Loch Ness (Monster)
Today was the day I have been waiting for most of my life. To finally see a place I have been intrigued by for so long, was so cool. Loch Ness here I come! Kristin was not as thrilled as me, for some reason...It started out fun enough. We took a three hour train from Edinburgh, which was full of soccer bros on the way to see a game. They were all drinking. Heavily. They would randomly burst out into song and it was really funny. I was a little jealous. They all looked like they were having a great time. The train quieted down exponentially after the soccer goons departed, so it was a boring ride, but the bucolic scenery was everything we imagined it would be. Arriving at Inverness, we made the short walk to our pretty nice hotel. Hungry, we set off to find the most pubby pub in Inverness. We settled on a spot right by the Inverness Castle, where we had some traditional Scottish bites and drinks. From there we took a walk around the itty-bitty town. We really liked it. Inverness sits on the Ness River, the shortest river in the UK. Come to find out, we are a 30 minute car ride from Loch Ness itself. Back to the drawing board. It was getting late and the bus schedule was not working out for us, so we went back to our room to game plan the next days Nessie hunt.
The River Ness.
Inverness church.
The next morning I was determined to get to the Loch. However, things weren't working out for us. We missed our bus by 30 seconds, the monster hunt boat by 5 minutes and went the wrong way to find a cash machine (the busses only accept cash, er, pounds). It was as if the monster was sabotaging our hunt...Undaunted, we carried on. The only way there at this point was a Hop On, Hop Off bus. Literally, the worst things ever. They are a bright red announcement of doofus on board. However, the HOHO bus was our only option. Starving, I found the closest diner and got a "traditional" breakfast of fried grossness before boarding our lovely double decker dork mobile. Of course, we opted for the upper deck. I mean, why not go all in with it? Surprisingly informative, the HOHO bus delivered us to the docks where we were to board our monster hunting tour boat. I was ecstatic.
Our monster boat.
Some real deal enthusiasts joined us...
We took a boat tour from the canal along the River Ness and it was probably one of the coolest things we had done so far. There was a legit tour guide giving us factoids about the Loch and the surrounding areas. We seemed to forget that Loch Ness was more than just a monster hunting location. So much history took place here and Kenny, the tour guide, was so great in explaining it all. He even burst into song a few times. He explained that the first sighting of the Monster was in the 6th Century by the patron saint of the area, Columba. He fought with the monster who at that time stuck close to the rivers, banishing the creature to the deep, cold waters of the loch where it remains today. Or so the legend goes. Kenny actually engaged with us a few times to chat. An encyclopedia of knowledge he asked Kristin her family name (he said I was a "foreigner" off the bat and didn't care about me"), and he explained her family lineage. Turns out she isn't Irish, but Scottish. He even showed her the crest, colors and sept names of the MacKay name. He even gave am oral history of her name and where they originated. It was so cool. However, I thought he was going off topic, so I brought him back around to monster factoids. He said that if you truly wanted to hear monster stories, go to the pubs at night and find the fishermen. He said the more drinks they have, the better the stories. We loved it. Not only was Kenny great, but the Loch Ness was so unbelievably beautiful. This tour was so worth it!
Loch Ness is humongous. Plenty of room for a creature to hide...
We spent two hours on the loch and it was really great. We learned a lot and it was just a cool experience. I would recommend it to monster enthusiasts and skeptics alike. We had a fun time and Kenny the tour guide made our day.
Old castle on the Loch.
We caught him!
Back at the docks, we had to wait for our HOHO bus to take us back to Inverness. Of course, the next tour boat had an entire film crew going on board hunting for Nessie. I was devastated. It could've been the big break I've been hunting for (get it?). The red HOHO arrived and we left. I was not too sad about missing the film crew. We actually felt really good about seeing what we did see. Plus, we would've been on a boat full of super nerd fans anyway. Reluctantly, we boarded our HOHO bus and made it back to Inverness. We had a bit of time to spare before catching a normal bus to the Inverness Airport. We grabbed a quick bite at our hotel and then caught our bus to the airport. London was our next stop and we were super excited.
Final thought: Loch Ness had always been a sort of joke because of its supposed monster. That's not really fair. Loch Ness was a very important location in the history of the Scottish people. They too will talk about the monster that lurks there, but it is inconsequential compared to the history that took place along its shores. It was something to keep in mind and made us realize that getting too much into the monster lore, takes away from the reality of the events that took place and shaped the country.
