The Black Isle Discount Tickets

Get your discount tickets for the The Black Isle, save up to 12% !

Overview

The Black Isle The Bonnie Black Isle is, on a bright summer’s day, not black. Nor, on any other day is it an island. “Bonnie” (Scots for “beautiful”) however, it assuredly is and it affords the visitor many beautiful views, seascapes, wildlife and places of interest. The “Isle” is in fact a peninsula strategically lying between the broad expanses of two Firths, Moray and Cromarty.

Pickup Information

Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen Airport by arrangement. Contact us the evening before and we will give you your driver/guides phone number.

Language Offered

English-GUIDE

Itinerary

1. Clootie Well
This ancient site is dedicated to St Boniface. The tradition of tying a cloth or "clootie" to a tree after dipping it in the well signifies that the patient, from whom the cloth has been taken, lying ill at home, will, as the cloot dries out, be relieved of the suffering from which he, or she, is afflicted.
Duration: 60 mins
2. Fortrose Cathedral
The cathedral dates to around 1300. Not popular after the Reformation in 1560 services ceased at Fortrose. In the 1650s the stone from the now roofless and decaying nave and choir were removed. This, the Priory at Beauly, and other sacred sites were savaged, barges of stone transported to Inverness to build Oliver Cromwell's Citadel, reportedly costing £1,000 per barge, a huge amount of money in those times.
Duration: 60 mins
3. Chanonry Point
Chanonry Point is a spit of land extending into the Moray Firth between the villages Fortrose and Rosemarkie. It is regarded as probably the best viewpoint to see Bottle-Nosed Dolphins. They, who make these waters home is reputedly the biggest of their kind in the world. A Stevenson lighthouse stands guard over the narrows here and across the Firth, starkly visible, is the garrison Fortress of Fort George built after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion to pacify the Highlands. It is still an active garrison today home to the Black Watch Regiment of the British Army.
Duration: 60 mins
4. Groam House Museum
A museum of Celtic and Pictish Art, located in the village of Rosemarkie. Groam House is custodian, not only the Rosemarkie Stone, one of the major surviving examples of Pictish art in stone, but also, the Rosemarkie sculpture fragments, that are 14 stone fragments, the most well known being Daniels Stone. The museum also hosts the George Bain Collection. Bain, is considered the father of modern Celtic design, he spent many years working out the intricate mathematical designs found in Celtic art. In 2015 the museum organised a Celtic felt banner-making project to create banners for the Celtic Connections Festival 2016
Duration: 60 mins
5. Fairy Glen Falls
Wild scenes and wild legends and some of the traditions connected with this romantic and solitary dell illustrate this remark. Till a comparatively late period, it was known at many a winter fireside as a favourite haunt of the fairies…I have conversed with an old woman…who, when a very little girl, had seen myriads of them dancing as the sun was setting on the further edge of the dell…' (Hugh Miller 1835)
Duration: 60 mins
6. Cromarty
Cromarty and the sea are indivisible. Fishing was traditionally the major industry. Other trade was also by boat from an outstanding natural harbour, and was an important British naval base during the two World Wars. HMS Natal blew up close by on 30 December 1915 with a substantial loss of life. [ Cromarty gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast. In the nineteenth century, Cromarty was the birthplace and home of Hugh Miller, a geologist, writer, journalist. His cottage and the Old Courthouse are both open to the public. The Sutors of Cromarty are two opposing headlands which mark the entrance to the Cromarty Firth. They stand guard over the firth, and many stories have been told about them. Sutor is the Scots word for shoemaker, and one story tells of two giant shoemakers, the Sutors, who used the two cliffs as their workbenches.
Duration: 60 mins
7. Cromarty Firth
Said to be the finest deep-water, natural harbour in Europe the Firth was home to the High Seas Fleet during World Wars 1 and 2. Even today the N.A.T.O fleet call in here and is an impressive sight. The port of Invergordon across the Firth is a significant base for visiting cruise liners and a service port for the oil industry.
Duration: 60 mins

Inclusion

Private tour

Hotel/port drop-off

Hotel/port pickup

Professional guide

Live entertainment

Driver/guide

Live commentary on board

Transport by private vehicle

Exclusion

Gratuities

Lunch

Cancellation Policy

Check mark icon Refundable tickets

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

  • 100% refund if cancelled 1+ days before the start date
  • 0% refund if cancelled less than 1 day(s) before the start date

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller

Public transportation options are available nearby

Transportation options are wheelchair accessible

All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Driver will pick up from your location and drop off at your required final destination.

Supplied by Hame Tours

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