Sunday, 4th June, 2023

Our breakfast this morning was ham, cheese and tomato toasties at Café Ness (which belongs to the cathedral). St Andrew's Cathedral, Inverness, was designed by the architect Alexander Ross and was completed in 1866. It has a ring of 10 bells which are the most northerly peal of change-ringing bells in a church in the world. We attended the 11:00am Choral Eucharist for Trinity Sunday. There was a small choir of adults and a group of children known as the Junior Choir. The music was the Communion Service in F by Harris (sung by the adults), "Lord of the Dance" arranged by M Owens (sung by the Junior Choir and the ladies), and "Be Thou My Vision" by Bob Chilcott. The adult choir was at the level one would expect from a reasonably proficient parish church choir. It was clear that the Junior Choir does not sing regularly in church and that they are still fairly new. We learned later that they the choir had only been formed last year. The organ voluntary was Fugue in E Flat BWV 552 by Bach. This is known as the "St Anne" fugue because it is based on the hymn tune "St Anne" which is usually sung to the hymn "O God Our Help in Ages Past". It's one of my favourite Bach pieces. It was played well but the digital organ in the cathedral was not quite up to scratch (especially the pedal division).





An impressive entrance!



The view looking east



The Quire



The view looking from the quire to the west. The Nave Altar is in the foreground




The Lectern



The Pulpit



Detail of the Pulpit



The Sermon on the Mount; and The Transfiguration



The Angels Appear to the Shepherds



The Presentation of Christ in the Temple



Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem (note the worried Mary and Joseph at the top left); Jesus working at the carpenter's bench in Joseph's workshop




The font in this cathedral was made by artist, James Redfern. It is a rare copy of The 'Angel of Baptism' a marble sculptural work of the renowned Danish sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844). The water for baptism is placed directly into the seashell. There is a long tradition in sculpting of having angels assist at the baptism.



Two ladies in the congregation have spent many hours knitting a number of church mice to be used as an aide to children when exploring the cathedral. We found them quite charming!  These proud parents have brought their children to be baptised.



This mouse is about to work on arranging some flowers.



The High Altar



The Bishop's Throne. If you are lucky you might just be able to see the "Bishop" sitting there!




Jonah and the Whale



The Miracle of the Fishes



A Chorister



A Bell-Ringing Mouse



The Raising of Lazarus; Jesus Riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey



Royal Mice!



A Cleaner



The Good Samaritan, and The Healing of the Cripple at the Pool of Bethesda



Mary



Just Married!

From the cathedral, we headed towards Loch Ness. We stopped along the way and then decided to go on a cruise. The cruise took us past Urquhart Castle which we visited after the boat ride.



The "Deep Scan" could carry 12 passengers. We arrived just as the cruise was departing so we were lucky!



As you can see, the weather was magic!




This is a photo of an object found on the bottom of the loch. It was found to be a prop from the 1970 film "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" that sank during a storm!
Our visit to Urquhart Castle began with lunch from the café. Then we viewed a short film about the history of the castle. When the film finished, we thought the lights of the cinema would be switched on but instead, the screen was lifted up and the curtains opened revealing this:









That's "our" boat doing another cruise!
Our last visit for the day was to Invermoriston falls and bridge.



A short stroll took us to "The Summerhouse"...



...which provided this view of the falls.







This bridge near the falls was designed by the famed engineer Thomas Telford.



Sorry, there is a bit of reflection in this photo but you can get the idea.

Another wonderful day!



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