Scotland: Loch Ness Region

Contrary to popular opinion, there's not just one Nessie in Loch Ness. See? Here's two of them to prove it! Well, almost, but we couldn't resist these little cuties for our little friends Miss L & Miss J - both of whom promptly squealed with delight when presented with these goodies. (That meant of course that American Airlines found our lost bag from our trip back home. Yay! Only two bags remain missing from British Airways. It's been two weeks now so I'm losing hope that they'll be found.)

It was cold and mostly rainy for our trip from Poland to Scotland. All without sweaters or jackets because of the lost luggage. They found Steve's small carry-on sized checked bag so after two days he had a sweater and jacket. I ended up wearing the sweater that we bought for Steve and alternated between two sets of tops. They were all different shades of purple. Steve started to tease me about my color choice.  :-)

Overlooking Loch Ness, on the road from Fort William to Inverness, we stopped at Urquhart Castle for a look. As you can see there's not a lot left, but it's a pretty impressive set of ruins. And the mist was rolling in, apropos of a Scottish day. The trebuchet, not the original, looked right at home at the main walkway towards the castle. We also found a bird's nest with little hungry babies in the room just past the drawbridge. Unfortunately I couldn't capture them. Oh, but they just couldn't wait for their mama to come back.

We stopped to take a closer look at the Caledonian Canal. Perfect timing to see them moving a series of boats down the locks. The first photo shows the difference in water levels between the lock. When they want to open it they'll pump the water into the lower level from the upper level until they equalize. The second photo shows the lock opening. And finally in the third shot you see the boat crew walking their boat into the open lock. As you can see, a crowd of people stopped to watch this happen. For me it was all new and very interesting. (Click on the photos to view them larger.)

Comments

[samantha]

Sounds like such a fabulous trip! I'm crossing my fingers that your bags appear. A travel agent I know told me lost baggage has been skyrocketing due to the huge increase in checked bags with the new security rules...the systems apparently are so overloaded, they're failing fairly consistently these days.

[Natalie]

You've been so busy! Iwas away too and now I have a lot of reading to catch-up with you... I think I should brew tea and read with a scone or two! Welcome, safely, home.