The Highlands

Another road trip under our belts; this time to the Scottish Highlands (Inverness, Loch Ness, Ben Nevis, the Cairngorm Mountains, and Glen Coe). This all-day trip took us through some of the most beautiful and majestic scenery we have seen. It was stunning!

"Inverness" - meaning "mouth of the river Ness", Inverness is considered the capital of the Scottish Highlands. Settled somewhere around the 6th century, this is the northern most city in the U.K. The Picts (the Celtic tribe that painted their bodies blue) considered Inverness to be their chief stronghold. Because of its strategic location along the river Ness, a number of important battles occurred here; including the 11th century battle of Blar nam Feinne between Malcolm III of Scotland and Thorfinn of Norway; and the 18th century battle of Culloden (part of the religious civil war between the Jacobites and Britain). Malcolm III built his first castle here after he defeated King MacBethed (on whom Shakespeare based his play MacBeth). Today, Inverness is one of the fastest growing cities in Europe and is rated as having the best quality of life of all Scottish cities.

Inverness Castle along the river Ness.

The 165 foot tall Falls of Foyer feed into the Ness river.

The Ness river runs right through the center of town.

  "Loch Ness" - Best known for all of the "reported" sightings of the monster affectionately known as Nessie, Loch Ness is one of several fresh water interconnected waterways throughout the Highlands. While only the second largest lake (by surface area), it's 755 foot depth makes it the largest by volume. It has been estimated that all of the other fresh water lakes in England and Wales combined would not fill Loch Ness. The water contains a very high concentration of oxygen but remains quite murky because of the high peat content in the surrounding soil.

Loch Ness with the ruins of Urquhart Castle in the foreground. (Locals joke that Scotland has two types of weather, dark gray and light gray. We are not sure which of those two categories these clouds fall into).

For a fee, you can tour the ruins of Urquhart Castle.

The Caledonian locks at the north end of Loch Ness provides access to some of the other lakes in the Highlands (sort of like the Great Lakes between America and Canada).

A one hour round-trip boat ride, aboard the catamaran "Jacobite Warrior", takes you from the Clansman hotel to the Urquhart Castle and back. While very scenic, we felt it was a bit "pricey" for what we got.

The first recorded sighting of Nessie was in 1933. This picture was later proven to have been staged. While no official scientific proof has ever indicated the actual existence of this creature, it's legend accounts for much attraction to the area.

  "Glen Coe" - One of the most beautiful and spectacular places in Scotland is Glen Coe - meaning "Glen of Weeping", considered to be a reference to the 1692 massacre that occurred here during the first Jacobite religious uprising. The whole area is of volcanic origin and has become popular with walkers and climbers. Legend claims that Glen Coe was the birthplace of Ossian, mythical narrator of a cycle of epic poems.

Looking down onto the village of Glen Coe from the approaching highway.

Glen Coe village center.

The cave of Ossian where legend states he was born.

Monument to the 1692 Glen Coe massacre.

  "The Highlands" - in Gaelic, this means "The place of the Gaels (Scots)". This was some of the most beautiful country we have seen and is home to the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis.

This series of peaks is known as "The Three Sisters."

The snow capped Ben Nevis, highest mountain in Britain (although from this angle it looks a bit lower than the peak in the foreground). Here we are in mid-July and there is still snow up there.

This fantastic gorge should be on a postcard. While we were here, we saw a number of walkers coming down the trail in the foreground. To give you some perspective, from where this picture was taken, the walkers looked like ants.

Around every bend in the road, the scenery became more spectacular.

Can you imagine living in this little village and waking up to this view everyday?

Even viewing this through the windshield of the bus took our breath away.

Just fantastic!

Our final stop on this all-day road trip was at Loch Lubnaig, part of the Loch Lomond National Park in the district of Stirling (not far from Stirling Castle which we visited during our previous road trip).