Culloden Battlefield access road gets repairs ahead of tourist season
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REPAIRS are underway after the road became so potholed it resembled a battlefield itself.
The state of the road leading to the site where Jacobite rebels were defeated by government troops in April 1746 was highlighted in the Inverness Courier previously.
Management claimed that they had become a victim of their own success, with so many more people now coming to see the interpretive centre, and National Trust for Scotland operations manager Raoul Curtis-Machin insisted that resurfacing work was in fact already scheduled.
Local councillor Duncan Macpherson also drew attention to the need for repairs, posting pictures of the damaged access road on his Twitter account and said he was glad to hear it was soon to be addressed.
As work got underway this week Mr Curtis-Machin said: "The NTS is paying £15,000 for this simple bit of re-surfacing to get through this year.
"The increased wear and tear from the ever-growing number of coaches and international visitors has taken its toll, as The Inverness Courier recently pointed out.
"Visit Scotland also mentioned the potholes in their annual evaluation of the site.
"We listen very sensitively to criticisms like this, and take action to address them.
"We are investing now because we want to continue to provide a five-star visitor experience.
"The Visit Scotland five-star designation is critically important to us because it enables us to attract the top flight cruise-ship trade."
The Culloden Centre has seen a huge rise in visitor numbers thanks to a combination of worldwide fascination with the Outlander book and TV series, and from cruise ships calling at Invergordon.
The centre has had 203,000 visitors in the financial year so far, an 11 per cent increase on 2017-18, and visitors to the battlefield alone will double that number.
