Rowan Tree Ltd - The Highland Clearances Trail Itinerary

The Highland Clearances Trail (Week)

Itinerary

Saturday	Welcome reception to meet your holiday leader and companions and hear about what the week has in store. After dinner, settle into your comfortable hotel accommodation for the week, and perhaps take a stroll along Inverness's picturesque river banks and enjoy the sights of the town's Castle, Cathedral and Eden Court Theatre by night.
Sunday	We visit the Highland Folk Museum, set against the stunning backdrop of the Cairngorms and River Spey in Newtonmore, to experience an award-winning reconstruction of Highland life from the 17th Century onwards. We also learn about the fascinating archaeological research at Easter Raitts, near Newtonmore, which has shed exciting new light on life in a pre-Clearance township, before returning to our hotel in Inverness.
Monday	We visit Culloden Battlefield near Inverness, site of the 1746 battle which heralded the breakdown of the Highland clan system and the beginning of large-scale emigration from the Highlands. After lunch, we continue to Fort George, one of a series of forts built after Culloden to subdue rebellious Highlanders. We then head north, through beautiful scenery, to the our hotel in Tongue, overlooking the lovely Kyle of Tongue on Sutherland's north coast.
Tuesday	We head east along the coast for a visit to Strathnaver Museum, run by dedicated local volunteers and home to a fascinating collection of local artefacts and archive material. We then travel into beautiful and empty Strathnaver, once home to a cluster of thriving communities and scene of some of the largest evictions of the Clearances in the 19th Century. We spend the day visiting key sites, looking at the remains of some of the abandoned townships and learning how their inhabitants lived as well as why and how they were forced to leave. We return to spend a second night in Tongue.
Wednesday	We head across majestic moorland roads to the rugged coastline of Caithness and East Sutherland to visit the Clan Gunn museum - a treasure trove of local information set in a spectacular location overlooking the North Sea. After lunch we visit Badbea - clinging to the cliffs, this abandoned village shows starkly the conditions which faced evicted families from the inland glens. We stay overnight in Lybster.
Thursday	We head south along the coast to Helmsdale to visit the award-winning Timespan museum before heading further south to Golspie and Dunrobin Castle, family home of the Dukes and Earls of Sutherland for many centuries. Find out about their lives and lifestyles in this stunning French-style chateau with its formal gardens overlooking the North Sea. We then head for Brora and our hotel for the next two nights.
Friday	We return to Golspie for an optional walk up Ben Bhraggie to see the monument to the First Duke of Sutherland and enjoy a panoramic view (weather permitting) over East Sutherland and Easter Ross. Those not wishing to do the Ben Bhraggie walk can opt for a visit to Dornoch, home to a historic cathedral, lovely beach and Royal Dornoch Golf Club with its world-famous championship golf course. We then regroup to visit Croick Church, where the Glen Calvie people sheltered after their eviction. See their names scratched on the church window and hear the story of the people who were cleared from this lovely area.
Saturday	After breakfast, we head south to Inverness, ejnoying the scenery of Easter Ross and the Black Isle before arriving at 12 noon in Inverness to allow you to start your journey home.

The Highland Clearances Trail (Week)