Blogs from Loch Ness, Inverness-shire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Another gorgeous day, bright and sunny. After a quick breakfast we were off to drive aroundLock Ness. The trip was mostly a very scenic day and not much to blog about. Pictures are worth a thousand words. We did make a couple of stops: · Loch Ness Centre, the Nessie interpretive center. I very interesting look at the legend and science behind Nessie and the Loch itself. · Urquhart Castle, the site dates back to 500 AD, but the first castle was built in the 12th century. · Invermoriston Falls, on private land but open to visitors · Fort Augustus, city at the end of the Loch and on canals and lochs leading to the Loch. · Suidhe Viewpoint, highest point on the south side of the Loch. You know your in the highlands here. · ... read more

We took a bus tour in Edinburgh to Lock Ness. On the way there the tour person shared alot of interesting history of the land. He even told us spots that we were passing that was used as locations in the 007 SkyFall movie and parts of Harry Potter. We didn't see Nessy. Does she or he exsist? Maybe you will see a glimpse of it in the pictures. Interesting fact though is Lock Ness is so deep and big that it hasn't been fully explored....just saying.... read more

After a run to the mouth of the river, with a fantastic view of the Beauly Firth, and breakfast, we set off to see Loch Ness. We stopped off for some views of the loch and then we headed to Urquhart Castle. It was a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park (despite the massive coach park that was completely empty). Before entering the castle, there is a video about the history of the castle. The early history is a story about fighting off those bloody English, which bought back memories of the history tour in Boston. Once the English had backed-off however it was a story of infighting between the various Scottish clans. This concluded with the guard tower of the castle being loaded with gunpowder and blown-up, and the castle being abandoned to fall ... read more

Today is the day and it is time for me to search for my White Whale (Nessie). Woke up early and packed a day pack for the long coach ride up north. I had booked my tour with a company called Rabbies. It is not an infectious disease company but I thought the name was kind of funny so I chose them. Price was reasonable, only $40 Canadian. The tour was in a 16 seat coach and we had 14 people on this tour. It was a nice mix of people from a pair of sisters from Florida to a nice lady from Italy. On the way up to Loch Ness our driver, Graham told us about Scottish history and we stopped frequently to take pictures and to take breaks. I will say Scotland reminds a ... read more

I took a bus tour today, which involved getting up way too early and driving (well being driven) 640km up to Loch Ness. The answer is no, I did not see the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie). I did however see many sheep, hairy coo (highland cows, including the famous Hamish, with his 'wife' Heather and their daughter Honey), Urquhart Castle, Larch trees and many rolling hills. Fran, our tour guide told us many interesting stories, such as how the Larch tree got introduced into Scotland. A Larch tree is a deciduous pine tree which was introduced to Scotland by a guy whoses name I don't remember. He had learned while in Venice that the tree's were more resistant to water and he thought 'great we should build ships out of this'. Unfortunately he died before the ... read more