Urquhart and Loch Ness

Loch Ness…Better the second time around?

What I discovered today is that a lot can change in 17 years, not in the least my luck in weather.   Today was a gloriously gorgeous day, if a tad windy.  This was a vast difference from my last visit here.  Also, it was during the start of tourist season, so I was able to book a tour, including a cruise of half of Loch Ness.

I got up on time this morning, showered and was down in time for breakfast.  Got a bit more ribbing from my host about not pronouncing Edinburgh correctly, ate my eggs, and headed off to the bus station to catch my coach tour.  I, of course got there early.

Hopped on the bus and found I was one of a group of only four in my particular tour group.  Apparently a full day and a visit to an ancient burial site doesn't appeal to everyone.  We dropped off the first group and waited a bit for our driver to see them off.  I wandered through my first gift shop and took some photos.

I thought this one turned out cool with the Scottish flag.

Then we took off and stopped at a familiar spot.  The tourist pull over with the first view of Urquhart Castle.  

This time there was sunshine…wooohoooo.  

And our bus driver was willing to take photos (even though she wasn't too good at it).

Then it was off to the Cairn. Again, a lovely drive along the loch, then down some picturesque back roads until we got to our destination

A stone burial mound dating back to the Bronze Age. 

Only the outline of the remains could be found, her skeleton long turned to dust.  Apparently, she was an important person as evidenced by the symbols found on the mounds capstone.  We precariously climbed over this gravesite, some of us crawled into it (I was not willing to crawl on my knees on stone) 

and I again got my photo taken.  

Cool thing is that there was a stone circle around the cairn, so I got a stone circle in this visit.

Then back in the coach to The Loch Ness Exhibition Centre.  This was under renovations when I was here last, so this was a first for me as well.  It was a multi-room, multi-media presentation all about the Loch Ness Monster and a bit about the loch in general.  It was silly and fun.  I got a Christmas tree ornament (which they didn't have last time) a couple of DVD postcards, and a HALF PRICE T-shirt!!  I keep finding the bargains.

My old friend Fiberglass Nessie was still in the pond next to the Centre, but she had a wooden fence around her.  

Still got my photo taken though.

Our last stop with our driver was Urquhart Castle.  She dropped us off and recommended that we watch the 8 minute film about the history of the castle.  It was pretty interesting and ended with the screen raising to a window looking out over the ruins of the castle.  I decided that my best route would be to eat lunch, visit the shop, then head down to the castle.  That way I get everything else out of the way and spend the rest of the time climbing over the ruins.  I had a lovely goat cheese and pepper sandwich and a pot of tea for lunch.   Bought only a little junk, then headed off to castle exploring.

 

I had a LONG time to explore the castle.  Things had certainly changed.  

Entering the castle through the main gate.

For one, they had reconstructed the floor between the second and third stories of the tower, so you couldn’t look down from the top to the stone floor anymore; there was a wooden floor in between.

However, it was nice to have a stopping place between floors for a break on the spiral staircase.  Still windy as hell up top though.  

Traded photo taking with a nice couple…she was from England, he was from Philadelphia.  

I could also go all the way across to the oldest side of the castle this time, when you could only get about halfway last time.  Everything was cleared out, paths were built and signs put up. 

I found that where the old souvenir trailer was is actually the Great Hall.  

We had almost 3 hours at the castle, so I finished exploring in plenty of time.  I found a nice spot down near the water 

and sat for awhile 

and watched a sailboat for awhile.

The tiny stone cottage on the top of the hill above the castle is still there too.

Our boat came on time and I decided to brave the weather and climbed up top.  It was surprisingly less windy and warmer on the boat.  

The scenery was freaking amazing.  

It was such a gorgeous day.

After about an hour we were at the edge of Loch Ness and entered Loch Dochfour, which was a much smaller loch.  

Then, we entered the Caledonian Canal.  

We stopped at Dochgarroch Lock and let off some passengers, then went through the Lock.

Shortly after, the clouds came out and the temperature dropped, so I went inside for the last 20 minutes.  The rest of the day went pretty quickly, docking, hopping on a city tour bus, walking to the grocery store (and locating Cadbury chocolate), picking up a sandwich for dinner…then home.  And here I am.

I was briefly toying with taking the bus to Culloden Battlefield tomorrow.  We’ll see…