England-Scotland Day 6 (Part 4 ) – Loch Ness and the A835 to Ullapool

8 April 2010

From Inverness, we took the A82 along the northern shore of the Loch Ness. Loch Ness is no ordinary body of water. It is the largest of three lochs located in the Great Glen of Scotland and it divides Scotland along a line running from Inverness to Fort William on the southern shore. It is about 37 km in length, but only a width of about 1.6 km at the width point. Loch Ness also has the greatest depth of about 240m and is a seismic fault line. And of course, the legend of the monster that lurks within.

To go around the entire Loch Ness would take too long, so we visited the Loch Ness Visitor Centre located at Drumnadrochit. Some visitors may actually take a boat cruise on the Loch and hope to spot the Loch Ness monster or just enjoy the scenery.  The drive along A82 offered views of the loch and we were hoping that we would be very, very lucky and able to spot the monster along the way.

The Loch Ness Visitor Centre is not just about the monster but also about the Loch and some history. After visiting the centre, I am more convinced that there is no monster living in Loch Ness anymore. There may be a monster in the past but I think the monster would have perished and extinct now. Sad.

Loch Ness Visitor Centre at Drumnadrochit.

We finally saw Nessie! Lurking at a pond, next to the Visitor Centre car park.

A short drive further down along the A82 from Drumnadrochit is the Urquhart Castle where the Loch Ness monster was photographed in 1955 by a chap called Peter MacNab. A photo of a large object moving through the water of the loch near Urquhart Castle was produced. 

The  famous Urquhart Castle where the Loch Ness monster was photographed in 1955. The so called “MacNab Photograph” of Nessie swimming beneath the castle was controversial and likely to be fake.

Note the wake of a passing boat in the Loch Ness. The boat could be long gone but the wake was still visible in the narrow loch. It could be easily mistaken for a wave caused by the monster.

To visit and walk within the Urquhart Castle site requires payment of an entrance fee. We decided to skip this and head for Ullapool where we will be staying for the night.

To get to Ullapool from Drumnadrochit, there were a few options in terms of route. We chose to backtrack to Inverness on the A82, then take the A9 which took us to the A835 which then leads directly to Ullapool. This was a slightly longer way, but avoided having to navigate through several criss-crossing A-roads in the highlands. In any case, the A835 to Ullapool was a very nice scenic route.

The views along the A835 were stunning and tempting us to stop but it was not too safe to stop on the single lane, winding highway unless there were specially constructed lookout points or rest areas. We finally stopped at a large picnic area by Loch Glascarnoch to enjoy the views and to take some family photos using my camera on the tripod.

Loch Glascarnoch on A835 on our way to Ullapool.

The loch is formed as result of the dam built across the river. The dam could be seen in the far end of this photo.

Family photo at Loch Glascarnoch – South view of the loch.

Family photo at Loch Glascarnoch – North view of the loch.

The A835, seen on left, goes along the entire length of Loch Glascarnoch. Nice scenic drive.

It was about 6.30 PM when we left Loch Grascarnoch and continued on to Ullapool which was a short drive away. Ullapool is a small picturesque fishing village located on the north shore of Loch Broom. The A835 skirts the north edge of Loch Broom to Ullapool.

Shirley, our host, was waiting for us at the Broombank B&B. As the name implied, the B&B is located on a high ground overlooking Loch Broom. She had some family members visiting her and one of the visiting kid was playing the bagpipes while we were checking in.

Nice welcome.

And she owned a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel! Seeing her dog made me missed our two King Charles spaniels left at home.

After check-in, we took a drive to explore the small village of Ullapool and in particular to look for a place to have dinner. There was a live telecast of Europa League game between Liverpool and Benfica scheduled at 8 PM on TV. So we ate at a pub showing the live game before heading back at half time to watch the rest of the game on TV in our room.