Nessie

On Wednesday Rob, Angie, and I went on a 12 hour tour to Loch Ness. It was a guided coach tour. There were only 12 of us(a benefit of going right before the tourist season hits). Our guide was Niall Stewart and he came dressed in a full kilt. Scots are proud of their heritage and take every opportunity to wear their colors.
Our first stop was to visit Hamish, a 14 year old highland cow. Yes folks, I am writing about a big fuzzy cow. He was adorable and for .20 pence you could feed him a grab bag of carrots and potatoes....where can I get a job like that?
Highland cows are very special and are only found in the highlands of Scotland. They typically have hair in their eyes and of course I got plenty of pics of Hamish.
We continued on through many little towns and travelled through the Glencoe area where the Campbell clan murdered the MacDonald clan because they could not swear allegiance to the King. We listened to cool Scottish music that told us of the tales of Scotland.
Scots have many tales and legends, and none bigger than the Loch Ness Monster. Do you believe?
Well, let me tell you that the specialists have investigated and there are not enough fish nor plants in the water for as big as the Loch is. Something is eating the plants and fish.....is it Nessie?
We took a one hour cruise from Urquart Castle on the banks of the Loch to just below Inverness and we saw no sign of Nessie, but I felt she was there.
Robert the Bruce also burned Urquart Castle- do ya'll see a pattern here? Yes, Robert burned all the castles in Scotland to keep them from ever being used against the Scots again. Fortunately the kings that followed built them back, except for a few, including Urquart.
The Scottish people and the highlands are extraordinary- there are cute little lambs and sheep dotted along all the hillsides grazing on the wonderfully green grass.
When we arrived at our hotel, we felt content that we had seen some of the prettiest areas of Scotland.

More to come....on to Dublin