Itinerary followed throughout Scotland

Stirling - Linlithgow - Edinburgh - Oban - Glencoe - Fort William - Eilean Donan - Skye Island - Plockton - Strathpeffer Highland Games - Loch Ness - Inverness - Western Ross - Fort George - Glasgow

The Ness Lake or Loch Ness is near Inverness. It is very long and deeper (214 m.) than the North Sea and many zones of the Atlantic Ocean.

We drove along the main road towards Drumnadrochit and we enjoyed the superb panoramas of the huge lake. As you suppose, the lake is known because of its legend.

Despite there are testimonies about the existence of a monster in the 6th century and also in the 17th century (a soldier saw it), everything began with a blurred photo in 1933. The happening was so advertised that crowds of people came and affirmed having seen the Nessie's tail (this is the name given to the monster). Scientific experts explored the zone with submarines and sonar but they didn't find out anything.
Nowadays it is known that they were 5 jokers in a small submarine carrying a plastic snake's head. One of them revealed the secret just before dying.
Despite it, there are submarines that allow diving the lake's deeps.

An English engineering has proposed a hypothesis. There are pine trunks at the bottom and due to the wood alteration with ages, many bubbles are created, and they are able to make the trunks float. The trunk goes up so quickly that it jumps over the water surface, accompanied by a gases loosening (the bubbles), to finally sink again.
However, despite all the explanations and proves nobody can resist to look at the water surface in the distance, searching for the monster's head.

In Drumnadrochit we found the charming Urquhart's castle , built during the 12th century and almost destroyed after numerous battles in 13th and 14th centuries.

It was enlarged in the 16th century, and afterwards it suffered the Jamesites' war, and the result is that there are only ruins remaining. In spite of it, this is a wonderful spot, the castle dominates the immense lake and the views are fantastic. We walked around the ruins marvelled and keeping an eye on the water..

This castle is a clear example of the most typical image of Scotland, a castle in ruins on the edge of a lake of obscure water. This picture has fascinated many people, and the Scottish have preserved these scenarios very cleverly. The first important castles were erected during the Renaissance (Stirling, Edinburgh) and after the Reform many castles with abundant decorative elements appeared. Such elements proportionate to the Scottish castles a picturesque appearance, the so-called baron's style, that lasted until the 19th century.

In our way back we made a stop in he village of Drumnadrochit to have a look at the Monster's Official Exhibition, a museum where they explain the story with some pictures. Unfortunately the price was excessive and we decided to enter the museum's shop instead . The big shop sells thousands of souvenirs about Nessie. If you pass across this village, I would recommend a brief stop to see it.

After the fascinating visit to the lake and the castle we returned to Inverness, where we had booked the accommodation in the morning, thus avoiding similar problems to the Skye Island.
We took the same road back, although you can surround the lake through a road at the other side that is less frequented. We would have liked to see it but we were exhausted and it was getting dark, so we selected the fast way.