Heya, welcome back!

Since I arrived in Edinburgh, the first item on my bucket list has been to go to the Highlands. I finally did it! Last Saturday, I went on a tour to go see the Loch Ness. I saw this event on Eventbrite, it’s an online website where most of the events happening in the city are listed- very useful if you’re looking for an activity. I hope this post can help you decide what to see if you want to come visit the Highlands. Enjoy.

Here is a (more or less accurate) map from this day trip, it might help to see where everything is located. Ignore most of the pins, some are just randomly put in order for google maps to trace the itinerary.

We departed from Edinburgh around 8am towards our first stop Kilmahog.

It’s a hamlet known to act as a gateway to the Highlands and the Trossachs. The name Trossachs is applied to this wider region, which includes the national park. This park is vast and has a lot of different sceneries: woodlands, mountains, rivers & lochs. It also contains one of the UK’s largest National Nature Reserves: The Great Trossachs Forest.[1] You can also find Loch Lomond, which is often considered as the boundary between the lowlands of Central Scotland and the Highlands.

Next stop: Glen of Glencoe

Wahou, I already though the landscape was amazing, but this is on a whole other level. You are facing these mountains; the colours are bright and for some reason it seems that someone pushed the saturation level up to the maximum. The road to access this place is really small and narrow. The space is actually so tight and limited that the coach had to come to a complete stop several times, in order to assess the situation with other cars and surrounding rocks.

Successive volcanic eruptions at Glencoe created a giant basin of 14km across, which has been subsequently exposed by eroding ice, wind and rain. It is said that over a period of five million years, at least eight massive volcanic eruptions lifted the rocks of the continents thousands of meters above sea level. The mountains here may once have towered four times higher than what you can currently see now. Today’s landscape owes more to the massive glaciers and ice sheets that flowed down Glencoe to Loch Linnhe in the west. This geological landscape is one of the most dynamic site in Britain thanks to its huge rockfalls and exceptionally active scree.

The site has an important history, more than 300 years after the event, Glencoe remains synonymous with the brutal slaughter that occurred here on the 13^th February 1692. Thirty-eight men, women and children, all MacDonalds, were murdered in cold blood by troops carrying out government orders…

Next stop: Spean Bridge for Lunch and Commando Memorial

The coach stopped for an hour for lunch at Spean Bridge, later we stopped at the Commando Memorial. A monument dedicated t the men of the original British Commando forces from WWII. The view on the training areas of the Commando in 1942 is absolutely beautiful.

Next stop: Urquhart Castle

The coach went up Loch Lochy & Loch Oich, to finally arrive at Fort Augustus. This little town is situated right at ‘the bottom’ of the Loch Ness.

The view is exactly what you imagine it to be, the Loch is surrounded by mountains with deep green tress and the red yellowish colour of the moor. The road follows the shore of the Loch, a perfect seeing point to spot Nessie.

The Castle is a superb vantage point to view the Loch. Just outside Urquhart’s defences was the ‘castle toun’. Work that was too dangerous, smelly or demanding of space to be carried out within the walls was done in this area. Excavations in the castle toun revealed a 20m-long wooden workshop and home. Inside, iron and bronze were smelted and worked on between the late 1200s and the 1500s.

The tower was built some time after King James IV gave Urquhart to John Grant of Freuchie in 1509. It was rewarded for supporting the monarch in his struggle against the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. The castle came with an extensive estate.

Urquhart was transformed many times during its long history, shaped multiple times by its owners’ changing needs and circumstances. Nessie really stayed hidden, even from the tower it was impossible to spot her!

Next stop: Back to Edinburgh

 The tour did have a last stop at the Loch Ness Clansman Hotel, where you could access the Loch. It was C.O.L.D. This is also where I finally found Nessie!! Yes, yes, I even took a picture as proof, here it is:

This was the end of the tour. The night started to fall, as it is technically still winter and it’s pitch black outside around 5pm now. The way back was faster, as we took the highway.

I really liked this trip and will probably do more in the future! Although, maybe next time I’ll try to visit something closer to Edinburgh because that was a lot of bus time!

I have A LOT more pictures from the trip, you can go have a look at my story on Instagram: @travel_gm

Stay happy.

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Instagram: @travel_gm

Email: travel.girls.mind@gmail.com

All informations mentioned were obtained from the signs at the sites.