[R] Loch Ness

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After working this week, we decided to take a weekend trip to the north of Scotland. It was a wet and misty day as we drove through the highlands, with stops at Loch Lubnaig and Loch Tulla along the way. The landscape of the highlands is very bleak, with rugged country side and steep hills, with Lochs dispersed in between. We made our way to the small town of Fort William, where we decided to stop for the night and hope for weather the next day. We found a quaint B&B, and in the evening, we faced the rain and spent the evening in the “Grog and Gruel” pub, where boar is their specialty dish.

Sunday morning was clear and sunny, and we made our way an hour further north to the famous Loch Ness. The Loch is a remarkable sight - 23 miles long, 750 feet deep, cold, and bound by rugged mountains. We didn’t see Nessie, and with the last reported “sightings” of her being in the 1960s and with much of the photographic and recorded “evidence” of her found to be fake, it’s unlikely she will resurface. Scientists have undertaken studies of the Loch however, and found among the layers of silt and mud rare species of marine life and the possibility of sea caves, which leaves room for speculation. Either way, the local tourist shops and monster museum are benefiting. After a drive along Loch Ness, and seeing the ruins of Castle Urquhart we headed back to Edinburgh.

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Photos

Ruins of Castle Urquhart
Loch Ness in the background.

Loch Linnhe
Looking out the window of our B&B.