Woah, Nessie!!

Last night, the windows shook and the house felt like it was going to cave in...death had come for all of us. The high winds knocked over parts of the fencing and garden decorations at Rohan. Breakfast was fantastic, home-made bread, porridge (aka oatmeal) and jelly! Definitely, coming back here!!

We stopped at Fort Augustus, a little town on Loch Ness. There are ferries to the castle and the Caledonian Canal! Some cool ruins in the loch, pretty nifty.
While Diana and I were off to naive, pretty pictures of the locks on the loch, the others found nefarious goods...Whisky flavored condoms, McCondoms. You know, they make good whisky when things like this exist.

On her last trek, Cristina found a lovely beach on Loch Ness. Unfortunately, it was high tide so not much beach. The water is extremely black as you would expect to hide a giant creature and I stole a rock!! Now, I will always have a piece of the Loch Ness...muhahahaha.

On to the castle ruins on the loch!! To the left of Uruquat Castle, lies a large fault line. One can see the line running through the trees and the deep gouge in the ground.

Here's a little blurb:
"Once one of Scotland’s largest castles, Urquhart’s remains include a tower house that commands splendid views of the famous loch and Great Glen.

Urquhart witnessed considerable conflict throughout its 500 years as a medieval fortress and its history from the 13th to 17th centuries was particularly bloody. Following Edward I’s invasion, it fell into English hands and was then reclaimed and lost again. In the 14th century, it figured prominently in the Scots’ struggle for independence and came under the control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle and glen were frequently raided from the west by the ambitious MacDonald Lords of the Isles."

There is a lovely sign stating "Please Stay on the Path", but do we listen...NO! I successfully ventured off the path a full 2 feet. However, Cristina just got too excited about the trebuchet. She made it down one slope then WHOOSH!!! flat on her ass! Sprawled on the ground, it was hilarious.

The castle was all-in-all quite nice, including the attractive Australian. I failed so miserably...Rebecca spent ten minutes talking to the guy in an attempt to get me to talk to him. Of course, I preceeded to take pictures like nobody with an awesome accent was in the vicinity. Finally, Cristina took it upon herself to metaphorically smack me upside the head. Pathetic, I am! Anywho, we did make fake Nessies. I mean I could really imagine a large beastie hiding the depths!

SNOW!!! Our trek took us through the Cairngorm Mountains. It's the first time I've seen snow here! It was so cool, nice dusting on the mountain tops. Cristina and Kira had never seen snow before including driving in it! Her SUV is a manual so it drives better in the snow. The pit stop we made had SHEEP. Everyone scared them into the hills. It seemed to get extremely dark extremely quickly...more one lane roads with blind curves and "passing zones" galore!!

Another tiny town in the middle of nowhere...Fort Something. Luckily, we made it there just in time, as we were checking in, the owner said they had closed the roads! Cheers to not getting stranded!! We needed food...however, the hotel was the only place open to eat. The food was expensive and not very tasty. Quite unfortunate. Wait! I take that back! They had cheesecake and it WAS delicious.

We did enjoy drinks in the lounge with Kira. White Russian!! Very few places have Kahlua.