August 1st and 2nd, 2002
Thursday we departed on a two day guided minicoach tour of the Highlands.
I really enjoyed the tour because we got to hear all the history of
the places that we passed. Of course, our driver spun a few tall tales
too! Thursday cleared up very nicely so we had a picnic lunch on one of
the hills with a splendid view of some of the small "mountains".
Then in the afternoon we stopped for a short hike to a waterfall.
After the hike, our driver took us to one of the places where they
make scotch whiskey from the natural spring waters off of the mountains.
**************
A little bit shaky.... As long as nobody looks down, we're fine!!!!
I think I can... I think I can...
**************
As evening approached, we pulled into Inverness (city at the northern tip of Loch Ness) to spend the night.
Started the new day with a traditional meal, including blood pudding!
It's actually not as bad as it sounds. It's made mostly of grains,
pepper, onion, and other seasonings and then a little blood (usually
from lamb I think). It's bought in a roll and looks like summer sausage.
It's fried up in a pan and served basically like a hash brown. Anyway,
our first stop was at Loch Ness to try and find Nessie! A loch means the
body of water at the base of the mountains which were formed from the ice
melting off. So there are tons of lochs all over the highlands. The
Loch Ness was really pretty, but we never saw Nessie...Oh well!
(Or Did We?)
Our next stop was at Glen Affric (a valley used for the filming of "Last
of the Mohicans", not to be confused with Ben Affleck) for a short walk
up the hill and then down around the river. It was absolutely breathtaking
views with tons of ferns and heather growing everywhere.
We even sampled some of the wild blueberries.
****Click on the Picture below to see the Glen Affric Picts****
This was an old castle that we drove by on the tour.
For lunch, we ate in a little town on the Loch Ness and did a little bit of shopping.
Dave and Vareen with Nessie!
Goodbye from Scotland!!!
Back to Scotland travel page
Click here