Loch Ness

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Another wonderful breakfast with Rupert and I hoofed it over to the train station once more, this time to pick up my rental car. The nice lady had left the chip in for the GPS, which honestly turned out to be for the best. It was much easier to use the car than my phone. My car for the next two days turned out to be a rather fancy VW Golf with all kinds of driver assistance features that were sometimes helpful and sometimes not. After some quick adjustments to the seat and mirrors I head out to explore Loch Ness.

I think a lot of people come to this area due to the legend of a monster, but really, they should come for the scenery. I chose to go down the east side and back up the west. From what I have read the eastern side of the loch is less busy and it proved to be true. There were few cars on the road and I was able to pull over for a photo stop whenever I wanted. A lot of the road is single track, with ample passing sites should you need one. I stopped to do a lovely quick walk along the shore of the loch and was able to dip my fingers into the very chilly water!

I entered Foyers, a small village with some waterfalls. The problem here is you must climb down to see all the falls and I did not want to climb all the way back up. The upper viewing area was enough of a steep climb for me. At the entrance to the Falls is a small gift shop with snacks if you need a bite to eat. There is also a very clean bathroom in the parking lot.

After Foyers the road climbs into the hills to a stunning viewpoint about 400m above sea level. The surrounding landscape is full of heather and the occasional sheep. There are also lots of bikers out and they must have a lot of stamina to climb these steep roads. I could have marveled at the view for quite some time but I had to get on my way.

Fort Agustus is at the southern tip of the loch and is a village I could have spent several hours in. From here you have access to many walking routes as well as boat tours of the loch. The most impressive feature here are the locks. Five locks make up this section of the Caledonian Canal, which connects Fort William to Inverness. I watched a few boats go through while walking up and down the locks. This section is moving them down to Loch Ness from a higher stretch of water. One of the lock keepers said it takes about an hour to make it through all 5. You can walk across each lock to get from one side of the canal to the other. One side is lined with restaurants and cafes and I had a delicious bacon, Brie, and cranberry sauce panini from one. I ate sitting in the sun next to the locks. Finally, I had to get moving or I would never make it to my next stop.

Urquhart Castle is one of the largest in this area of Scotland. It sits dramatically on the shores of Loch Ness and has a long history of being passed back and forth between the Scots and English during the Wars of Independence. Today it is part of the Historic Environment of Scotland and one of the most visited castles in Scotland. I arrived without a pre-booked ticket so I had to go into the little town of Drumnadrochit for a bit before I could visit the site. Here you can find a few shops, some restaurants and Nessieland, which seems to be a very touristy place probably geared towards kids. I drove back up to the castle for my now booked time. The visitor center is built into the hillside and is made up of some exhibit space, a café, and a gift shop. From there you walk out to a large patio with some great views of the castle and the loch. A short walk takes you right up to the castle walls. This is a beautiful ruin, made even more so by the setting. I spent some time wandering around thinking what it must have been like when it was in its prime. Did I also look occasionally at the water to see if a giant sea creature might poke its head out? Yes, I did but my main focus was the castle.

I grabbed a quick snack of a scone with jam and ate out on the patio and soaked up the view. I continued back to Inverness, parked the car at the B&B and went for a walk down to the Ness Islands. These are in the middle of the Ness River and are accessible to walkers and bikers by a bridge from either side. I read you could potentially see otters here in the evening but no luck. It was peaceful and a great way to end the day!

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Photos

Laundry?
This was weird. Just doing laundry in the middle of a gas station parking lot?

Ness Islands
I guess I did find Nessie