Day 4, Loch Ness

Travel blog about our trip to Scotland in May/June of 2005
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Pieter
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Day 4, Loch Ness

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Kinloch Rannoch, Scotland.

30 May 2005

Plenty of sunshine, plentiful rain, 10 to 15 degrees, ow dear, Scottish weather! 360 km.

An early day, we woke up at 7 o’clock, did the morning business and we were up and away. The diesel was humming at a quarter past 8, Loch Ness is our goal for today. When in Scotland you’ve got to see this famous loch and who knows, we might see Nessie. We take the familiar country road to reach the A9, where we turn north. The A9 is the main road to Inverness and beyond and because it is still Bank Holiday it is busy. Luckily we make good time, the diesel is enjoying itself when I push the pedal to the metal.
It’s going to be a long trip with lots of stops to take in the views and of course taking pictures. According to a source found in the leaflets there would be a beautiful view near Newtonmore, but either we missed it, or the source has a different perspective on a beautiful view.
Long before we reach Inverness we leave the A9, all this speeding is not what we want to do during our holidays. We follow the river Nairn and pass villages like Tombreck, Farr, Croachy and Errogie to reach Loch Ness near the village of Inverfangaig. It was a real peaceful route with far stretching views and dense woodlands. In the meantime the clock showed 11, but this trip was really worthwhile.
From Inverfangaig we follow Loch Ness to Inverness, a road where we get the most beautiful scenery before us, the weather is clear and this makes it possible to take some lovely pictures from Urquhart Castle. It later shows we made the right choice on taking this route. For the mystique the weather should have been a little more darker and gloomier, but hey, we don’t complain.
After reaching Inverness we take to the A82 to travel on the north side of Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, where we want to take a look at the locks in the Caledonian Canal. A short stop at the viewpoint near Glackossian is a nice break, here plays a lone piper his tunes on the wall besides the loch. The view is beautiful and the music makes it pleasurable, it’s worth a few pounds.
Next stop is Urquhart Castle, where they build a beautiful visitors center. Even the Scots are becoming commercial, the parking lot is free, but if you want to visit the castle, you’ll have to pay 6 pounds each. Just then is also the tearoom reachable, which isn’t really commercial cause people just passing by can’t reach it. Too bad, the castle, or the ruins of it are magnificent to see, maybe next time we’ll take a boat trip to the castle. Seeing the castle from the water makes it even more impressive and if the weather is right it should be really threatening.
Time for some lunch. For this we head out to Drumnadrochit where you’ll find a bucket load of visitor centers. These are not for us, what a load of crap. What to think of the William Wallace center, complete with the picture of Mel Gibson on the wall. Even a shop with fake swords can be found here, not to mention all the Nessies you can buy here. It was teaming with people, largely English tourists.
A bit further up the road, across the bridge there are a couple of nice eateries and we picked The Fidler. The food is good and it’s a nice place to sit and enjoy a meal. On the parking lot stood a car of a local with a good sense of humor and self-reflection, he had renamed his landrover to hangover.
The trip continuous via Invermoriston to Fort Augustus. The rain is pouring down so we decide against a visit to the locks. Also here it is teaming with people, sticking each other’s eyes out with umbrella’s. We move on along the A82 via Invergary and Laggan, next to Loch Lochy. As disappointing the A82 passing Loch Ness is (the road on the south side is much better), the better is it past Loch Lochy. We came across the most beautiful scenery, only there aren’t very much places to stop the car. At last we found a spot where we could take some pictures. Where we stood the sun was shining and a mile or so up the road is was pouring, which made a very lovely backdrop.
Near Spean Bridge we’ve stopped at the Commando Memorial where we were treated with a nice view on Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland. The summit is hidden in the clouds and trough this all we see there is still snow on the summit. The mountain next Ben Nevis is basking in the sun and we’re standing in the rain again. Lovely and mad Scottish weather.
It’s getting time to head home again and via Spean Bridge, Roybridge and Roughburn we’re heading south. We made another short stop near Laggan Dam after which we spot another castle, nestled between the trees on the other side of the loch. Later we discovered this castle was used making the scenes for the television series Monarch of the Glen. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to take pictures of the gatehouse because we passed it before we knew what we saw. Better luck next time.
The pedal has to go to the metal again, it’s getting late. After reaching the A9 again at Dalwhinnie we make good time and soon we reach our exit to the country road that brings us home. Back on the nest we enjoyed an alcoholic beverage after which we enjoyed a lovely but pricy meal in the hotel restaurant. Our feet are singing home sweet home, time to hit the sack.
Don't put your mouth into motion, before your brain is in gear.
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