Day 8-The Highlands

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If there's one thing everyone knows about Scotland (besides their whisky, golf and thriftiness) it's the Loch Ness Monster or "Nessie" as she (he? it?) is affectionately known. One of Cindy's many reasons for coming to Scotland was to visit the Loch Ness in the hopes of spying Nessie in the water. She also wanted to visit the Glencoe area to walk through the part of the land that saw the betrayal of the MacDonald Clan by the Campbell Clan back in 1692. Both were on our agenda for today, since they are near each other.

Loch Ness is located about 2 1/2 hours north of Oban in what is known as The Highlands and Glencoe is about 30 minutes southeast of that. After breakfast we headed out, driving through the winding, mountainous road, passing many beautiful sights along the way. This is a gorgeous country, out away from the large cities, and the closest comparison I can make from past experience is to say it reminds me of western North Carolina, a conclusion the rest of my party made as well.

We arrived at Loch Ness around 10:30am and, after stopping at the Tourist Information Center for some maps, walked down through the small town to the edge of Loch Ness and its mysterious waters. We took lots of pictures and video (including a special message to Mikey on the video tape) for the DVD I'll be producing when we get home. I'm looking forward to acquiring some new skills by doing that for the first time.

Unfortunately, we never saw the mythical monster of the loch. Maybe next time. However, Cindy did find some of its teeth at the water's edge.

We walked through the village of Fort Augustus, which is right next to Loch Ness. Unbelievably there is a pub with Internet access, but only through their own computers, so I could only answer a few e-mails rather than posting. This little village has built an entire cottage industry on an unseen myth! There are stuffed "Nessie" dolls of every description, "Nessie" statues, knick knacks, pictures, books, videos, DVDs, and....socks!! Wait a minute, that sounds like Disney World.

We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant called The Bothby. Cindy's dad had a haggis sandwich, I stuck with a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich.

Then it was back toward Oban with a side trip over to Glencoe. This is the site of the betrayal I mentioned above. The mountains in this area are beautiful and the area is managed by The Scottish National Trust, sort of the equivalent of our National Parks Service. The visitor center has an excellent multimedia presentation of the history of the land and the clans that lived there.

Then it was back home to the cottage for a good night's rest.

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Photos

Cindy, her mom and dad...
...with Ben Nevis in the background. We stopped for this picture along the drive up to Loch Ness.

Me, Cindy's mom and dad...
...with Ben Nevis in the background. We stopped for this picture along the drive up to Loch Ness.

Cindy looking for "Nessie"...
...at Loch Ness.

This is what Cindy found...
..."Nessie" teeth!

Cindy, her mom and dad...
...in Glencoe.

Comments

[Mary]

Gorgeous Mountains
These pictures are gorgeous!! You know I love the mountains!! I am so enjoying reading this blog. After being out for a couple of days, I had to force myself to read my work related e-mails prior to opening these blogs!! These are so much more fun!!