River Island of Inverness
Minimum Time: 3hrs
Ascent: 197ft
Difficulty Level: 1 - Easy
Paths: Smooth and wide, no stiles
Landscape: City and foreshore
Dog Friendliness: Forbidden on Tomnahuirich and Whin Island - use alternative routes suggested in directions
Parking: Pay-and-display in Bishop Street, south of cathedral
Public Toilets: Whin Park and beside Inverness Castle
While you're there: Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is just up from the information centre. Next door is the castle. For an almost guaranteed dophin sighting, cross Kessock Bridge to North Kessockâs WDCS Dolphin and Seal Centre. You can also hear them via hydrophones. (June-Sept, free admission)
What to look for: The 130 bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth are the worldâs most northerly population. The narrows under Kessock Bridge are a common dolphin-spotting location. Those with binoculars might also spot seals, porpoises and whales.
Where to eat and drink: Near the start of the walk, The Glenalbyn is a former 1700s coaching inn. It serves snacks, but does not welcome dogs. Dunbarâs Hospital today houses a small, late-opening cafÃ©.
Directions:
Head downstream, with the river on your right and cathedral to your left, passing opposite the castle. Stay on the left-hand bank past a road bridge (it leads to the tourist information centre). Pass The Glenalbyn into Huntley Street, to a suspension footbridge. Cross this, to the foot of Church Lane. At the other end of this short street is Dunbarâs Hospital, a handsome building from 1688 and now a community centre and cafÃ©. Return to the river and continue downstream, with the water on your left. A cycleway leads under the ugly concrete bridge of the A82. Turn left across the greygirdered Waterloo Bridge, built in 1896, then right on Anderson Street and continue alongside the river, under a railway bridge. Continue along the streets nearest the river, passing two branches of the Gael Force Marine Megastore. Beyond it you regain the river as it opens into the Beauly Firth. Behind a pumping station, a sidepath leads to a beacon at Carnac Point. This has a fine view of the estuary and Kessock Bridge. Continue along the shore to the old ferry slipway - youâll notice the corresponding slipway on the opposite shore. A sea wall path ahead runs above a seaweed expanse, where at low tide you will see curlews and sandpipers. After a level crossing, the path passes between salt pools to the Caledonian Canal. On the right, lock keepersâ cottages and a lighthouse mark the canalâs entry into the salt water. Your route turns left, past the wide Muirtown Basin (on your right). After a swing bridge, the canal rises through a set of locks. Follow it for another 0.75 mile (1.2km) to a gate, with a swing bridge visible ahead. Those with dogs must continue along the tow path to this swing bridge, those without can turn off left just before the gate, on a tarred path. Bruce Gardens ahead runs to the left of the wooded hill of Tomnahuirich Cemetery. A gate between white pillars lets you in. The cemetery is closed at night and dogs are forbidden. For the most atmospheric path up, bear right inside the gates, then left on to a path under a lime tree. This joins a track at its hairpin bend. Go round left to rediscover the path above a red granite cylinder with urn. After 50yds (46m), turn left up a rhododendron tunnel. The path winds up the steep end of the hill, with several flights of steps. Across the top of the hill runs a gravestone avenue, dipping into a turning circle and ending at a war memorial with a fine view. Return to the turning circle and turn right, down a track that bends back around the hill. At the prow of the hill, turn left down steep steps to exit from the cemetery close to the swing bridge (if the gates ahead are locked, head left for 170yds (155m) to larger ones). Turn right to the swing bridge of the Caledonian Canal mentioned earlier, but donât cross it. Just before it, turn left along the nearside tow path. (Those with dogs must at once fork left off the path here to follow the waymarkers of the Great Glen Way.) After 0.5 mile (800m), the River Ness appears below. Turn left on a path that runs past a rugby pitch to a footbridge to Whin Island. Again, dogs arenât allowed in this park. Turn left on any path along the island, passing to the right of the ornamental pool to a path with the main river close by on the right. At the islandâs end is a footbridge which leads back to the left-hand bank of the river. Turn right, downstream. This is again the Great Glen Way, where dogs and their owners rejoin the route. A tarred riverside path leads to a white suspension bridge. Cross to the first of the Ness Islands and turn left. At its end, another footbridge leads to a second island, and at the end of that, a further footbridge leads to the other bank of the river. Turn left to continue downstream for another 650yds (594m). A final footbridge leads back across the river, with the cathedral 0.25 mile (400m) downstream.
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