Loch Ness, Not Urquhart Castle, Etc.

Today out of Inverness, Scotland I went on a guided tour of Loch Ness and the Highlands. It was on a 32-seat bus that was just a person or two short of full. I would have thought that almost mid-September would be the shoulder season, but I guess Inverness has big shoulders.

Before starting the tour, the driver/guide, Will, told us the weather was predicted to be iffy, possibly even with snow in the mountains. Snow?! I did not bring clothes for this. I didn’t come to Scotland for snow. We get enough of that back in Toronto, but rarely in September. It’s currently September. I hope the forecast for the mountains is wrong. I don’t think they’re particularly high mountains.

We started in the sunshine. For the rest of the morning, the skies went through a few iterations of brilliant sunshine and gloomy cloud cover, with a couple of brief periods of light rain. It seems that the Scottish weather god is exceptionally fickle.

The morning segment of the tour took in Urquhart Castle (but not for me, more on that later) and got to the village of Port Augustus, which sits by one end of Loch Ness, the farthest end from Inverness.

Will, on a microphone while he drove, provided lots of detailed information about the history, geography, geology, culture, and flora and fauna of the area—along with several amusing personal interest stories about his wee brother, his wife, friends, other drivers, and previous customers he’s had on his tours. He talked pretty much nonstop. I mean that in a good way. Will was entertaining and informative. (With the usual caveat that I normally have no idea whether what guides tell me even borders on the truth. )

I don’t remember much of what he said. But at one point Will talked about nearby lochs (that’s what they call lakes here), canals between the lochs, locks on the canals, and the history of the story of the Loch Ness Monster. I remember this because the pronunciation of loch and lock is similar. It wasn’t always easy to figure out whether he was talking about a loch or a lock. Although, it was always obvious when he was talking about the monster.

Highland Cows

The first stop was not far out of Inverness. There, we got out of the bus to spend ten minutes gandering at three Highland Cows. Two were close to a fence we could approach. The third was at the back of another paddock, viewed from only a distance.

If the ones we saw are representative samples of the breed, Highland Cows are sturdy, noble beasts.

All three of the ones we saw had horns. I always thought bulls had horns and cows don’t. But the frequent signs on the fence asked visitors not to feed the “Highland Cows.” So, maybe Highland Cows are different and the cows of that breed, not just the bulls, have horns. Or maybe the sign took liberties.

Then again, I’m a city curmudgeon. I usually get to see only dogs, cats, squirrels and raccoons in my everyday life. What the heck do I know about cows and bulls? Dogs, cats, squirrels and raccoons of all genders and none don’t have horns. So maybe I’m wrong about the horns thing.

Drumnadrochit, not Urquhart Castle Beside Loch Ness

The itinerary for the trip says it includes Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness, but it has an admission fee that has to be paid separately. I’m fine with the extra cost. Relative to what I’m spending for the rest of this trip the cost is trivial.

(Here comes the “more on that later” part I mentioned above.)

A while after completing the online booking yesterday, I got an email from the company that runs the tour. It gave me a link to buy a ticket specifically for the time the tour would be there. I clicked the link. The resulting webpage told me tickets were sold out for that time.

I emailed the tour company and asked if there was anything they could do about that. They said that Urquhart Castle is run by a different organization and if the castle was sold out there was nothing they could do, but they hoped I enjoyed the rest of the Scottish Highlands.

When I got on the bus this morning, I asked Will if I could buy a ticket onsite. He said, “Yeah, we’ll sort it out there.”

After the first stop, Will got on the microphone and said he understood that a number of us were unable to prebook tickets to Urquhart Castle and received an email saying we couldn’t go in if we weren’t able to prebook a ticket. He then said he had just called the office and they confirmed that was true.

He then dropped those of us without castle tickets, almost half the bus, in a cute Highland Village called Drumnadrochit, where we had an hour to kill. He then drove the lucky ones to the castle before coming back to pick us up and continue the tour.

On the plus side, Drumnadrochit is a beguiling wee* village in a verdant valley, nestled between lush green mountains. A small river runs through it. It’s quite an enjoyable place to spend a little time. An espresso and cake at a cafe there helped to kill a little time and make up for the fact that I had only an espresso for breakfast.

Will then drove to Urquhart Castle’s parking lot, a piece up from the castle, to pick up the lucky ones. But he let the rest of us off the bus and pointed to a spot a wee bit up the street where we could get a good view of the castle and Loch Ness beyond it from well above and away from the castle to snap a photo.

(*I believe there’s a law that stipulates that, while in Scotland, I’m required to say “wee” at least 25% of the time when I mean “little.” The use of “wee brother” in the paragraph above about Will’s commentary was what Will called him, not my words. I don’t know if a quote counts toward my quota. I’ve been negligent so far in this trip, so I have to put a lot of my “wee” usage in this post.)

Invermoriston Old Bridge

The next stop was only to take in some scenery. “Only to take in some scenery.” Only. What a thing to say. The scenery was spectacular.

We stopped in a lot a short walk from the Invermoriston Old Bridge. Unsurprisingly, it’s an old stone bridge over River Moriston. The river there runs over some rugged rapids, through a verdant valley. It’s gorgeous.

A short walk away is a view of a lovely small waterfall on the same river.

It was a splendid short stop on the tour.

Fort Augustus and Loch Ness

The next stop was at Fort Augustus, situated at the opposite end of Loch Ness from where the River Ness flows out of the loch. It’s a charming village in a lush, green mountain valley.

The River Oich, a source of Loch Ness, and the parallel Caledonian Canal, a less natural source, run through the village. I think “oich” is Gaelic for “ouch,” but I could be wrong about that.

Loch Ness is only a wee piece away from Fort Augustus. Or, at least, it’s a wee piece away from where Will let us off in the village. The distance is wee enough that, in this case, I think “wee” means zero millimetres.

Stopping at Fort Augustus allowed us to find a place to grab a quick lunch so paying customers such as me wouldn’t waste away. After lunch we then …

Nope. I had lunch, so this is a good place to break off this post. Stay tuned for the “and then” part. I’ll hopefully have an incoming post in a few hours about my afternoon.