Loch Ness
Situated at the heart of the Great Glen, Loch Ness captures the whole beauty and mystique of the Highlands , with its sweeping scenery and strange tales of the Loch Ness Monster.
Stretching some 23 miles from Fort Augustus to just outside Inverness , Loch Ness is surrounded by wonderful mountain scenery. Its deep steely blue waters are shrouded in mystery and are said to hide the Loch Ness Monster.
Accounts of Nessie peaked from the 1930s to the 1960s, when photographic images shown strange serpentine shapes poking out from the waters and even stranger stories being told in the local pubs! In more recent years, submarines and sonar scans have scoured the Loch, but Nessie has evaded all efforts by the scientists to, as the locals say, net ‘the beastie’. But the Loch Ness Monster isn’t just a recent phenomenon and stories of a strange creature in the Loch have been documented in many local folk tales. One such tale dates from the 6th Century and tells of a visit to Loch Ness by St Columba, who healed a local clan chief after Nessie had attacked him, St Columba then banished the monster to the Loch.
What ever you choose to believe about Nessie, you can’t deny the atmospheric beauty of Loch Ness. Sitting at the heart of the Great Glen, which passes the geological fault line from Fort William to Inverness, Loch Ness is the spectacular setting for the ruins of Urquhart Castle . This is Scotland at its most photogenic and the captivating scenery of the Great Glen draws large numbers of visitors along the A82 road between Fort William and Inverness, which passes Urquhart Castle along the way. There are also cycle routes along this way and a 70-mile hiking path, the Great Glen Way that also forms a section of the larger West Highland Way.
Stretching some 23 miles from Fort Augustus to just outside Inverness , Loch Ness is surrounded by wonderful mountain scenery. Its deep steely blue waters are shrouded in mystery and are said to hide the Loch Ness Monster.
Accounts of Nessie peaked from the 1930s to the 1960s, when photographic images shown strange serpentine shapes poking out from the waters and even stranger stories being told in the local pubs! In more recent years, submarines and sonar scans have scoured the Loch, but Nessie has evaded all efforts by the scientists to, as the locals say, net ‘the beastie’. But the Loch Ness Monster isn’t just a recent phenomenon and stories of a strange creature in the Loch have been documented in many local folk tales. One such tale dates from the 6th Century and tells of a visit to Loch Ness by St Columba, who healed a local clan chief after Nessie had attacked him, St Columba then banished the monster to the Loch.
What ever you choose to believe about Nessie, you can’t deny the atmospheric beauty of Loch Ness. Sitting at the heart of the Great Glen, which passes the geological fault line from Fort William to Inverness, Loch Ness is the spectacular setting for the ruins of Urquhart Castle . This is Scotland at its most photogenic and the captivating scenery of the Great Glen draws large numbers of visitors along the A82 road between Fort William and Inverness, which passes Urquhart Castle along the way. There are also cycle routes along this way and a 70-mile hiking path, the Great Glen Way that also forms a section of the larger West Highland Way.
