Scottish Highlands, Irquhart Castle and Loch Ness -- July 16

Today we embarked on the tour we booked when we arrived in Edinburgh. We had to be at the top of the Royal Mile by 08:10 to go on the journey. Of course it was raining quite hard when we left the apartment. We stopped and picked up some breakfast sandwiches and some coffee along the way. We were planning on eating the sandwiches on the bus. We found out when we got to the bus that food and drink were not allowed. So we downed our coffee and put away our sandwiches 'til the first stop. The driver's name was Fred and he was a pretty funny guy. 

The drive to Irquhart Castle and Loch Ness was exceptionally beautiful. It's easy to see why people fall in love with the country. Often I was reminded of areas of similar beauty in Alaska and the upper midwest of the USA. But other parts have nothing in my experience to compare. It seems to me there are not enough superlatives to describe the beauty and grandeur of the Scottish highlands. We stopped for just one photo op before we reached the castle ruins. The lack of stops was probably what I liked least about the trip.

The Irquhart (erk hart) Castle is truly a ruin. I would imagine a little work was done to keep it from falling down more but little if anything has been restored. The last occupants blew up the gate house and the subsequent fire took care of most of the rest. It was certainly much different than walking around in Edinburgh Castle. There were many fewer people but that made it all the more fun. I could imagine how imposing a sight it must have been for anyone traveling on the loch. Truly a remarkable ruin to visit.

From the castle we got on a boat for a short trip on Loch Ness. It is a very beautiful lake with both sail and motor boats using it. There are small "villages" along the shore as well as solitary dwellings. Hard as we looked we were not able to spot Nessy swimming around in the loch.

The ride back from Loch Ness was once again through the beautiful Scottish highlands. Many of the places we traveled were along the coast. The North Sea was very calm and looked peaceful. I know that it can be very violent as well. But this day even though it was raining and sometime windy, the sea was calm. It would have been nice to stop by the sea and look in the tide pools and stroll the beach but it was not possible this trip, maybe next time.