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Published: February 11th 2007
Urquhart Castle
View from our boat cruise on Loch Ness.As you know Loch Ness is famous for Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster whose legend dates back to 565. This loch is 22 miles long, more than 700 feet deep and is the "largest freshwater lake in Great Britian". It wasn't raining and we were in time to catch the last Loch Ness Boat Tour Cruise for the evening. We were the only customers on the way over to Urquhart Castle & then picked up passengers for the way back. We only saw the castle from the lake, for we were touring it the next day. We got some great shots though. After the cruise, we had dinner at our hotel (I got duck breast-very good) and afterwards at dusk, we walked down to the loch and sat there for about an hour looking for Nessie. The sky was an unusual deep blue and the Loch was eerily quiet.
WedNESSday, I awoke early to catch sunrise since we were facing east, but to my dismay it was very cloudy and hazy. After breakfast, we drove down the road to tour the Loch Ness 2000 Exhibition Center. It was high tech with 7 themed areas, laser and special effects. At the
Urquhart Castle
Another view from the Loch. end, we came out with the feeling that Nessie did not exist and was never real. The next one, the Original Loch Ness Monster Exhibition Centre made us feel differently, believing she may exist. We watched a movie then looked at the exhibits that included newspaper clippings, photographs and witnesses claiming to have seen her. We personally liked this one better because we want to believe that Nessie is real.
It was raining hard as we went to Urquhart Castle; of course since this was Suzi's favorite and I had wanted to see it since 1999. It has a history of 500 years starting in the 13th century. It cost 6 pounds unless you were a member of Historic Scotland, which we weren't. First was a mini movie about it's history and when it ended, the screen disappeared and the window blinds opened to treat us to a spectacular view of the castle. The grounds were crowded with tourists, including a couple making out in the tower. We slowly walked through and the crowds dwindled along with the rain. We explored the many parts. At one point I looked out into the water and saw what we called "a
On the shores of Loch Ness
Me and Suzi on our cruise of Loch Ness. disturbance in the water" and tried to take pictures. It was a white color but even my zoom lens, it seemed too far to get a good picture. Who knows what it really was but we still believe it was something "that needs further investigating!"
Inside was a fairly large gift shop and an exhibit area with a model of the castle before it was destroyed, along with armour and artifacts that were dug up in the area. We had an early dinner at the Glen Cafe which consisted of a hot and spicy pizza with chocolate cake. Back at the hotel, we looked out our window at 6:45pm and watched as the fog lifted from the lake. We had a couple drinks at the hotel bar but there was only 4 people, so we left and drove to the castle to see it lit up at night. It was a pretty site!
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