Day 10, September 25 Loch Ness and the Highland Mountains

Hello, everyone. We are a bit behind posting since our internet was "dodgy", as the hotel attendant said. Today was a day that needed a long list of superlatives. Wow, amazing, unbelieveable, fantabulous...we simply couldn't come up with words to describe what we were seeing. We wish the camera was as good as the eye.

We began the day in search of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. Sadly, we did not find her. One of the locals told us that we would have had a better chance if we'd had a whiskey first. And we would have had a much, much better chance if we'd had 3 or 4!  Loch Ness is the largest loch in Scotland and holds more water than all the fresh water lakes and lochs in Britain.

Loch Ness is so large it has its own waves and sounds like the ocean; it is a dark blue because it is so deep. It is surrounded by gentle hills in the northeast and serious mountains in the southwest (it runs southwest to northeast).  Next we visited Urquhart Castle, built on the banks of Loch Ness.

First built in the 1200's by native people called Picts in this region. The castle was located in a strategic and valuable spot so there was much fighting over it; and the castle changed hands numerous times. It was damaged beyond the ability to defend it and so was abandoned in the 19th century.

As you can see, the weather was beautiful today but it was very, very windy up on this high spot on the loch. It normally rains a great deal in the area, but we were blessed with three days of great weather.







They had a replica of a catapult that was used to attack fortresses and castles.

Next we headed down the very winding and narrow roads that lead to the Highland Mountains. Though I am not an experienced traveler, I can easily say that this was the most beautiful place I have ever been. Here is where we needed more superlatives. Enjoy.

 

 

 

At the end of the journey west, we came upon Eilean Donan Castle located on Loch Duich . This is the most photographed castle in history. It  has appeared in many films such as one of the James Bond movies.

Eilean Donan castle is a tidal castle meaning that when high tide comes in, it is surrounded by water and access is cut off. By the time we reached this far west it began to lightly rain.

We didn't have time to tour the castle, but we did spend some time outside on the grounds and in the information center. We didn't want to have to traverse those mountains on those tiny roads after dark so we headed back. On the road back to Inverness, we took a slightly different route which actually took us even higher up in elevation. The temperature dropped ten degrees and as we got out to take this photo, we realized how cold it really had gotten.

David did an amazing job of navigating the roads, with a 5-speed transmission, the steering wheel on the wrong side (or as they say here, the right side) and of course, driving on the wrong side of the road. By the time we got back down off the mountain, he was actually enjoying himself.

We mentioned in an earlier post how it looked like we were driving through a gigantic Christmas tree, but it was just the Scotch pines and other conifers that naturally grow in this area. There were thousands of them everywhere you look and they were perfectly formed.

Tired but happy, we returned to Inverness. We had a great dinner in a pub called The Exchange which was just a block from our  hotel. David had salmon and I had cod (fish & chips). The food was simple but really fresh, and we really enjoyed it. Well, tomorrow we head back to Edinburgh but we have several stops along the way. Check back with you soon.