Had a fun night last night having pizza and beer and playing drinking games. Played Kings with Lexi, Cordelia and Eunice and one of the rules we made up was that you had to talk in a Scottish accent - I sounded like I was from Northern England and Eunice sounded like she was from India haha!!
We set off early this morning and got the ferry back to the mainland. So did our Italian friends - we started calling them 'the mob'.
Was a bit rainy this morning but cleared up throughout the day. Our first stop was at a memorial for emigrants which had an Aussie, kiwi, US and Canadian flag on it!
Our main stop for the day was at Dunrobin Castle, a stately home that belonged to the Earl of Sutherland. I nearly didn't do it because it was almost £10, but I'm really glad I did! We started off watching a falconer show where we saw a hawk, an eagle owl and a falcon. It put Healesville at home to shame! The birds literally brushed their feet on your head they flew so close. Was amazing and the man running the show clearly was very passionate about caring for the birds. Then we had a look around the beautiful gardens and the inside of the castle. The only part I disliked was the 'museum' which I think Shane described perfectly as a "room of death". Full of stuffed animals including giraffes, elephants and lots of animals that my children and grandchildren will probably never get to see as they're being hunted to extinction. It was gross!! A positive about the castle is that queen Victoria and Albert stayed there once and absolutely loved it.
We then stopped at Sandwick Beach. There was a mermaid statue which in my opinion was better than the one in Copenhagen! Went for a bit of a paddle - still cold but the sun poked through!
We kept driving and I had a bit of a nap. Next thing I knew I woke up and Greg was explaining to us about Loch Ness! It's MASSIVE! At it's widest point it's 1 mile wide, and if the water was pumped out you could use it to cover Wales and England with 6 inches of water. Wow! Nessie the Loch Ness monster was first spotted in 565 AD by a monk called Saint Columba. He was visiting the Pictish king Brutus and they were camping. They woke one morning and their boat was badly damaged. Columba's servant got in the water to fix the boat and a monster appeared. The first picture was taken in 1934 but I had a look and it looks like someone poking their finger out of a puddle to be honest! Scotland makes £65 million annually from tourism due to Loch Ness.
We made a stop at a tourist stop and model of Loch Ness! I bought my magnet and then Lexi and I walked down to the water's edge. It was very windy, choppy and eerie. I'm skeptical but I guess it's kind of fun to believe there's something in there!
We had a couple of quick photo stops at Urquhart castle and then at a river and bridge. We saw our first highland cattle/hairy coos (cows) today! Very far away but my camera has a great zoom. Apparently we see some up close on the last day!
Tonight we are back in Fort Augustus where we stayed last Saturday. We had dinner and went for a dip in the loch. I put my feet in and it was so cold! No signs off Nessie :(
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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