Day 9 - Lochness

Day 9 began very early because we were going on a long tour up to Lochness.

 
The Scottish countryside is as beautiful as I expected it to be.

 
At our first pit stop this guy was going swimming in the river.

 
It was cold and I mean cold and windy. 

 
At another stop I snapped a photo of this house.  Charming don't you think?  It's probably going to be the subject of a future painting.

 
More mountains and hills.  Our guide says all these grassy areas are covered with heather that blooms in August/September.  He says it's a beautiful sight --note to self: go back in the fall next time.

 
Some ruins along the way.  This was Invergarry Castle,  the seat of the Chiefs of the Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry.  Our guide told us stories about the Clans and their battles, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Mary, Queen of Scots. and Robert the Bruce and of course, William Wallace.  He said the Braveheart movie is almost completely fasle.  Fake news!
 
Our guide was obviously still upset that Mary, Queen of Scots never became Queen of England.  She had more birthright that Elizabeth I.  I think the Scots should rebel and get their independence from Englad--to battle!

 
Finally we arrive at Ft. Augustus and Lochness.

 
We decided not to go on the boat tour.  Highly doubtful that we could spot Nessie.  Instead we chose to have lunch and wander around the town.

 
We spent most of our time watching the boats go through the locks.

 
I had never seen anything like this before.

 
It took a very long time for those boats to travel through the locks.


 
This was our tour van and our guide was Craig.  He was awesome!  He told us so much history of Scotland.  I could have listened to him all day.  He wore a kilt that day and it was so cold that he told us he wished he had worn pants.
 

 
We stopped at a distillery to sample some Scotch.  Yuck!

 
If you look across the river in this picture you will see Balmoral.  This is the Queen's private residence in Scotland, it's owned by her personally.

 
We got back into town and had a couple more hills and monuments to explore.

 
For some reason this structure was never completed.

 
The is the five star Balmoral Hotel.  This is where JK Rowling rented a suite to finish up the Harry Potter books.  You can now book that suite for a mere $2,000 per night.


As I told  you previously, Edinburgh is built on several hills.  This is one of the bridges that connect those hills.  Lots of steps and hills to climb in Edinburgh.  Don't go there unprepared.

 
A section of the Royal Mile which connects Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace.

 
This was our hotel--Fraser Suites.  It was really nice, centrally located, and I highly recommend it if you ever go to Edinburgh.

Comments

polcat24 said…
Yes, Our guide was great. I love it when they can just talk, talk, and talk. Kept us engaged and even delayed at one of the stops so I could get a geocache.
And our hotel was really nice would also recommend it.
May 18, 2017 at 2:57 PM
Yogi♪♪♪ said…
I stayed in Inverness a couple of nights. Loved it, great pubs. I took the boat tour of Loch Ness and loved it also. Back then, the royal air force was buzzing the lake with their jets. I was fascinated by the coffee black water.

In Edinburgh on the way back to London I stayed in a hotel at breakfast and noticed the brochures for the tanning beds. They had a woman laying naked on the bed face down. She looked familiar and then I noticed the waitress and said, Is that you? "Aye, it is"she said with a smile.
May 20, 2017 at 11:40 PM
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