Day 17 - Drumnadrochit & Nessie

May 18, 2008

We slept really well the night before and felt really well rested waking up. We got up in time for our scheduled breakfast at 9am. We went to the breakfast room and sat down at the available table. There were already two other couples at the other tables starting on their breakfast.

The view from this room was amazing. It was so beautiful. You saw part of their farm immediately in front and then a little ways off to the left you could see Loch Ness.

The host, Caroline, took our orders. Jeremiah got scrambled eggs and salmon and I go scrambled eggs on toast. The food was really good and Caroline was very friendly and welcoming.

During breakfast we got to chatting with the other guests. The American couple we had seen the night before was from Minnesota (although, they didn't have an accent so you wouldn't have known it) and the other couple was Brittish and from the South West (I can't remember the name).

We had a really nice time talking with both couples; they were very friendly. We talked about traffic signs in the UK and we helped out the other American couple figure out what a few signs meant.

The American woman admitted that when they were first driving around, she thought that whenever she saw a camera sign, she thought it was like we do it in the States where that tells you that a scenic view is coming up so get out your camera. She later discovered that this actually meant that there was a camera up ahead ready to take your picture if you are speeding. We all got a laugh out of this, especially the Brittish couple. These couples were both leaving that morning but would have stayed another night if the B&B wasn't already booked - good thing we had booked both our nights in advance for this place.

After breakfast, we said goodbye to the other couples and got ready for the day. We decided to try one of the Nessie centers first. We chose the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Center instead of the Loch Ness Exhibition. Outside the Visitor Center, there was a statue of the monster so I got my picture on it. We then looked inside the gift shop a bit and bought a few postcards and our admission to the center (£5 each).

We walked through the doors and down the hallway like the guy told us to. Along the walls there were pictures of different "monster sightings" including Nessie with little captions next to the pictures. At the end of the hall, we turned right up a few steps and in to the little movie theatre they had. We found some seats and waited for the movie to begin.

The movie was about Loch Ness and about the different sightings people have had. They also talked about scientific expiditions that have been done to try and find Nessie but they didn't find anything. The movie lasted around 15 minutes. We then went out the door and were back in the hallway we had started in.

We went to our left down another hallway and looked at the pictures and captions on the wall. Then we turned left again down another hallway to see more of the same things. There was a door at the end and we opened it to find ourselves outside. Apparently that was the whole Visitor Center. Not really worth the money - wouldn't really recommend it.

We were slightly disappointed and got in our car. We then decided to go to Urquhart Castle which is at the entrance to the town (side note: Caroline's husband is from the Urquhart clan and it was his ancestors that used to live there hundreds of years ago).

We drove to the parking lot and found a spot. Jeremiah was here back in 1992 and he does not recall having to pay to get in nor does he remember there being a wall with tons of trees next to the wall that obstruct your view of the castle. He remembers being able to look at the castle without anything in his view. Well, that kind of ticked us off plus were tired of paying money for every little thing we wanted to see so we decided not to pay to walk down to and through the castle.

Instead, we climbed up on the wall to hold our camera over the trees to take pictures of it. The castle is all ruins and there isn't much left of it. We had already seen quite a few castles on our trip already so it really wasn't a big deal not to see the "insides" of this one.

There were two levels to the parking area and we had parked on the lower one. We walked up a path that went behind the circular visitor center. Between this path and the upper parking lot, there was some grass on the hill. So we climbed up on this to get a better view of the castle. The top of the visitor center had grass on it and a square piece of cement.

There was a railing along the platform we had walked to from the path that continued down the stairs to the entrance of the visitor center. On the platform, there was some space between where the railing was located and the side of the visitor center. In this railing was a section of "missing" railing (it wasn't really missing, but it was large enough to go under to stand on the other side the other side).

I had a sudden urge to go under the railing and climb on top of the visitor center to get a better look at the castle (and to show my definance :) ). I walked over to the railing and stared at it for a while debating if I should do it or not - I didn't want to get yelled at for doing it but I also really wanted to do something "dangerous." Jeremiah just stayed on the top of the grassy hill being amused by my indecision.

I decided to walk down to the entrance of the visitor center to see if you could see me climbing on top as I would be doing it right next to windows. I walked in and was a little startled to see a desk immediately at the entrance with a worker there. He looked at me a little funny as I told him I was just looking (even though there wasn't anything really to look at). I picked up the Guide Book on the table and thumbed through it a bit while I tried to see if I could be seen through the windows above. (The visitor center was the height of a two story building but there was only one floor inside. There was also a column in the center of the room and it appeared that the worker at the desk was the only one in there.)

I smiled at the worker and left the way I had come in. I walked back up the stairs to my post and told Jeremiah of my discovery. I felt that I wouldnt' be seen so I thought about just doing it until I saw on the side of the building an ADT box (security alarm company). That made me nervous. I was pretty sure they only detected when a window or door was opened when it was turned on but I wasn't sure if it could detect movement on the building or not.

Well, after a few more minutes of thinking about it I decided to take the plunge and just do it. I walked up to where Jeremiah was and gave him the camera so he could document me up there. I walked back down to the railing and went under it. Then I put my hands on the top of the building and my right foot on the railing to give me a boost. Then before I knew it, I was on the top.

I walked over to the cement square and posed for the pictures. I didn't stay up there too long before I got back down again. Then I got the camera from Jeremiah and did it again so that this time I could take pictures of the castle. I snapped a few and then climbed back down. It was so much fun.

There was a biker who watched me do some of it and he started walking back and forth on the platform with his camera in hand. I think he wanted to do the same thing but he ended up not doing it; by that time there were more people around. We then went back to the car and I was very proud of myself.

We got in the car and drove back in to town. We found the Information Center and parking in their parking lot. We walked inside and talked to the worker there. We asked about good walking/hiking areas nearby. She gave us a map and told us how to get there (you just leave your car there and walk up the street a bit to another street where you turn to the right and then walk up that one a little ways until you get to the start of the path through the woodlands).

We decided to grab some lunch first before we headed out. We walked across the street to a little cafe that served pizza. We ordered a pepperoni and black olive pizza and some garlic bread. As I was ordering the food (you were at a window outside), the waitress inside made a noise of disgust and said under her breath to the other waitress who was taking my order "The Highlander."

I turned around and saw a man on a electric wheelchair completely decked out in authentic Scottish garb, staff and sword included. I asked if he comes here often and they said no but that he is just really rude to them so they aren't thrilled when he does come.

I went to our table and told Jeremiah what I had heard. We wanted to get a better look at him but without staring or looking like we were looking at him but our backs were to him. We also wanted to get a picture of him to show to others. So I took the camera and turned to my right a bit and snapped a picture hoping he didn't see. I wanted a better one. So I lfted my left arm a bit and put the camera under it while I slouched over to see through the viewer if it would be a good one. While I was doing this I realized how stupid I must look in this pose and I started laughing uncontrolably. I quickly took the picture before I lost all control and then explained to Jeremiah why I was laughing. He then proceeded to laugh at me.

Our lunch was very good, especially the garlic bread. I noticed that they sold ice cream so I went up to order my very first offical 99 Cone (vanilla ice cream with a stick of Flake in it). It was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

When we finished, we walked back across the street to our car to change into our running shoes for the hike. Then we headed off up the street to the other street and then to the path.

We made a slight wrong turn as the map we were given didn't have enough land marks on it to show us exactly what fork in the road we were supposed to go left at to get to the path, but we soon found out, back-tracked, and made our way up the right road to the path.

All of the trails through the woodlands (there were 4) were loops and they intersected with at least one other at some point. We decided to take the one that was supposed to have the best view of Drumnadrochit and Loch Ness first; it was also supposed to be the most strenuous (the red trail).

The hike was pretty steep and it did make us breath pretty deeply going up it, but it wasn't that long of a hike. We made it to the top and were a little surprised to find some other people up there. We took a few pictures of the view and one of the other people there was nice enough to take a picture of us.

Then a huge group of loud women came up and that was our cue to get out of there. We walked down the other side of the loop and when we came to the part where it intersected with another trail (the green trail), we took the green trail. This trail was supposed to give you a view of another small city and take you more through the woodlands.

This trail was very nice and quiet. We stopped to read little plaques along the way about the different trees that were in the area. One plaque was about the Douglas Fir. I was a little surprised to see a Christmas tree standing there but then I read why. Apparently, years ago, a Mr. Douglas from Scotland went to America, found this tree, and brought back seeds to plant it in Scotland. The tree was then named after him. Interesting.

Jeremiah had fun on this trail finding good rock souveniers to take home. He found a good one for his mom as well (it looked layered and was pretty interesting).

When we finished this trail, we were back at the beginning where we had originally started. We then looked at the map and decided to go on the Blue trail which started up the road a bit. So we walked and found another road we were supposed to turn on. But, as we discovered later, we didn't find the trail head. Instead we continued up this road until we finally found a piece of wood in the ground with blue on it (these are their trail markers that are sporadically placed along the trail to let you know which one you are on). We then started on the trail but were confused a little way in and felt like we were turned around from where we thought we were going (which it turns out we were).

On the map, there was supposed to be a duck pond which is part of the reason we were taking this trail. But all we ever found was a little muddy thing without any ducks in the place we figured was supposed to be the location of the duck pond. Oh well.

We hiked along this trail which was acutally both the blue and white trails (the white trail takes you along the loop that goes around the duck pond and the blue one does this and then goes off in another direction back towards the red trail).

We continued on the blue trail to take us back. The hike was very pretty. We saw lots of beautiful flowers and foiliage and it was very quiet except for the wind and the birds. We really enjoyed it.

We apparently missed another turn as we eventually found ourselves back on the red trail (the section we had originally climbed first that day) and the blue trail was supposed to go parallel to the red trail at the end but not overlap it. Well, as I said earlier, their sign posts were sporadic and we either missed the one we needed or it didn't exist. But I didn't mind. As we were walking up to the blue trail head on the road, we saw the end of the blue trail and it was very very muddy. I was kind of glad we wouldn't have to deal with that section after all.

We made it back to the very beginning and had completed every trail. It took us a few hours and wasn't very difficult but it was very nice for our afternoon activities.

It was getting closer to dinner time (around 7pm) and we didn't really want pub food which was practically your only choice in town. We decided we would get back to the car and drive to Inverness, only 12 miles away.

It was a nice drive along Loch Ness to the town.

We found some free parking in the middle of the city (it was only free because it was Sunday and it was after a certain time). We actually parked there because we saw a sign for an Internet Cafe. We walked up to the Cafe and read that they wanted £3 per hour (translation: ~$6/hour) and there was no way we were going to pay that. So we walked on. We were at the city centre but everything was basically already closed, except for the McDonalds on the corner and there was no way we were going to eat that again.

We found another Internet Cafe, but they too were already closed. There wasn't much to see with everyting closed (and it did just look like another city) so we went back to the car. We really didn't want much for dinner other than some fruit and veggis. I had seen a grocery store on the way in to the city so we went back there. It too was already closed.

We couldn't really find anything else as we drove around some radom streets. But we did find something else I had been looking for this whole trip. The Elderly People Crossing sign!!! We were on a side street somewhere and we saw it. So we stopped the car, I got out, and I took the picture. I was so excited that I finally got it!

We went back to the main street and decided to just go back to Drumnadrochit. As we were just about to leave the city, I saw a store that I had actually seen on our way in called Morning, Noon, & Night. From the outside it looked like a 7-Eleven or AM PM but it did say on the outside (which I hadn't seen the first time through) that they sold fresh fruit and vegetables. So we thought we would at least look.

We were pleasantly surprised and they had everything we wanted. We grabbed some apples, yogurt, a mixed veggi bag, salt & vinegar crisps, water, milk, and shortbread cookies. Now that may not sound like the most balanced of dinners, but it was perfect for us.

We got back in the car and drove to the B&B after stopping along the Loch to take a quick look.

After arriving at the B&B, we went inside, took quick showers, and then ate our dinner in bed. While we ate dinner, Indiana Jones and the Ark of the Covenant was on so we had dinner and a movie. It was really fun and a good way to finish off our fun day.

When Indiana Jones was over, the news came on and then another movie (6 Days & 7 Nights - Harrison Ford marathon, I guess). I wrote in the journal for a bit and then we hit the sack.

Another fun adventure day for us.

Tomorrow, we meet up with my sister in Keswick.

Until later...

Love,
S&J