Hunting Nessie (23.06.08)

Left the Isle of Skye and headed towards the Great Glen to try a spot of monster hunting on Loch Ness. On the way we drove past yet another castle which naturally I would like to have seen: Urquhart Castle which overlooks the loch. Not sure where my obsession comes from.

To all extents and purposes the lake looks like every other loch, especially when one does not see a strange head or tail breaking the surface of the dark waters. It was interesting to hear that the deepest point is around 250 metres. This makes the loch deeper than the North Sea. It also holds more water than all the lakes in Wales and England combined together (could be mistaken on that point). Jon went in for a very quick and very cold dip. I have included a distant shot of Jon in the loch and not a close up as we are not in prime physical condition yet. Unfortunately he didn’t get bitten – would have made a great story and photo. In fact, there was no sighting of Nessie at all.

We then passed through Inverness (gateway to the Highlands and second most expensive house prices in Scotland) on our way to the battlefields of Culloden. The Battle of Culloden (1746) was the last battle fought on British soil and saw the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the slaughter of 1200 highlanders in just over an hour. The Jacobites loss saw the end of the old clan system and the stripping of Scottish culture: no more Gaelic or bagpipe playing etc. The moor is a somber and eerie place with rocks marking the spots where the different clans are buried in mass graves, including clan Fraser (although, sisters please note, Jamie is NOT real and therefore not fertilizing the ground there).

Before lunch we had a visit to the Tomatim distillery (est. 1897). Jon was not up to giving whisky another shot. Then after refueling we had a wee walk to the Bruer falls and some Scottish ice cream – nice and creamy. Finally, home to Edinburgh, tired and happy honorary Scots!
Tomorrow – on to Elissa and Bapi’s in London. Looking forward to doing a load of washing. We have been wearing the same thing for six days and are starting to have a peculiar odor following us everywhere. Wonder what that could be.