UBC October 2025 - Inverness: 160 Raining Steps to Lunch (and Nessie!)



I promised to tell you about our very own Nessie encounter.

After the long drive, our rumbling stomachs made themselves known, and the next major town was Inverness, where parking still works the old-fashioned way: you pay upfront at the machine with coins for your estimated stay and display the ticket on your car’s dashboard. Then make sure to return in time.

That was a problem. In 2025, we didn’t carry any foreign cash; no Euros in France, no Pounds in the UK. Should we search for another car park, or risk leaving our car here?

Out of sheer nonsense, I reached into the ticket slot, and believe it or not, there was a parking ticket! Valid for almost two hours, definitely enough for lunch and a quick tour of the city. I couldn’t believe our luck!



From the parking lot, we climbed roughly 160 steps on the Raining Stairs. The name isn’t weather-related, it honors John Raining, an 18th-century merchant who funded charitable schools in the Highlands. At the bottom of the stairs is the pedestrian zone with all the shops and restaurants; how convenient!

You know that feeling when you walk 10,000 steps searching for the perfect restaurant… and then some days you just stumble straight into a great one? That’s exactly what happened.

We ended up at Aye Eat. Yes, it’s made for tourists, and yes, it’s decorated with all the clichés, but it was cozy, welcoming, and just the right spot for lunch.




And there, spanning nearly the entire room on the divider, was Nessie! Not a pocket-sized fluffy souvenir, but several meters long; a friendly, larger-than-life creature that stole the show and made our lunch unforgettable.



Bonus points: This restaurant is possibly the only place in town with something on the menu that isn’t fried. That's what I call a healthy fall salad bowl!



The waitress was friendly, the service quick, and we left with enough time to explore Inverness, nestled along the River Ness.


Unfortunately, dark clouds gathered and a strong, cold wind picked up again, so we kept our walk short. A 2.5-hour drive still awaited us that afternoon.

Have you ever stumbled upon a perfect restaurant completely by accident?

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