The Hunt for Nessie

After a couple nights in the Cairngorms National Park, we hopped in the car and headed for our next destination, Loch Ness! We had aimed to take a little diversion down into Speyside to visit a distillery or two but ended up getting diverted and instead found ourselves heading north towards Nairn which turned out to be a good thing as the Speyside itinerary would have added quite a few hours to our trip and would likely have seen us arrive quite late at Loch Ness. As Scotland is thick with distilleries, we were not too put out and vowed to make it up later. On the drive, we saw several deer (including two very young ones) as well as a pair of pheasants (male and female) that were only feet away from the car. The male pheasant really is a beautiful creature although clearly not the brightest of beasts (how it managed to let us get so close is beyond me).

On the way, we stopped off at an 17th century bell tower, visited an old church and passed by Culloden battlefield (we decided to postpone the visit as it was late in the day) before arriving at the charming Loch Ness lodge. The Loch Ness Lodge is a beautiful, luxury B&B so dinner was, by necessity, offsite. We dined at the Loch Ness Inn where Christos' prawns were excellent and Lisa's fish was top notch. A shuttle bus back to the Lodge was passed on at 10pm, resulting in more Guinness being quaffed and we ended up being the last customers at the Inn! We finally got back to the Lodge shortly after 11pm and fell asleep watching a little TV.

The next day, Lisa was not feeling very well so she skipped breakfast which was a pity as it was excellent. Christos had the traditional Scottish breakfast of eggs, bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes and sausage accompanied by freshly squeezed OJ and a wonderful, large cappuccino.

After breakfast we headed off to visit the Culloden battlefield site where in April 1746 hopes of a restoration of the Stuart family to the throne of England were finally dashed after 57 years of hopes and dreams. The site and visitor centre are very well done with enlightening exhibits, helpful guides in period costumes and a GPS based listening tool that tells you about different spots on the battlefield. Perhaps the most moving part is the row of clan grave markers which still have raised mounds of earth behind them covering the bodies of the fallen.

After Culloden, it was off to the Black Isle (which is actually a peninsula) for lunch and scenic views from the spit near Fortrose which also hosts an interesting ruined cathedral.

Then we drove back towards Loch Ness, bypassing Inverness, with a stop at the Glen Ord distillery for a wee tipple and some whisky buying. As the previous night's meal had been grand, we opted to not try a new establishment and returned to the Loch Ness Inn for dinner where Christos ordered the mussels but settled for the seafood gnocchi (mussels being all gone) while Lisa indulged in one of her favourite meals, the hamburger. Finally we took an early shuttle back to the Lodge and got good night's sleep before getting ready for our lo drive the next day to Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.