Scotland Part II: The Highlands
Historically rugged with eye-catching beauty, the Highlands of Scotland offer a bounty of destinations that will satisfy anyone’s wanderlust…let’s take a look!
Situated just South of the Highlands of Scotland is the infamous Loch Ness. In the Autumn, as when we went, the weather can dramatically effect the various nuances of the loch. As the air is still, mirrors occur on the water that reflect what is in the air and gives you a window to view certain depths of the loch. Conversely, when the wind picks-up, white caps can appear on top of the loch and currents get a little fierce. By surface area, Loch Lammond is the largest loch in Scotland. Loch Ness is the largest loch in Scotland by water volume, making it the deepest loch in Scotland and measuring, in its deepest part, 755 feet.
Dating back to the 13th century, Urquhart Castle, pictured on the right, played a role in the Wars of Scotland Independence. There is an information center that has a model of the complete castle as it stood back in the day and the additional history behind it is really interesting. From a photographic stand point, what’s not to like here? It almost doesn’t matter what the weather is like, bright, sunny and still, or, cloudy, brooding with whitecaps on the water, you just can’t go wrong. They make filters for phones now so if that’s your mode of capturing images, bring a polarizing filter to avoid heavy contrast conditions.
Just a little more than a mile West of Urquhart Castle lies the town of Drumnadrochit. This is the area that I chose for us to stay as a good point between the Highlands and cities that we wanted to visit. During the Spring and Summer months, I’m sure this little town gets crowded as they have a rather large percentage of the retail shops in town dedicating allot of their surplus to Loch Ness and the infamous, “Nessie,” allegedly living therein. This quaint little B&B was run by a couple that was sort of split on the future. The wife wanted to sell the biz and retire, the husband loved what he did in running the B&B. If I had to wager, I would say it was no longer in their hands and they sold it off. They could not have been any kinder, friendlier or accommodating and they helped make our stay there memorable. They even gave us little nuggets of info about where certain things are that not allot of tourists know about.
I will say this also. This B&B served breakfast. Even a traditional English breakfast that contains allot of food. It was all delicious as well. But for your next two meals, you were on your own. And, when the market in this wee town closes, so too closes your last hope of getting something to eat. That may be a drawback for some of you…I call it conditioning and, not to be taken lightly, it forces one to get out and go places to eat, talk to folks about their country and get some one on one with locals. You can gather a vast amount of info in this process. And you might make new friends…a win win in my book!
I think I will leave it there until next week. Next week will see a continuation of the Highlands of Scotland that will include, castles, mountains and…sheep? I’ll explain next week…until then, take care of yourselves, each other, be and travel well!
