Day Sixty-Four - 13/12/2012 - Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands

     This morning, we took the opportunity to move back into Fort William.  The hostel's owner was nice enough to drive us back into the city.  We talked about the state of the Scottish economy relative to Ireland and England.  She related that, while not improving, Scotland is not hurting as much as other places.  Nevertheless, we wound up back in Fort William in pouring rain, and located the Fort William Backpacker's Hostel.  Personally this hostel became one of my favorites, made from a converted house.  The guy manning the desk (I can't remember his name, but he reminded me of surfer dudes from California) was extremely helpful and gave us directions to catch the bus to Inverness, the route towards Loch Ness.  He told us which stop to get off on, Drumnadrochit, the nearest town to the Loch Ness visitor centre.
     So, we dropped off our things and stored our leftover food in the hostel's fridge, then made our way to the bus station to get the CityLink bus to Inverness.  CityLink offers services in the UK and Ireland, similar to AirCoach and other coach companies that I had previously used in Ireland.  The bus, while still much cleaner and nicer than buses in California, was predominantly utilised by older people, compared to the ones in Ireland which seem to be used by young and middle-aged people.  This was a trend that I had observed throughout Scotland.  The bus ride to Inverness from Fort William was to last about three hours, and so we prepared to sleep for the long ride through the beautiful Great Glen, the forest that spans the width of the island.  At some points, the road narrowed to a one lane road running through a dense forest overlooking Loch Lochy.  There was a single stoplight with a red and green light that directed traffic on this long stretch of single lane highway.
     Eventually we arrived in Drumnadrochit, and were the only two to get off the bus in what appeared to be something of a ghost town.  Slightly worried that we had gotten off on the wrong stop, we wandered around the small city, made up of about fifteen buildings.  A few signs eventually pointed us in the right direction, namely the view of Loch Ness just north, Nessies adorning signs in the town, and advertisements of boat cruises of the Loch.  Drumnadrochit featured a small floral model of Urquhart Castle, the nearby castle located on the banks of Loch Ness.  The miniature was extremely detailed, complete with windows and drawbridge.  We attempted to avail of a boat cruise of the Loch, but the boat company in town had closed down for the season.  We got a recomendation for the last place offering winter cruises, out of a nearby hotel.  A walk to the other side of town revealed large signs pointing toward the Loch Ness visitor centre.  Realising we would need to hire a taxi in order to get to the boat cruise hotel, we decided to explore the visitor centre first, then go to catch our boat cruise.
     The visitor center cost around £6 but contained about an hour's worth of interactive displays and presentations that were fairly enjoyable.  The centre consisted of six displays that began to play a film or light up an aspect of the room upon your entry.  The Loch Ness Monster, affectionately referred to as Nessie by the locals, has an extensive history.  The story dates back to the 6th Century, when St. Columba was said to have banished a "water horse" from the River Ness, after it had killed a man.  There was a Highlander legend of a giant fish that roamed the waters of the Loch, but as time went on and more and more "sightings" were recorded, Nessie morphed from fish to plesiosaur.  Six photographs were recorded, all staged.  A master prankster made casts of a huge dinosaur-like footprint he had found near the area, but it was later revealed to be his hippo-foot ashtray, which he had pressed into the ground to form the footprint impression.  Many of the later sightings were genuine rather than staged, in that the witness actually thought they had seen a Nessie jaunting around the Loch.  Yet, after twenty minutes in the museum, a floating log began to look like that iconic head and back silhouette, the ripples on the calm surface of the lake caused by a boat's wake long after it has passed from view began to look remarkably similar to a serpent rising and diving repeatedly, and, the most common Nessie sighting: a moose swimming the twilight; suddenly you have a newfound appreciation for the mysterious waters of the Loch Ness.  People often wonder why they haven't just searched the entire lake with sonar to settle this once and for all.  First of all, it isn't that simple.  The Loch is the largest freshwater body in the United Kingdom, holding enough water to submerge every person on earth three times over.  But they did launch sonar expeditions, in fact several of them.  One of the biggest, Operation Deepscan, was launched in 1987 with 24 boats, that lined the Loch and swept it from one end to the other, bouncing sonar waves off of the every square metre of the Loch's smooth, ancient sediment floor.  As the ships trawled the waters, smaller boats trailed behind to follow up on sonar signals that could not be accounted for by fish, debris, or other objects.  Despite thorough work of many scientists, there were three sonar soundings that nobody could account for.  When the follow-up boat went to the spot to investigate, there was no trace of whatever large object had made the trace.  Is there a monster lurking the waters of Loch Ness?  You will have to decide for yourself.
     We hired a cab in order to get to the Clansmen Hotel, where the Jacobite Legend was still offering winter boat tours.  We walked down to the dock through a tunnel under the road featuring a mural of the Loch and surrounding Glen.  Across from the boat's landing was a large, purple model of Nessie, staring into the waters of the Loch.  Indeed, we could not have asked for better Nessie hunting weather.  There was a moderate wind, making many short, choppy waves, and rolling fog on either side of the Loch.  It soon became evident how the stray wave or foggy tree could be seen as a monstrous being.  Ater a pensive moment of taking in the impressively massive and beautiful Loch and surrounding hills, we boarded the Jacobite Legend.  We had elected for a one-hour cruise of the Loch and a one-hour stop at Urquhart Castle, nestled on the banks of Loch Ness, about halfway along its length.
     The cruise began with some information about Loch Ness itself.  Much of it was familiar from the Visitor Centre, however some other interesting facts were pointed out.  The reason that the Loch Ness is so murky, such that you can't see more than a metre at best, is due to high peat content from the surrounding soil.  Our boat landed at Urquhart Castle, situated about halfway along the very tall Loch, right where it bends slightly east.
     Urquhart castle, built in the 13th Century, was held as a royal castle in the 14th Century, and frequently raided by Clan MacDonald.  It was granted back to the Highlanders by the Clan Grant of 1509, but was purposefully destroyed by its occupants to prevent Jacobite seizure in 1692.  The castle dominated the coastline from the land side, and you must walk up a grassy hill to reach the reconstructed drawbridge.  Though mostly in ruin, large tracts of the original fortifications are intact and it does not take a huge amount of imagination to imagine the castle as it once was.  We first entered the castle gate by crossing the grass-filled moat.  To the left of the main gate was the Constable's Lodging, a small room with its own toilet, a rare luxury in those days.  The Constable's Lodging was directly connected to the Castle jail, where he could keep an eye on prisoners.  The Constable was also responsible for organising defences and overseeing construction within the Castle walls.
     A spiral glass staircase (sadly, not from the 13th Century) was installed at the rear of the Constable's Lodging, which allowed for ascension to the area above the main gate, where the original Lord's Chamber was.  A rather bumpy, stone bed was cut out of one wall.  Inside the castle walls, it is clear where the original fort was, and which parts were later extensions.  The southern citadel was the site of the original settlement and had been fortified and re-fortified as time went on.  The rest of the castle was built up during the royal occupation.  A stone pad is all that remains of The Great Kitchen, where remains of many animals, including venison, goat, chicken, cow, and fish, and other victuals like hazelnuts and raspberries were found.  The inhabitants of the Castle did not eat salmon or trout caught in Loch Ness, preferring North Sea cod and halibut.  Perhaps the most intact part of the ruin is Grant's Tower, the picturesque square towerhouse looking over the Loch.  The tower was built after the Castle had been granted to John Grant of Freuchie for his support of the King against the MacDonalds.  It was intended for use as a home, as Urquhart no longer had any strategic value.  Looking out onto Loch Ness during this windy day, it was easy to see why so many before me had spotted monsters lurking in its waters.  The choppy waves play tricks on the eye, and it truly was a day with perfect Nessie-hunting weather.  Near the banks of the Loch stand four pigeon-holes of what used to be a massive Doocot, a beehive like structure built to house pigeons, mostly for eating.  Urquhart's doocot was built in the 1500s and provided meat and eggs for the inhabitants during winter.  Outside of Urquhart castle is a full-sized trebuchet, built in 1998 for use in a movie.  The trebuchet was built according to blueprints found from the period, and constructed without use of modern technology.  It functioned well enough for use in filming the movie, which was the first recorded use of such a siege engine.  On a hill opposite the Castle is the Visitor Centre, which was small, but did feature some original finds from Urquhart Castle itself.  The information placards within the ruined castle have signs that direct you to exhibits within the Visitor Centre.
     At this point the boat had returned to pick us up and shuttle us back to the Clansmen Hotel.  We pulled in just as darkness was settling upon the Loch's tree-shrouded banks.  Being once again stranded without transportation, we hired the same cab to drive us back to Drumnadrochit, where we caught the CityLink back to Fort William.  We were rewarded with a pleasant view of the city's lights from the sitting room in Fort William's Backpacker's Hostel.  The city unfolded itself before us, twinkling in the cold air.