Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle

Sadly, this is as close to Nessie as we were able to get. I'm also really proud of this picture because the woman who took it for us got 2 shots: one with Max blinking and the other with Ellen blinking. And you totally can't even tell that I had to edit in Ellen's eyes from the other picture so we all have smiles & open eyes. Of course, now you all know that and will scrutinize the picture, but I'm still proud of myself. So yes, moving on.

Loch Ness!

There it is. A great big lake under misty, rainy, Scottish skies. At this point we are officially near-ish the middle of the Highlands, which I'm going to maintain are absolutely the most gorgeous place on earth until proven otherwise. Just wait until we get further west- Skye and Glencoe are to die for. But then I like mountains.

Apparently the best views of Loch Ness can be seen from the tower at Urquhart Castle (below), which overlooks the loch.

I'm sure it is very nice, but they charge you something like 13 pounds to get onto the grounds (eww) and we were here during the one afternoon that it just poured down rain on us. So we skipped the castle and just snapped shots from the castle parking lot, which is actually not a bad place to see the castle from because it is on a cliff overlooking the castle and the loch. Or at least it wouldn't be if there weren't a pretty solid line of trees blocking your view. But there are breaks in the trees, you just have to find 'em.

At this point I should probably toss out there that Urquhart was once one of Scotland's largest castles, and that most Nessie sightings occur near the castle. There are also a number of boats you can ride in the area to get some great views of the loch and the castle (see? There's one right there!). But save it for a day less miserable than the one we had. Urquhart was transformed into the ruin you see today in 1692, when the Royalists destroyed the castle rather than let it fall into the hands of the Jacobites. But for that story, you'll have to wait for the next post highlighting the battle of Culloden.