Haggis flavored potato chips!
The weather gods once again took pity on us today and held back the promised rain showers so we could enjoy our day’s excursion on the water rather than in the water.
We scheduled a boat ride through a section of the Caledonian Canal and into Loch Ness, and had a very pleasant walk along the River Ness to get to the Tomnahurich Bridge where we boarded the boat.
Someone’s neat project boat. Would not want to be doing the work, but would love to try out the final result.
Another pretty boat. We noticed some tendency towards wide and stubby, just like us.
The canal paralleled the river, where we saw this fly fisherman.
More buds!
Happy guy!
Sculling on the canal
The Canal was built in the early part of the 19th century to connect Inverness with Corpach, near Fort William, saving ships from having to sail around NW Scotland. Unfortunately, about the time it was finally finished the next generation of steam powered ships proved too large to fit in the locks which had been built for wooden sailing ships. About a third of the route uses man made canals, and the rest goes through four lochs, connected to the canals by 29 locks. Our cruise included passage through a small lock at Dockgarroch.
Pronounce that if you can
They used to use horses to pull the boats down the canal, now they have to use people
Liked this tactful notice in the head
We traveled on down Loch Ness until we reached Urquhart Castle, where we took on a mess of tourists who had toured the castle. We had had the boat mostly to ourselves on the journey down to the castle, so it was tough to share our boat, but at least we had the best seats! We soon dropped them all off before continuing to our disembarkation at the bridge.
Very small lighthouse at the head of Loch Ness. The bay window was where the parafin lamp burned. They had to add the “chimbley” because the lamp fumes were bothering the lighthouse keeper, who slept in the same room.
Little castle on the lake shore.
We understand Rick Steves said Loch Ness is not very scenic. We disagree.
Nessie spotted!
The castle on Loch Ness
Another view
Due to the peat, it is said a cup of the water looks like whisky, but does not taste like it
A three hour tour…
Cute little rowboat
Tying up
Liked the boat company logo
Since haggis chips were the highlight of cuisine aboard ship, we arrived back in Inverness somewhat hungry, verging on hangry. Mike remembered a place we had dinner with Peggy and Don on the last trip, and so led a storming of the Castle Tavern. Over lunch and beer we also perused the gin list. One thing we have noticed is that while Scotland is rightly famous for its whisky, the current spirit of choice seems to be gin. Good restaurants seem to offer a whole variety of gin and tonic combinations. Pick your gin and pick your tonic. Anyway, we spotted one gin on the list from the Isle of Harris (where Harris tweeds come from) that used kelp sugar to bolster the other more traditional botanicals.
Liking the idea of seaweed gin, we set out on a mission to acquire several bottles. Although we were unsuccessful at the liquor store, Julie and Lisa somehow discovered that a small shop selling candles and such from Skye (a neighboring island to Harris), was a pickup point for bottles ordered from the distillery. They had bottles in stock, but due to arcane liquor laws, could not sell it directly to us. We had to step outside the shop and order it directly from the distillery, whereupon we could then step back into the shop and pick up our purchases.
Loved the Scottish turban
After getting off our feet for a few hours we decided it was time to get dinner. We had noticed a good looking gastropub just two doors down from our airbnb. We popped in and discovered we needed reservations. They had nothing even if we were willing to wait. And this was a Monday! Therefore we decided to cross the bouncy footbridge (Inverness has several of these spanning the river that cuts through town) and try another restaurant that looked good. Same result – no reservation, no table.
We then wandered into town looking for anything we could find. We finally ended up at a place where the menu looked decent. When we stepped in the door, well holy cow! Mike tried to break into a little Saturday Night Fever dancing, but Tami restrained him before he hurt himself. The decor was twinkly lights and purple and blue crushed velour seating. For some reason, like hunger, we decided to stay. While the wine list was crap (two reds and two whites, in small, medium, or large), the food was surprisingly good.
Where we finally found dinner