles the First, died beneath the headsman's axe outside his own London Palace of Whitehall. Castle Stuart suffered, fell into decline and gradually became a derelict ruin for almost 300 years. It remained empty - except for the ghosts.Throughout centuries of Scotland's troubled history, Castle Stuart has stood a strong refuge and retreat for the Earls of Moray and the Stuart family. Within sight of this great house on high Culloden Moor, the Highland Broadsword rose and fell in the last futile attempt to restore the exiled Stuart kings to the British throne.Charles Edward Stuart, the romantic 'might have been' of British history, shared with the Lords of Castle Stuart a proud descent from the Royal House of Albany, rulers of Scotland and, for a time, of the United Kingdom. The Stuarts and their kin wrote much of the bloody and poetic history that is Scotland's heritage.This splendid 17th century structure is now once more home to a Stuart family.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Oh sorry - it was apparently a good walk and well done to Mr and Mrs Smith for arranging it.