what is it like?
plenty of housing available?
work available?
Cold?
What you talking bout Willis?
I'd imagine it would be very nice, I mean, think of the riding! Bollox to work Ton, live in a caravan & think of the riding!
not as cold as you think, the moray coast has its own micro climate being sheltered by the mountains.
Just getting to there can be an arse, A96 Inverness to Aberdeen is a nightmare A9 is no better.
All depends on why you want to move there?
cold is cool.
to live in a nicer place than i do as i get older.....
nicer riding area would be cool i suppose too.
I have colleagues who were moved up there from Edinburgh. They don't talk about the weather.
As someone who lives in Perthshire, Inverness feels that extra mile out of the way.
If dosh wasn't so much of an issue, ie mortgage, work etc, I'd definately have somewhere up that way & probably spend a lot of time there.
Wouldn't see much of the missus though. 🙄
Cold but dry. Reasonably affluent town and a decent place to live. Not the cultural desert you might think because its the biggest place for miles around.
A bit far notrth for me but not a bad place to live.
essel, mortgage is done in a year............ 8)
and it is only a 40min flight from mancs/liverpool/east mids.
4 & 20 Virgins 😉
We'll be moving up that way as soon as my daughter completes high school.
Fantastic area for being outdoors.
Surprisingly mild climate on account of the Moray Firth.
Nice city - good size, range of shops, amenities.
Lovely villages around it if you want to be a bit further out.
Decent transport links.
We have a few friends there too.
What's not to like?
i reeaaaaalllllyy hated living in Inverness.......stayed there for a year.
Weather is nasty, wind, rain, etc, i rotted a pair or SID's you know.
People are a wee bit strange too (no offence meant) particularly the day visitors from the islands.
I used to sell beds and the amount of islanders that phoned me up after a year saying their bed was faulty because they couldn't sleep soundly enough and they wanted a refund was amazing!
Dont do it TON!
Remove your indicators so you can blend in with the locals!
ftr1873 - Member
Remove your indicators so you can blend in with the locals!
😆 So true!!!
My mortgage is up in 25 years, at which time I'll be too old to ride 🙁
not as cold as you think, the moray coast has its own micro climate being sheltered by the mountains.
I know, I stayed at Fort George about 25 years ago, weather was fine, swimming was slightly less fine. 😆
i had a good look round last year when i was up there on the bike.
when you follow the great glen way from the city center, you cross the river and go past the rugby ground, this then leads to some newish houses near the old hospital
this area was very nice and not too far out of the town center.
We have a lot of friends up there, and visit often. Love it.
Would love to live on the Black Isle, just over the kessock bridge, stunning. I like the folk, but then, i'm a closet tcheuchter (sorry, not at all sure how to spell that!), and so's my missus, we will deffo end up there in a few years. I can come round and buy your old frames straight from the horses mouth Ton! 😆
It is well different to living down south, will take a bit of time to get into the community, but once your in it's fab.
Top secret hint, on a good day, rosemarkie beach on the black isle is the most beautiful place on earth.
Do it.
Kev
bruneep - Member
...Just getting to there can be an arse, A96 Inverness to Aberdeen is a nightmare A9 is no better...
But once you're there, why would you want to venture in either of those directions? All the best stuff is north west 🙂
Its Nice,well placed for getting places too. e.g. Torridon 1hr away. Dryer than most, only 40% of Glasgow's rainfall.
Housing is reasonable compared to most of England.
Mostly jobs in Tourism and Retail.
as above - weather is better than you'd expect.... but not in Inverness the town (city) itself. The river running out of loch ness is so cold it often supports its own little cloud system, so Sneckie itself can be a bit cold and grey when all around is sunny. On the plus its probably one of the loveliest rivers you'll find running through a town so I'll forgive it for the cloud.
But out towards Nairn the weathers great
Its ace! So much awesome riding on the door step or short drives in almost any direction.
There are plenty of areas of new detached suburban housing like the area you describe (there are great trails in the woods right beside the area you liked). The market is probably better value than down south and there's enough choice on the go just now.
I still use my indicators but am thinking about giving up.
The weather is super for the Highlands - very dry on average.
Work - depends what you do...
Most importantly, relatively midge free.
Very handy for the Strathpuffer.
Overnight sleeper train to/from London.
Nice villages just up the coast from there.
We're thinking of going up there for a year once we've got our current house into lettable condition, just to see if we like it enough to move up permanently.
rightplacerighttime......
that is what i was considering.
renting my hose in leeds to my son, and trying a year or so up north renting.
Can't go wrong. Let us know how you get on.
LOL at Epo! I lived there for 15 years, but going back there scares me, I always feel like they're going to realise that I escaped and try and keep me there.
My folks and my sisters are still there, they like it.
I live in Nairn, and really like the area. As others have said the weather is dry especially compared to the west coast, Inverness has good shops and access.
Have a good look at the towns around Inverness, there are quite a few options.
If you do move, give us a shout or come through on a Thursday to get out on the bike.
I'm from there.
I found Edinburgh much colder (weather & people!)when I moved down here.
Keep thinking about going back.
Would only do it if I could live on the outskirts of town & hit the best mountain biking hills in the world daily!
Great part of the world though, pretty affluent, good schools, not much crime friendly lot.
😀
I used to live in Beauly, close to Inverness.
The job market is poor compared to my yardstick, Glasgow. I mean poorer than you'd expect, because a reasonable man understands that Inverness is a magnitude smaller in economy and population than a large city.
Housing isn't a problem if you get a decent job - same as anywhere.
Has a healthy underclass and a healthy middle class, so like anywhere. A top place if you're into the outdoors. We'll move back (to the highlands) once 'business' is taken care of in Glasgow.
If you go a bit further north and find strathpeffer then you have found somewhere really nice... [img] 
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and the riding from here is supreme!
epicyclo - MemberBut once you're there, why would you want to venture in either of those directions
to go back home................
"i had a good look round last year when i was up there on the bike.
when you follow the great glen way from the city center, you cross the river and go past the rugby ground, this then leads to some newish houses near the old hospital
this area was very nice and not too far out of the town center."
Some nice ST lurking behind those new houses, my local trails 😀
Im originally from Elgin and would move back In a second but my wife would never leave Edinburgh. Its a nice place and has everything a decent sized City would have . Great for biking with the Great Glen , Aviemore , Golspie and even Skye being pretty close. The accent takes a bit of getting used to but Is said to be the purest form of the English language . 😳 Work that one out.
Love Inverness - it was where I planned on moving next... wound up in the Lakes though, not quite sure how that happened! Given the chance I would take someones arm off to be there though 🙂
Lovely people, great town and unbeatable surroundings. What isn't to like???
Lived here for 37 yeeerz!
A few fairly random things that might help..
For biking: puffer - 20 miles. fort bill - 66 miles. skye - 100 miles? torridon - 80ish? coulags - 80ish? golspie - 65? learnie - 23ish?laggan - 55miles? aviemore - 33miles. Its just a great place to be if you want to head to each of these places from time to time without the ballache of having to drive around the moray firth (like if you lived elgin/aberdeen direction then you have a bit of a journey before you even get to Inverness... if,for example, you wanted to go to thurso. (5 hour trip ugh)
road riding: Heading out of Inverness you can be on quiet roads within 5 mins. The list of loops etc are endless on the southern side of lochness.scenery,fresh air..wildlife.roads arent the smoothest but still great.
Rockness/lochness: 8 miles.
surfing: Thurso - 2 hours 20 mins.120 miles? All the other places near to thurso are within 25 miles so no big deal.
climbing/walking: aviemore,fort william,cuillins.33,66,120miles?
other places: aberdeen 115 miles? edinburgh 155miles? glasgow 176?
Being at the end of the great glen,it can often be a bit hazy,foggy etc in the mornings. I worked with a few guys that lived in Tomatin (15 miles south of Inverness) and quite often they would arrive at work on Monday morning with sunburn from the weekend.. after Inverness suffered in mist. It can clear up/be nice and clear just south of town quite often.I worked in Aviemore for about 12 years and i would often return home to a foggy build up. I would have a look for a house near Moy,Daviot or Tomatin rather than in the city to be honest.even Tomatin is only a 15 min drive to Inverness.
4 bike shops in Inverness, bothybikes 33 miles away,square wheels 18 miles.
dolphins : 2 miles from town.lol.
fishing: some great rivers all within 40 miles.lochs for wild trout fishing within 5 miles.
driving/motorbike riding: great starting point to get you onto some of the best roads in the country.An evening trip over to the west coast and back can be done within a few hours.
general driving: yes, like everywhere.. folk seem to be missing indicators! but at least theres no grans racing for each traffic light like they do in Edinburgh. so much more relaxing to drive around here.
random info but it might help,Ton!
VERY dark in winter, but very light in the summer.
I could not handle the extremes of daylight hours, living down in the central belt is bad enough for me 🙁
Screw it.
I wanna go NOW!!!
druidh - I am with you there!
I love where I live in Fife, but being an exiled Highlander, I'd move to Inverness* in an heartbeat.
.
.
.
*Would prefer one of the satellite villages though.
Inverness is really a town, not a city. For example, it has most of the chain store shops, e.g. M&S, Debenhams, but they're generally slimmed-down versions of those found in larger cities/ towns. The next decent sized town/ city is a 2-3 hour drive away (Aberdeen, Edinburgh etc), so once you're here you have to make the most of what's on offer. Depends on what you're used to/ want, I suppose.
Culture/ nightlife is alright. Google 'Eden Court' and 'Ironworks' to get an idea of what's on. Plenty of local live music in the bars in town.
Weather is colder than what I've been used to, but at least it isn't permanently overcast and grey like some places in the west of Scotland I could name. However, you are unlikely to get a tan.
Natives are friendly, scenery is awesome. Riding is great, but sometimes I miss the twisty turny wooded singletrack of home.
Roundabouts are not very well understood here. Most folk seem to enter a roundabout regardless of what other people happen to be doing. If you see a tiny gap on the road, just go for it and you'll fit in fine.
Apologies for resurrecting a 3 day old post BTW. I searched for Strathpuffer and this thread came up. Back to deciding 'what tyres for the puffer' for me.