Sailing across Loch Ness is something rather special. The loch has a greater water volume than any other in Britain, in fact all the lakes and reservoirs of England wouldn’t fill it! Steve gave us some in-depth information on the referendum, after which we sailed slowly and closely to Urquhart Castle, dating back to the 13th century. This spectacular ruin is best viewed from the water, showing how imposing the structure was before it was blown up in 1692.
After a short photo talk by David, who was also busy collecting the photos for the voyage portfolio, we spotted an osprey! It was sitting on top of its nest, now long deserted as all the chicks had fledged, surveying its kingdom. After watching this magnificent bird for a while it flew off for a short flight display. Then our cruise took us past Aldourie Castle, now a hotel and Dochfour house, a private house.
After Loch Dochfour, Lord of the Glens sailed with us along another stretch of the manmade sections of the canal all the way up to Inverness.
A city tour by coach took us to the superb and informative visitor centre of Culloden. This is where the last battle on British soil took place in April 1746—with terrible repercussions all over the Highlands. It took the British army less than an hour to beat the Jacobites. The exhibition cleverly shows the story from both perspectives, the centre is run by the National Trust of Scotland.
Our next stop was at the Clava Cairns. These two passage graves and one ring cairn date back to roughly 4000 years ago. After Steve’s talk we felt a lot closer to those people that built these impressive structures.
Dinner was very good fun as Brian did the address to the Haggis—in a very entertaining fashion! And to round this great day off some very young dancers from the Elizabeth Fraser school of Highland Dancing entertained us to the sound of the pipes.
A perfect ending to a perfect trip on board of Lord of the Glens!
