Loch Ness & North Scotland

Well, it's now Thursday, 15 October and we're nearly 1/2 way through our time away....in some ways the time has flown and in other ways it's still seems a long time before we'll see you all again, God willing. Last weekend we toured Loch Ness and local vicinity and then drove up North a little. We left Aberdeen on Friday afternoon around 5.30pm and arrived at Drumnadrochit (town on the Loch Ness banks) about 9pm.
Anyway...having arrived in Drumnadrochit (small town on Loch Ness) where we'd booked a family room (sleeping all five of us together - groooaan) at the Loch Ness Lodge Hotel. When we checked in they had mixed up our request and asked if we wouldn't mind sleeping in two separate rooms.... (would I mind? you've got to be kidding - I'd be delighted). With these thoughts racing thru my mind I said that would be fine!

Saturday morning was a fine and clear and after taking a photo of the kids with Nessie we headed off on our walk. We'd planned to do a 2.5hr walk - including climbing Craigmonie Hill - in the local area of Drumnadrochit. The kids were all kitted out in their rain jackets, jumpers and normal layer of clothing - despite Mase and I telling them they'd soon be hot...not surprisingly within 15 mins of leaving they were stripping off and we ended up leaving the jackets hidden in the undergrowth to pick up on our return. Here's a photo of the hill we were to climb in the background.

The walk began in the wooded forest at the base of Craigmonie Hill (only 150m) and took us around half the hill on the way up - the kids enjoyed running ahead on the track, jumping rocks, picking up sticks etc and warning us of muddy areas - it was surprising how dark it was in the woods - the trees obviously provide a thick canopy to block light.
We reached the top in good time and stood on a rocky crag to view the Great Glen and Loch Ness - it's amazing what you can see from only that high....the lesson in spiritual perspective was worth thinking about - we couldn't see the people around, the boat on the Loch was miniscule (as pictured) - but the larger 'picture' was there and that's how things are from God's perspective. We often see only see the little things right in front of our nose and forget to step back and see the larger picture and focus on what really matters - the world is a lot bigger than our own backyard -as we are finding out literally!
We made our way down the hill at various extremes of speed - Mase and I carefully picking our way thru mud, rocks and uneven ground while the kids ran at full speed!! I don't know how they didn't slide in the mud or fall over but they had a wonderful time and begged to be able to do it all over again...but we knew what was ahead :).

We then made our way to Divach Falls - a lovely woodland walk to a very secluded viewing platform at the top of the falls - totally surrounded by trees and the layers of forest from the bottom of the falls to the top of the hill. The autumn colours made the layers of trees even prettier. It was a long uphill walk which Mase and I enjoyed but the kids had a few grumbles along the way - but as always the walk/work was worth the view. On our way back down we left the path and went down to the river - there really is nothing that kids (and some adults) like better than running water and rocks. We stayed awhile trying trying to smash the granite rocks against the larger rocks in the river - with little success. By the time we reached the car again it was 12.30.
We wanted to see Urquhart Castle (built sometime in the 1200's - the date is unknown) which is only 2 miles from Drumnadrochit. The strategic advantage in the castle's location is obvious - built on the banks of Loch Ness - as well as having a beautiful outlook over the Loch (most of the Nessie sightings were from this area), the hills on either side and to the North of the Castle. The Castle is no longer intact, but with signage and the walls and towers that remain, you can get a good feel for what was a large castle and stronghold.
They also have a replica (built in the 1800's) of a Trebuchet (siege machinery for catapulting large stones as Mase reliably informed me when he saw it - he even knew the name of it - you can see why I married this knowledgeable, dependable man). Mase patiently explained the way it worked to his non-engineering wired wife who found it quite fascinating. The sling is capable of catapulting an 11kg stone about 400m - not bad!

We then drove back up to Inverness and headed north to the highlands for the afternoon and they are truly Highlands! The mountains are massive formations that fill the horizon - some unusually shaped peaks - but majestic. I was searching the Psalms for quotes that captured my feelings about the mountains, one was Ps 36 which says "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains" - God's justice is as immoveable/stable as those mountains....He is dependable - He is our Rock and Refuge.

We also went to Lairg, to see the Falls of Shin (only 1.5 -2m high). We were hoping that we'd see the salmon leaping up the falls - season ends late September - and amazingly we did!! We all yelled at the same time when we saw one leap and after that we had our eyes fixed to spot more - we probably saw about 20 attempts by varying sizes of salmon. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to see and understand the life cycle of salmon and why they return to their birthplace - against such great odds. Once the salmon leave the ocean to swim back upriver they don't eat again - they use all the bodyfat they've accumulated in their 'ocean grazing' and by the time they reach their birthplace they're exhausted and physically 'wrecked' - they lay/fertilise eggs and die (apparently Atlantic salmon do not die after spawning but the Pacific salmon do). We had many attempts to capture the salmon in mid flight and finally got one - can you spot it?

Our drive through the Highlands took us along more of the windy, narrow roads that I hate and we had the usual 'slow down, Mase/go faster, Daddy' conversation.

However as we rounded one corner we saw a van which had taken the corner too fast and collided with a small car...it seems no one was fatally injured but within minutes of passing them we saw fire engines, police and ambulance heading to the scene. This made quite an impression on the children as we discussed how accidents happen, affects of speed downhill etc and we had no further requests to 'go faster, Daddy'...

We stopped at a beach on the north west of Scotland near Ullapool and raced down to see who could touch the Atlantic Ocean first. We've seen beaches with smooth 'river' stones but this beach had small, shiny, round, smooth pebbles (some granite) and some larger stones too...it was quite an experience to pick up handfuls of these and throw them into the ocean...
We filled up at Ullapool around 5.30pm and

began the journey back to Aberdeen (about 4 hours away)...

I don't usually bother detailing our meals but this is an exception....We started looking for a place to eat about 6pm - pulled into a small town hotel car park and looked at the dining room and decided it was too posh for us and moved on...kept an eye out as we drove towards Inverness but nothing came up. Arrived in Inverness about 7pm and went along the main road into town with no success. So we tried the local shopping centre cafe - no takeaway meals there either...ever noticed that if you're looking for fastfood you can never find it and when you don't need it, it's everywhere?...So we thought we'd have to 'sit down' for a meal - we tried a PremierInn cafe - no tables free until 8pm. In desperation we thought we'd quickly stop at the small Indian Takeaway place we'd seen (and disregarded) earlier and pick up some curry and rice. As we walked in a dark skinned waiter glided up to us in waist coat and bow tie to welcome us - feeling a little daunted we said we just wanted takeaway to eat in the car (it was also a restaurant). The waiter smiled and handed us the menu. We read thru it and made our selection - pilau rice and curry for 2 kids to share, chicken/rice dish for Sam, curry and rice each for Mase and I - seemed simple....Well 1/2hr later we were presented with a cardboard box (36 pack of cans size) with packages bulging out the top...halfway out the door Mase remembered to ask for cutlery. We got to the car and started pulling out the meals - a 1/2 cup foam container of mango yoghurt, then another of chilli sauce, another container of lemony yoghurt, a side salad, a container of raw red onions, a container of dipping sauce, a container of vegies in curry sauce, Naan bread, poppodoms and then our individual meals.....in the confines of our car this meal was an absolute nightmare...we quickly worked out that we weren't eating as we drove but that this was going to be a gourmet juggling act with limited cutlery and space! We now realised why the waiter smiled.
The car windows soon fogged up and we ate in our dim-light 'restaurant setting' with profound difficulty...Part way thru the meal Matt informed us he needed the lavatory (groan....who holds what, where can everything go?) - as we were parked on a quiet street we told him to hop out and go on the side of the road...5 mins later he informs us he needs the lavatory again and he can't use the side of the road and it can't wait....(we jiggled and juggled everything around and eventually Mase/Matt extracted themselves and walked to the nearby shopping centre toilets)...by the time they returned we'd nearly finished and began clearing the car of lids, containers, rice and poppadom crumbs....Despite all the above, the meal was delicious and given the opportunity I'd revisit the Indian Takeaway place and enjoy the food properly in the restaurant setting. By the way, we had Indian leftovers for Sunday lunch and two days later the car still smelt like Indian Takeaway!!