As the Destination Management Organisation at Loch Ness we regularly get feedback from visitors like the one I received recently from John.

John is a regular visitor and user of Loch Ness and just wanted to say how delighted he was to see the reinstatement of the Aldourie pier by the owners of Aldourie Castle. He also said how good it would be to see the other redundant piers around the loch improved. Could not agree more John – improving of the piers and jetties around Loch Ness has long been an aspiration of Destination Loch Ness and we are trying, improved piers would be great for visitors, great for tourism and great for the communities. Unfortunately it is an issue fraught with difficulties such as ownership and not least, the costs involved. Piers such as Inverfarigaig and Foyers require a huge amount of work if they are to be restored to their former glory and in some instances it’s not entirely clear who actually owns the pier

Personally I would be happy if we even got one restored – the Inverfarigaig pier. Inverfarigaig pier was built in the early 19th century by Thomas Telford one of Britain’s greatest civil engineers. It is one of the best places to stop and view the vast expanse of Loch Ness.

However Visit Loch Ness is doing great work raising funds to repair and restore our beauty spots and historic treasures around Loch Ness. We have a scheme in its infancy, they call it the Voluntary Payback Scheme, I call it the “keep Loch Ness beautiful” scheme as we do lots of work like annual litter pick ups, lay-by regeneration, path clearing and creation and lots of other work that helps the local environment. So when you plan a visit you may see on your booking form a request to donate a £ to the voluntary payback scheme, please say YES. You might just help to restore another Loch Ness gem.