If you haven't read my post about the first part of my trip, you might want to do that. I'm breaking my Scotland trip up into multiple posts for time reasons. So, here's part 2--Loch Ness and Inverness.
At the end of my last post I left you with a picture of Urquhart Castle, a ruined castle on the banks of Loch Ness. It's been there since (they think) the 13th Century, and it's pretty much only ruins. You can climb up to the top of some of the towers and look out over Loch Ness. When I was there it was absolutely freezing cold and raining. Sorry for the gray skies--but here are some of my pictures!
Anyone see Nessie? I've heard she's here somewhere! :)
View of Loch Ness from the water gate. The little stairs in the grass lead down to the edge of the Loch.
After we walked around the castle for about an hour we got to take a special boat cruise from the castle to the other end of Loch Ness. This is a view of the castle from the boat. At one point it was supposed to be a huge fortification. It's sad that it's ruined--the soldiers who were stationed there blew up the gatehouse in order to stop their enemies from occupying the castle.
The boat was called the Jacobite Queen, and it took us from Urquhart Castle to Dogcarroch Lock.
Here are some pictures I took while on the boat cruise!
The water at Loch Ness is really murky--even with bright lights you can only see about 3 meters in front of you. It also never freezes over in the winter time. That's why I think if there is a lake monster anywhere..it will probably be here. I didn't see anything suspicious, but who knows?
An old palace that has been converted into a luxury private hotel
One of my favorite things about Scotland is how the mountains just sort of appear out of nowhere. They're misty and beautiful!
Coming to the end of our boat cruse, we separated from the River Ness and went into the Caledonian Canal, a canal built to connect the east coast with the west coast. It runs from Fort William to Inverness and connects the lochs that make up the Great Glen.
Anyone see the tiny glimmer of blue sky at the end of our day?
Once we got to Dogcarroch lock (not loch--lock like the way they move a boat upstairs!) It was time for me and my other three-day tourists to split from the big group. We got in the little green minibus on the left, and the large group loaded up and headed back to Edinburgh.
We went instead to Inverness, our home for the next two nights. I was staying at the Ramada Encore Hotel in downtown Inverness. It was really nice, but after a long day of traveling and lots of walking in the cold I decided to just stay in the hotel room and relax before Saturday.
When I turned on the tv in the hotel room I was really surprised to find the television show "The Middle" playing. For those of you who don't know, "The Middle" is about this American family who lives in the midwest--not at all the type of show I would have expected to be on in Scotland! But it was a little bit of a tv fix--so I tuned in and got in bed early. I had to meet up with the tour at 9:15 the next morning to go to the Isle of Sky! My favorite part of the trip was Saturday, so check back sometime tomorrow morning for that post!
Thanks for reading!
Sarah
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