August 28, 2016 - Tanya's Magical Anniversary Trip - Day 12 - Scottish Highlands - Loch Ness

Elisa's Daily Scoop

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Cars, Loch Ness and Dogs

Well, a very big hello to you and Happy Sunday!

Hope your weekend is going well.  Mine has been quite spectacular.  Haven't done much of anything too exciting, but the weather has been amazing and I've spent some fun time with my girlies and my Dad.

Yesterday, I had a nice leisurely lunch with my Dad - just me and him.  We had a bunch of laughs and reminisced a bit!

I always loved this picture and me and my Dad, taken last year. (c)travelincousins.com

I don't know if I mentioned it, but, the lease on my car is coming due in about two months.  So, I thought it made sense to get myself out there looking at some new cars.

I've driven a Ford for the past six years, and while I do really like them, I think it's time to change it up a bit.  

I could never go back to a regular car - I need to be in an SUV, for the space it affords with the girls, their activities and of course, the carpooling.  That third row of seats comes in handy more than I can tell you.

I'm considering a bunch of cars - Kia, Hyundai, Jeep and even Chevy.  A mix of foreign and domestic!

Today, I started the "research" and checked out the Kia Sorrento.  It wasn't bad - nice ride, great safety features and even a full roof sun roof!

I have a few more dealerships to go to - we'll see what hits me in both style, comfort and budget!

Yesterday, my dear cousin faced some challenges with her internet and being able to blog her daily adventures in the Scottish Highlands.  

I'm hopeful that today, she will have better luck with her wifi - I really am dying to see her pictures!!

Today, she will be venturing to Loch Ness as she continues her Magical Anniversary Trip this weekend in Scotland.

When I think of Loch Ness, the first thing that springs to mind  is the Loch Ness Monster - how about you? 

This "loch" or "lake" is beautifully situated in the lovely country of Scotland, or "Alba", as it is called in Gaelic.

Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately 23 miles southwest of Inverness. 

It is of course, the place that folklore says is the home of the  "Loch Ness Monster," affectionately known as "Nessie."  More about this in a moment.

Loch Ness, Scotland (credit: viator.com)

This loch is one of a series of interconnected, murky bodies of water in Scotland with an incredibly low visibility to its water due to a high peat content in the surrounding soil.

As the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 22 sq mi (after Loch Lomond), it is actually the largest by volume in the British Isles due to it's depth of 755 ft at its deepest point.  

INTERESTING FACT #1: 
The surface area of the Loch Ness lake could hold the population of the world 10 times over.

In terms of depth, it is the second deepest in Scotland after Loch Morar.

Moreover, Loch Ness contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined!

And it boasts of being the largest body of water on the Great Glen Fault, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south. 

Loch Ness in Scottish Highlands (credit: scotland-info.co.uk)

Loch Ness serves as the lower storage reservoir for the Foyers pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme, which was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.  

This natural body of fresh water and the surrounding area serves as home to many species of amphibians, birds, fish,  mammals and reptiles.

Within the waters are Atlantic Salmon, Arctic Charr, Eels, Minnows, Pike, Sticklebacks, Trout and other course fish. 

Atlantic Salmon, one of many fish found in Loch Ness (credit: photography.nationalgeographic.com)

INTERESTING FACT #2:
​The Loch never freezes.

Now, on to the folklore of  The Loch Ness Monster!!

In folklore, the Loch Ness Monster is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.

The Loch Ness Monster (credit: www.express.co.uk)

Around 1 million people visit Loch Ness each year and it is estimated that more than 85% of them are drawn in by the Monster.
 
By most accounts, it is described by most as large.  Its largest hump is estimated at around 50ft long by comparing it to the height of the tower at Urquhart Castle in a 1955 photo. 

"Nessie" is said to have two humps, four flippers, a tail and a snake-like head. Some even believe the Loch Ness Monster is a plesiosaur, a type of dinosaur.

Accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland’s Loch Ness date back nearly 1,500 years.  

​References to "Nessie," the Loch Ness Monster, in Scottish history, date back to around 500 A.D., according to scholars who have studied the legend, claiming that local Picts carved a strange aquatic creature into standing stones near Loch Ness.

The Iverness Courier - May 2, 1933 - Reports story about Loch Ness Monster (credit: historythings.com)

According to History.com...

"The earliest written reference to a monster in Loch Ness is a 7th-century biography of Saint Columba, the Irish missionary who introduced Christianity to Scotland.

In 565, according to the biographer, Columba was on his way to visit the king of the northern Picts near Inverness when he stopped at Loch Ness to confront a beast that had been killing people in the lake.

Seeing a large beast about to attack another man, Columba intervened, invoking the name of God and commanding the creature to “go back with all speed.” The monster retreated and never killed another man."

The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster was born on May 2, 1933 when a sighting makes local news. The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface.” 

Since the 1933 newspaper article, there have been many reported "sitings" and groups of people who have sat vigil waiting for the large beast to emerge.  

In fact, the Daily Mail reported that Madmaduke Wetherall found footprints on the shore of the loch after they sent him to look for Nessie. The British Museum of Natural History later discovered the prints had been made with a stuffed hippopotamus foot.

(credit: fineamerica.com)

In 1960, a recording of a dark object heading towards Fort Augustus   “classed as the greatest piece of evidence for the Loch Ness monster”.
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Some stories have proven to be a hoax and others claim, there is truth.

So, what are we to believe? 
Well, according to the scientific community, it regards the Loch Ness Monster as a being from folklore without biological basis, explaining sightings as misidentifications of mundane objects, hoaxes, and wishful thinking. 

I'm rather jealous of Tanya and her visit to Loch Ness today!!! I'm sure it's going to scenic, fun and very exciting to be in a place that has so much interesting history!

Back to today...
Since the loss of my beloved Liberty, last May (2015) - my sweet dog, the kids have been begging for us to get another one.

Liberty Belle (8-1-01 to 5-11-15)

They miss her terribly (as do I) and the love and affection of a canine family member.

Well, folks, today just may be the day we take the big plunge and adopt another fur baby.

Me and the girls are going to venture to one of the local shelters, that I have been communicating with, that has a number of puppies.

We have our criteria of what we are looking for in terms of size, weight and even general breeds - we are absolutely fine with a mutt, but some mixed breeds are larger than others, and so, we have to see what little angels are available.

I'll absolutely keep you posted on the results!!!

​The kids can hardly contain themselves!

Hope it's a blessed Sunday for you!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN:
​THE OUTER HEBRIDES OF SCOTLAND

​​Bumps and Bruises

Hiya peeps. Happy Sunday to you...not that I remembered that today was Sunday, but I quickly caught on after reading Elisa's column. LOL

Like I've said before and I'll say it again when I am traveling I just cannot keep up with the days.

So anyhow. GREETINGS from Lochmaddy!

What a day folks! 

....Yesterday was quite a day. 

First off we headed out of our hotel with our tons of luggage - if you must know which you must because I feel the need to tell you. 

The plan all along with to stay in the Columba House for the one night, leave out HUGE pieces of luggage with the reception at bag check and when we come back next week, pick it up and stay at the same hotel. Well straight off the bag the crabby lady from yesterday told us that they do not hold luggage. 

Can we all say BUST-A-ROO?! 

Now we were either left with finding luggage lockers at the nearby rail station - which also happened to be our meeting place for the tour that we were about to embark on

Or…
Take all of our bags with us on the tour. I figured why not try to lug it along and if they (the tour company tells us no - then we can at that point search for the luggage lockers).

Well as we approached the station we could quickly see a few of the other cyclists gathered together and we could also see how few bags that each of them had.
At this point we pretty much looked like high maintenance knuckleheads and all I could do was laugh and joke about how I overpacked!

But really I didn’t - I packed just enough!

And off we went...
Driving past Ben Nevis, seeing and driving along Loch Ness (how freakin' cool is that?!) but no Nessie.

Mountain Range after mountain range, Loch after Loch, castle after castle, and finally over to the Ferry to Loch Maddy on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

While onboard, we went over the logistics with the rest of our cycling gang, looked over the map, and the weather forecast.

Arriving into Loch Maddy about 2 hours later, checking into one of the only hotels in this tiny town with a population of approximately 300 - although I've only seen less then 10. LOL

After getting situated, we were to set up our bikes, go for a short ride and prepare for tomorrows ride.

Again seeing sheep and cows everywhere, I needed to snap some pictures...but when I saw that the battery door was open on my camera it had concerned me a bit and next thing you know...
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Endo anyone?
(insert me raising my hands) SPLAT right into the mud!

Mountain biking term - definition of Endo:

Short for “end over end,” an endo is when the front end of a bike stays fixed while the rear rotates up into the air, causing a rider to fly over their handlebars. This sudden and forceful ejection from a bike can be caused by hitting a rock, stump, mud hole or other obstacle.

Yup that was me.

Not hurt but quite dirty and full of mud - perhaps even a bit of sheep poo mixed into that - but the thought of that just really grosses me out. The spill was laughed off and the rest of the ride went on just fine.

Once back at the hotel it was time to clean up and get ready for dinner. Regrouping the first question for me was:
How’s the ego? 
Good thing I don’t have one - but if I did it would’ve certainly been quite downsized to say the least.

Anyhow, that was yesterday and today we begin pedaling on the Hebridean Trail. And you get to hear all about it here on the Daily Scoop - tomorrow.

I'm outta here,
​-T