Can't Go To Scotland, Without Visiting Nessie!

Driving through the highlands we saw a lot of lochs.  The lochs have an interesting geography. They can be up to 300 meters deep, but they can also have places that you can walk across them, if you are a local and know the secret route! Scott (our tour guide) told us the story of a loch being so pretty, that some people from Ireland tourism took a picture of it and used it in their advertising. The Highlanders took exception to this cultural appropriation. One man walked out, on one of these secret routes, and planted a flag in the middle of the loch.

When we arrived at Fort Augustus, the village on Loch Ness, we had a choice of three things. We could eat lunch, explore the village and/or take a boat tour of the Loch. However, we only had time to pick two of those. Since we didn't have a packed lunch, we had to eat. Of course we were going to do a boat tour of the Loch. How do you go all the way to Loch Ness, and not go out on the Loch? That's crazy talk. So we had to forgo the exploration of the village. After we ate (fish and chips, caught fresh that morning), William, the bus driver, walked those of us who were done early down to the boat. We wanted to be in the front of the line to get good seats! 

The tour of the Loch was about an hour. The water in Loch Ness is almost completely black, from the peat. It's up to 230 meters deep in places, making it the largest Loch in Scotland by volume (Loch Lamond is bigger by surface area, Loch Morar is the deepest at 310 meters).  The water stays at 5 degrees Celsius, year round. Not a place to go for a dip! The Loch has one island, Cherry Island, which was created artificially in the iron age. These are called crannogs, and were likely used for defensive purposes.

Nessie

Fort Augustus

Ben Nevis is Scotland's tallest mountain

One of our stops was the the Commando Memorial, which offers an incredible view. Looking out over the landscape, I realized that a little piece of my heart was going to stay in Scotland and I was going to have to come back here someday. 

Commando Memorial, Lochaber

**Yet another Scottish story, not for the faint of heart**

The Well of The Seven Heads is a monument we passed on the way to Fort Augustus. In 1663, Alexander and Ranald MacDonald were murdered by their cousins in a family dispute. Alexander was supposed to be the clan leader and his reform policies were unpopular. This crime went unpunished for two years, as there were many cousin sympathizers in the area. 

A kinsman to Alexander and Ranald, Iain Lom, petitioned Sir James of Duntulm Castle for permission to bring justice to the murderers.  It was granted. Sir James' brother Archibald and  Iain marched on the McDonald clan with 50 men and decapitated the 7 murderous cousins. Legend held that he washed the heads in the well (hence the name) and returned them to Edinburgh as proof and a warning. 

In 1812 the monument was raised, after an excavation of the Mound of Inverlair revealed seven headless corpses, offering proof of the tale. Unfortunately, there wasn't room for the bus to stop there, so we only saw it as we drove by.