Loch Ness

After breakfast, which included yogurt with this interesting tangy berry mix (I was the only one who liked the berries), we hopped on the bus en route to Loch Ness.

Our first bus was a couple of minutes late, but we arrived at our transfer point (charmingly called Cemetery Gates) on time to meet up with the 919 bus to Drumnadrochit, a small town that is home to the Loch Ness Centre and various other tourist traps. The bus was scheduled to arrive at 9:12, but that time came and went, with no sign of a bus. A young woman was waiting with us for a while, but at about 9:35 she gave up. She told me there would be another bus at about 10:12, so she was going home to wait. About 15 minutes later, the bus finally arrived, and we got on. After about 30 minutes, we reached the Drumnadrochit stop and got off. 

I would have liked to book a 10:30 cruise, but because I felt unsure about the bus, I didn't do that -- a good thing! So, the first thing we did was go to the Loch Ness Centre to try to book. Their trips were all full, but we found another place that had a 4:30 opening, so we booked that. 

Then we went for a tour/show at the Loch Ness Centre. This was an old hotel where the "manageress" first spotted the Loch Ness Monster. It was interesting, but maybe not really worth the high price of admission. However, it did give some background about Nessie.

When we finished there, we went to a cute little tea shop for lunch.

--- and then a short walk down the road to a farm/tea shop with Highland cows. 

Now we had just a short wait for our cruise, so the girls had time to get acquainted with Nessie!

Our ride on the Nessie Hunter lasted about an hour and was surprisingly enjoyable. The captain (or whatever he is called) gave a commentary, but he was also silent enough that we could just enjoy the scenery.

I asked the girls if they wanted to visit Urquhart Castle, but they said no -- I guess they felt they had seen enough castles for this trip, or maybe the rainy day castle visit has put them off castles for life? I hope not!

Once ashore, it was a short walk to the bus stop, where surprise! The bus arrived on schedule and took us back into the city.