Loch Ness

The best way to learn about the history of Loch Ness and also of the history of our resident legend is to visit the Loch Ness 2000 exhibition in Drumnadrochit. It is open all year round and has 7 multi lingual themed chambers in which are everything about Loch Ness you can’t see by looking at it such as Legends and Witnesses, Hoaxes and Illusions, Life in the abyss, Operation Deepscan and the Ness time capsule, plus real expedition equipment. An interesting hour for all ages.

So the finest way the Mysteries on land, the finest way to see the Loch is most definitely by boat. There are numerous companies operating from 3 major points. These are:

Jacobite Cruises

They are possibly the largest of all the operators and the only company that offers cruises all year round. They have a base at the upper end of Loch Ness on the main A82 into Inverness and also at the Clansman harbour, approximately 14 miles north of here. Offering varying tours from an hour taster visiting the deepest part of the loch and Urquhart Castle through to a complete 6 and a half hour tour visiting the castle, the Caledonian canal and our very own bridge in Invermoriston.

Prices start from ₤8.00 per person.

Cruise Loch Ness

They are based in Fort Augustus, 7 miles south of the hotel at the harbour where the Caledonian canal enters the loch. Cruises operate 7 days per week from April through to October and all of the boats have been custom designed for Loch Ness tours. As with all of the cruise operators they carry sonar equipment linking to TV so you can maybe catch a glimpse of Nessie as she swims underneath you!!

Prices start from ₤7.00 per person.

Loch Ness Cruises of Drumnadrochit

They have 2 boats, leaving from the harbour of Drumnadrochit roughly every hour and offer quite fun and informative cruises of Loch Ness. The captains are well renowned and have excellent knowledge of Loch Ness. The cruise they offer also lasts one hour.

Prices start from ₤8.00 per person.

So enough about boats, what about history, Scotland and especially the highlands have it in abundance. Most of it extremely bloody with warlords, clans, kings and queens fighting for control of land and people.

One of the bloodiest venues on the Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle. It is quite spectacular to see by day or night when it is tastefully illuminated.

Castle Urquhart stands on a rocky promontory on the north shore of Loch Ness. As soon as you get here you cant help thinking, "Well, if I were going to build a castle to survey this wide glen, and the loch itself, this is where I’d build it!" In fact people were almost certainly here at least 4000 years ago. However, although some evidence has been found of a fort on this promontory dating from the Iron Age, and also remains from Pictish times, earliest written records for the existence of a castle date from the 1200’s.

Incidentally, in 1977 from a place close to the castle Anthony Shields saw Nessie the Loch Ness monster.

So, you have spent the morning visiting the upper parts of Loch Ness by stopping off at Urquhart Castle for the history, the Loch Ness visitors centre for the unusual and finally taking a cruise on the loch to see the scenery from the water. You will, we guarantee also have stopped numerous times in one of the many laybys dotted around the area to take a photograph or two. It is now time to see one of the wonders of the area, the Caledonian Canal.

Fort Augustus & The Caledonian Canal

The Caledonian Canal runs for 60 miles along the Great Glen from Corpach near Fort William in the South West to Inverness in the North East.

The canal was started in 1803 to plans produced by Thomas Telford following survey work by James Watt thirty years earlier. It was the biggest of the building schemes undertaken by the Government to provide work and stem the flood of emigration from the Highlands. The huge scale of the work and the shortage of skilled engineers meant that the seven year schedule and Ł350,000 budget always looked optimistic. It was: by the time the canal finally opened in 1822 it had taken 17 years and cost Ł840,000

Unsurprisingly, the canal did not initially prove successful. A second phase of construction was undertaken between 1844 and 1847. What emerged from this was, finally, the canal originally proposed by Telford.

Once finished, the Caledonian Canal provided the long hoped-for route between eastern and western Scotland. This allowed mariners to avoid the long and often hazardous route round the west of Scotland and through the Pentland Firth. The irony was that by the time the canal was finally complete, steam ships could make the passage around Scotland much more easily than the sailing ships in whose era it was designed. Nonetheless, until the railway reached Inverness the quickest way from there to Glasgow was by steamer via the Caledonian and Crinan Canals, probably calling at Oban en route.

Of its 60 mile length, 38 miles are along Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness, with the remaining 22 miles being through canals proper. And this is one of the prettiest ways to see the canal at work.

The many pubs and cafes situated along the banks of the canal have seating where you can while away an hour watching the entertaining lock keeper screaming abuse at one of the boat renters who hasn’t been listening or not wanting to listen to his instructions!!

So, it was a busy day!! Time to relax maybe with a dram or two in the bar and a nice relaxing meal before another exciting day in the area.