The Highlands Call Us Again

We loved our Rabbie’s trip to the highlands that we chose to take another on a last day in Scotland. Well, we were also tired from all the walking we had been doing so we sort of wanted to take it easy on this last full day, so we booked another excursion with Rabbie's. This one was to take us further in to the Highlands and would include yet another quest to conquer, the Loch Ness Monster, and promised to have us back in Edinburgh by 8 pm.

Our driver was Mike, a grandfatherly sort, as he informed us on the tail end of the journey that he was, indeed, a grandfather.  More on that later.

After an hour and a half our first stop was Kilcarneypitlochturniken, or something like that.  It was here that Mike advised us to pick up sandwiches instead of  selecting from subpar choices at Fort Augustus (where the Loch Ness cruise departs), or worse, on the boat itself.

The little sandwich shop he recommended could not have been better as the following images will

 
confirm.  We even picked up a chicken and leek pie for a morning snack. (Blood sugar spike here we come!)

Onward we preceded through mountainous scenery thought impossible to exist in Scotland.  Each turn was more breath taking than the last, accompanied by tales of wars and movies, and movies about wars, and clans and wars, warring clans and wars within clans. We stopped often enough to grab some photos and lingered to take in the views.

We then made our way north to St. Augustus and a chance to see the Monster of Loch Ness.  Should these rambling benedictions be Loch Pith?  Nessie Pith?

No longer had we left the dock when, miraculously, Nessie made an appearance! Shouts of joy and surprise could be heard echoing about the ship.  And I was able to snap an image of her/him/it..

I can confirm that the following image is straight from the camera, unretouched, unaltered and not enhanced in any way.  For proper validation, Ms. Pith can also confirm the same.

Actually one of the more interesting parts of the two hour cruise was the geology. The map to the left will help to explain the following. The coastline of Scotland is rugged and diverse. This feature, particularly on the North Sea side made the islands difficult to access by any means. The roads were non-existent save for some sheep paths. And ships would take days under dangerous, if not treacherous conditions, particularly in winter to make the trip to the other side of the country.

This kept the communities and islands virtually isolated.


Eventually it was determined that a particular geological feature, that of long, narrow lakes existed and that if they could be connected with a series of locks (not the lake) and dams it would save time money and lives.

The engineer who made this determination estimated that it would take 5 years and several million dollars (or their equivalent) to create this link.

You already guessed what happened. It took 40 years and billions of whatever they were to finish the project. Worse, by the time it was completed, so were the roads, which gave quicker and safer access to the little cities.

So what to do with this expensive project. The answer is tourism. River cruises flourish and Loch Ness (the circle on the map to the left) is along that chain of long, narrow lakes. And did I mention that it is deep? 85 feet deep.

The sonar to the right illustrates the depth and width of Loch Ness. The bold arrow on the upper left of the image is where our ship's location appears and is dwarfed by the walls of the waterway. Nessie was evidently still on the surface.


Having achieved two of our three goals (St. Andrews, and Loch Ness with only Bjork, I mean Bjőrk remaining) and having basked in the glory that is Nessie, we fairly levitated our way to our waiting coach and headed the four hours back to our base in Edinburgh.

After a stop in Pitlochry and a decaf coffee and a HUGE chocolate chip cooking (blood glucose approaching 150 (est.)), we set out for our home base.

As we approached Edinburgh someone asked a question about the September referendum in Scotland asking the citizens whether or not they would like Scotland to be independent of the UK.  In fact, the question was that simple.  Would you like Scotland to be independent of the United Kingdom?

Mike, a ‘No’ voter gave a clear, impartial recitation of both sides of the question including some of the background.

The question itself had to be approved by the Westminster Parliament.  The date the ‘Yes’ voters wanted was denied as being too controversial. (It was the anniversary of an historical uprising.)  16 and 17 year olds were approved to participate in the vote although barred from other elections.

This group included two of Mike’s grandsons who voted albeit with some concern on the part of their grandmother, Mike’s wife. The referendum failed, but there is some feeling in the country that it will come up again, Parliament permitting, and eventually pass.

We decided to spend our last night with a whisky nightcap, trundling to bed about midnight awaiting a 4:30 am wake up call for the airport, Iceland and Bjőrk.