North Kessock

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 16 Jul 2022

Considering the size of Inverness, the sleepiness of this little village just over the Kessock Bridge on a Saturday night was very surprising. There was a wedding reception going on at the waterside village hall - which is further up the road - when I took the picture, which maybe made the village seem more sleepy than it actually was though, as it could well be the case that everyone who lives here was actually at the reception. The best thing about North Kessock is that there aren't really any buildings on the waterside, so you get to walk through an old village whilst enjoying views across the Beauly Firth. There seems to have been a settlement here on and off for thousands of years; most of the cottages in the picture originally date from the early 1800s. The Kessock Bridge was only competed in 1982, and the Queen Mother - who seems to have actually been quite Scottish, as opposed to having a 'strong connection' to Scotland, as has been mentioned about various members of the Royal Family after the recent death of Queen Elizabeth - did the duties. Before the bridge came about the village was a busier place by all accounts, as a ferry shuttled back and forth from here to Inverness. The only other option back then was a 22 mile drive.

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