This Saturday (12th August 2012) morning started with some mist around the mountains which cleared to become a beautiful sunny day, perfect for such an event. We arrived just a few minutes before the event took place and we were able to find a parking space quite easily but, later, during the day, it was absolutely fully packed, and the cars were parking on the grass around the Fort.
Following the 1746 defeat at Culloden of Bonnie Prince Charlie, George II created the ultimate defence against further Jacobite unrest. The result, Fort George, is the mightiest artillery fortification in Britain, if not Europe.
Inverness (from the Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Nis, pronounced [iɲɪɾʲˈniʃ] meaning 'mouth of the River Ness') is a city in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland. The city lies near the site of the 18th century Battle of Culloden and at the northeastern extremity of the Great Glen (An Gleann Mòr), where the River Ness enters the Inverness/Moray Firth making it a natural hub for various transport links. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom. A settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century.
Inverness is situated at the mouth of the River Ness (which flows from nearby Loch Ness) and at the southwestern extremity of the Moray Firth. The city lies at the end of the Great Glen with Loch Ness, Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig to the west. Inverness' Caledonian Canal also runs through the Great Glen connecting Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.
The cairns and Megalithic monuments continued into the Bronze age, which saw metals as an additional material rather than a replacement for flint. However there was a decline in both the building of large new structures and in the total area under cultivation from about 2500 B.C.
The Clava cairns and standing stones near Inverness show complex geometries and astronomical alignments, with smaller perhaps individual tombs instead of the communal Neolithic tombs.