Tuesday - Day 26 - Invergordon, Scotland - part 2

Part 1 of our day in Invergordon can be found here: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/08/tuesday-day-26-invergordon-scotland.html

Continuing with our time in Invergordon...

A pretty flower in a raised bed along High Street

High Street

I stopped in a thrift store, saw a tee shirt that I thought was pretty -- I thought, "Great idea, get a Scotland teeshirt in a thrift store." Unfortunately, it was from Page, Arizona!

In a gift shop / book store, there was an area marked "Blind Date with a Book" -- books wrapped in gift paper, with a general description of the type of book -- "Contemporary Romance", "Dark Contemporary", "Romance" -- a way to get rid of books that no one will purchase otherwise?

We headed up to the church that we had seen way up the street soon after leaving the ship.

Invergordon Church of Scotland

They had the doors open and were welcoming visitors...

... multiple handmade fabric banners in the sanctuary...

Front of the church

another banner

Mission statement

Message on the screen at the front of the church

They had a particular ministry to crew... the area to the left of the front of the church was reserved just for crew, and many of the crew from our ship were visiting there.

A banner for the church's 150th anniversary

There were scriptures and books in many languages available for visitors to take.

On our way back to the ship - we could see this structure, we think either for support of oil platforms or wind turbine platforms.

Carl saw this cafe on High Street -- he thinks he is going to use "Clootie McToot" as his pseudonym from now on!

We saw a number of ethnic takeaway restaurants in town, including this one with Indian food.

As we sailed out of Cromarty Firth, from our balcony we could see the sun was shining on cliffs and fields near its mouth.

When we got back to our room later in the evening, our clean laundry had been delivered, all nicely folded, ready to be packed in a few days! 

We enjoyed a quite sunny day in Invergordon! 

Tuesday - Day 26 - Invergordon, Scotland - part 1

On Tuesday, we arrived at Invergordon, the gateway to access Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, as well as nearby Loch Ness.

It was cloudy when we arrived.

Looking west up the Firth -- there are facilities here for supporting oil platforms as well as sea-based wind turbines

Looking east out the Firth

Looking in toward the city

After we got off the ship, we stopped by the pier side tourist information office to get a map and took a picture of their sign... bummer! Off by just one day for seeing Nessie!!!

There was a pier side souvenir store too -- Carl tried on a "Driving Cap" made of official Harris Tweed, but decided it was a bit more expensive than he wanted to spend (about $50), and, since it was made of wool, it would have been hot, which we rarely need.

We found teeshirts that we liked and might get as we returned to the ship later in the day -- if we hadn't found something else that we liked better.

In front of the pier side souvenir store

As we got off the pier, we could look up the street and see a church at the end.

We got up to the High Street...

There were a number of murals in town -- I told Carl that if he had gotten the Driver's Cap, we wouldn't be able to distinguish him from the figures on the mural!

On the High Street, we went into a grocery store...

Carl remembers the Ovaltine factory being in Villa Park, less than a mile from where he grew up.

Tempting! (Biscuits = cookies)

Hot dogs in jars!

"Richmond" are a popular brand of sausages in the UK

Canned hot dogs

Cereal offerings -- this store was interesting in that it had the refrigerated/frozen items on every aisle, at below waist level, and the shelf stable items on shelves above the refrigerated storage.

Chips

Some people go to museums and learn things... other go to grocery stores and take pictures!!!

We saw a "Nickel & Dime" store across the street and went to check it out.

Next to the Nickel and Dime was a mural honoring the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

It turned out that the Nickel & Dime was almost like a Walmart in a much smaller space!

Carl found a Scotland teeshirt that he liked, and a driver's cap made out of cotton instead of wool, *and* it matches the plaid of his flannel!

We managed to resist buying these lamps with light-up messages...

If we ever come back to the UK and rent a car, we should get these "Learner" magnetic signs to put on our rental car to warn people to give us a wide berth!

Maybe we have these in the US too, but I don't remember seeing "Wheelie Bin Numbers" before!

More from Tuesday in another post!

Monday - Day 25 - Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland - part 2 - Harris Tweed Authority

Continuing blogging about our day in Stornoway -- part 1 can be found here: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/08/monday-day-25-stornoway-isle-of-lewis.html

We had tickets to join the noon guided talk at Harris Tweed Authority, so we headed there a few minutes before noon...

The Harris Tweed Orb Stamp and some examples of Harris Tweed

We first watched and listened to a video about Harris Tweed (that's why we're all looking the same way and have headsets on!). In the middle of the room is oldest of the looms on display at the Harris Tweed Authority.

Then our very informative guide talked with us about the process of creating Harris Tweed - this area showed the different stages of processing the wool. One of the distinctives of Harris Tweed is that it is dyed in the wool (not after it is made into yarn/threads) and the colors are not uniform, so there may be multiple shades of blue in the wool that has been dyed blue. Those multiple shades can be seen in the finished yarn (and finished cloth) as well.

Our guide told us about this, the second oldest of the looms we would see.

I wish I could relate to you all that we heard...

... it was a LOT of information...

... and I don't remember it all!

There were some example products made with Harris Tweed -- athletic shoes by Adidas and Nike. This introduction of Harris Tweed into "regular" clothing is credited with reigniting interest in Harris Tweed.

Some examples of official Harris Tweed -- with the brand marks.

When our guide moved to the newest of the looms, which does the double width fabric, she showed how the weaver would tie the warp threads of the next bolt onto the warp threads of the just completed bolt -- I think she said that there 1400+ threads that must be tied in.

Video of the loom in use: https://youtu.be/t-nqVJXI_oQ

The blue arrow is pointing toward the shuttle on this loom.

Our guide behind the loom -- she had invited us to get behind the loom with her, but only Pat and I did so. Our guide was sitting on a seat with bicycle type pedals to run the loom.

A book with more Harris Tweed examples

The last area we visited in the Story Room was the "corner of shame" -- knock-offs of Harris Tweed that the Harris Tweed Authority has identified and shut down.

From https://www.harristweed.org/our-role/ :

Guardians of the Orb - Harris Tweed Authority
The Act of Parliament in 1993 brought into being the Harris Tweed Authority, a new statutory body, replacing the Harris Tweed Association originally set up in 1909.

In accordance with the Act, Harris Tweed cloth must be: “Handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.”

The Act ensures that all cloth certified with the Harris Tweed Orb symbol complies with this definition.

This legislation – alongside the work of the Harris Tweed Authority – allows the safeguarding of the Harris Tweed name, quality and reputation. 

For more information, visit https://www.harristweed.org/our-history/.

After leaving the Harris Tweed Authority, we returned to the shopping street. Pat wanted to get some Harris Tweed to make a jacket and she got a beautiful piece of red wool. 

Welcome sign in Stornoway.

We stopped for lunch and Joe got a "Luxury Hot Chocolate". 

After lunch, we headed back to the shuttle bus and went back to the ship.

Later in the afternoon when we were sailing away, a few pictures of the houses and land that we were passing...

... even though it was cloudy, it was still lovely...

Some old type windmills still being used on this headland

What a nice day in Stornoway!