After a nice evening in the youth hostel, we decided to explore the Ft Augustus area. We did not realize that there were a set of five locks operating to take boaters from Loch Lochy to Loch Ness through the Caledonian Canal system. Great fun to visit with the boaters as they awaited their turns in the locks. Below, maps highlighting the sites around Ft Augustus. Some of the younger more adventurous members of the tour set off to hike through the mountains above Loch Ness. Not us!
Below, boats in the locks slowly being risen by the water inflow. The dark line shows how high the water must get before they can proceed into the next lock. We talked to one American aboard a Westsail 42 who had crossed the Atlantic from Baltimore. He had a 3 person crew between Baltimore and Bermuda. Dropped off the crew in Bermuda and proceeded single hand for the 28 day trip from Bermuda to Falmouth, England! Wow, that is brave. There is no way to keep a proper watch across those shipping lanes.
The Boathouse Inn and restaurant on the shore of Loch Ness.
Below is what once was a catholic monastery on the shore of Loch Ness. During the protestant era it became a boarding school after the catholic monks were driven out. It is now a hotel and spa sitting on 50 acres of beautiful grounds.
We decided to take an evening cruise on Loch Ness. Love the way the cruise company incorporates the monster into their cruise logo. Beautiful mountains coming down to the lake and we were fortunate that Loch Ness was calm that night. The Loch is just over a mile wide and 28 miles long. Its maximum depth in over 700 feet. Very deep for such a long narrow lake. Loch Ness, Loch Lochy and Loch Linnhe all line up in a straight line along a fault line that divides Scotland almost in half. There is a canal system that allows a transit of all three Lochs and connects the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea.
Below, amazingly, just after Elaine drank her “Nessie” beer, she got a photo of the Loch Ness Monster through the window of the boat. Nessie was moving so fast that Elaine could not get her in focus, but it was a great sighting.
The bartender on the boat kindly removed the Nessie Beer label Elaine and it is now in the souvenir bin. Good photos of Loch Ness as the sun began slowly to sink at 9:30pm!
Below, the rooms in the hostel are not numbered. Instead they are given movie names. We were in “Whiskey Galore!” How did they guess. And, there are movie posters throughout the hostel.
After dinner, we adjourned to the pub in the hostel for a trivia contest. Below is a group photo of part of our group. Where are the guys? There were only 3 guys (plus Stevie the driver); the other 18 were girls. The broke us up into 4 person teams for the challenge. We did OK.
The winning team (Lexi, Haley, Kelly and Sam) celebrating.
Our team.
Last night in Ft Augustus. Tomorrow we head for the Outer Hebrides Islands.
No comments:
Post a Comment