Stop 1 Beauly to Redcastle Set your mileometer to Zero

We hope you have decided to take one of our picnics on your tour but, if not, Beauly is a great place to stock up with some provisions for your trip. Corner on the Square and Café Biagiotti are two of our favourites but Harry Gow’s bakery and the local supermarket can also provide great snacks.

You may want to set your mileometer to zero so you can check the distances we give on the tour.

From the Gabbler head through the Square past the Priory on the right and out of the village. At just over 1.5 miles look out for the Welcome to Muir of Ord sign and you will be taking a right hand turn just there, signposted B9169 to Cromarty and Fortrose. You’re turning just before the Ross-shire Engineering building. You then drive round the Black Isle showground and at just over 2 miles you come to a T junction where you should turn right, again signposted Cromarty Fortrose A832.

Just past 4 miles you will see a road on your right signposted for Killearnan Church, Charleston and Redcastle. It’s opposite the Spud Hut where you can buy local potatoes, eggs and veg in season. Take this road, passing Killearnan church on your right until you come to the tiny hamlet of Redcastle just over 5 miles. Turn right towards the Beauly Firth and find a place to park.

The stretch of water in front of you is the Beauly Firth. At low tide you will see how shallow the firth is with vast mud flats stretching almost from shore to shore. This is a haven for wildlife and you may see seals and otters as well as a huge variety of birds. The road along the front is beautiful and takes you out at North Kessock just before the Kessock Bridge leading across the Firth to Inverness. It is well worth exploring but today we are just going to look at Redcastle itself before we continue our tour.

Walk back up the road you drove down, away from the Firth. You will see the entrance to Redcastle on your right with a typical gate house. Walk through the gates and past the gate house. The track bends to the right and you will find yourself on a raised mound overlooking the Firth and with the ruins of the once fabulous Redcastle in full view. Redcastle dates back to the 12th Century although it has been much extended and remodelled over the centuries since it was built for the Earl of Huntingdon. It was then owned at various times by the Douglases, Mackenzies, Grants and Baillies. It has been visited by royalty (Mary Queen of Scots came here in 1562), besieged and destroyed by fire (during the covenanters’ wars) and requisitioned by the government during times of emergency (it was used by the British army during World War II). It was once considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland but sadly parts of it were dismantled in the 1950s to avoid property taxes and it has not been occupied since. It is now in a very dangerous condition and continues to deteriorate. Having said that, there is something incredibly romantic about it as it stands now – is there a princess asleep in one of the towers just waiting for her Prince Charming to show up and waken her with a kiss? Probably not, but we can all imagine.

Return to your car and head back up the road you came down but at the junction, keep on the main road. When you reach the A832 again, at around 6.5 miles, you will see a large church ahead of you, now a children’s nursery. Go right here and continue on this road until the Tore roundabout at just over 8 miles. Take the third exit signposted Fortrose, Cromarty. Just over 10 miles you will see a sign for the Clootie Well car park on the right. Turn in here and park.