91 to 100!

My final blog in the series,  (Sad smiley face here )

I am writing this from Tasmania on the northern coast at a bonnie little place called Kayena  - fabulous wildlife and view over the  Tamar river.  We have seen some fantastic  sights here in Tassie and today spent 3 hours in the treetops hurtling along zip wires at the Holly Bank Treetop Adventures. Also, we’ve made good use of the free barbecues they have at every picnic site, and there are lots of those. You just push a button and the Barbie sparks up - you throw your grub on the stainless steel  grill and, in no time at all, you have a great feast ready.

I have some great ideas for when I get home to Loch Ness.  We could do lots of things to improve visitor facilities in our popular beauty spots.  They also have a scheme here called “work for dole”  - can you guess what that is?  Anyway, these guys are out doing litter pick-ups, even on  quiet side roads,  they tend public places repairing footpaths, painting  fences,  building boardwalks and so on.  

It is odd to think that here we are seeing spring in all its glory, apple blossom, bluebells in flower, days getting longer and warmer, while at home in Scotland, I imagine by now, a riot of reds and golds of autumn as day length gets shorter and days get colder. Both are beautiful in their own way. We find comfort in the thought of a white Christmas, plum puddings and turkey,  just as Aussies look forward to Christmas dinner on the beach!!  We, being Brits, wouldn’t miss our white Christmas for anything and plan to get home to Loch Ness before the festivities begin.

91  Run over the Fair Haired Lads Pass on south Loch Ness

92  See the work of local artists at Beauly Gallery & Kirk Coffee Shop

93  Go clay pigeon shooting with Loch Ness Gun Club

94  Have a picnic on the banks of the River Fechlin at Dalcrag

95  View Urquhart Castle from across the water at the Change House lay by

96  Visit the Iceberg glassblowing studio at Fort Augustus

97   Take the kids ‘weaseling’

98  Check out the Craigmonie Centre, Drumnadrochit for music and much much more

99  Simply chill out and relax… you are on holiday at Loch Ness!!

100  your suggestions please.  E mail info@visitlochness.com

G’day mate ! - as they say in Tassie ! The people here are so friendly and helpful, it’s refreshing - it feels just like home.

What strikes me, is the number of well made and signposted wild trails there are here, all with well fenced viewpoints and interpretation boards at every viewpoint ! We did an excellent cliff top walk on the Tasman peninsular and saw families with children and grannies enjoying the beautiful scenery. We were able to take the car close to the viewpoints and the trails were good enough for wheelchair users. These trails stretch for miles not just metres ! We walked 10 miles and saw truly wild kangaroos and sea eagles close up in what seems like pristine forest. We even found a half mile cliff top boardwalk designed with wheelchair users in mind, excellent to watch Gannets diving into the sea hundreds oof feet below.

There are those in Scotland who say we should keep all the trails wild and unchanged but that’s OK if you are fit and able to wade knee deep through bog and heather but for all those people who either can’t do that or don’t want to do that, this is not an option. The Forestry Commission, plus others, need to do much more to make some of the wild places in certain popular spots, more accessible to the majority of people who don’t want to have to dress up in heavy boots and take survival blankets in order to get close to nature.

In New Zealand also, they put eco loos in almost all country car parks - something I have yet to see anywhere in Scotland. Somehow, it always seems to come down to money, or lack of it. How then do all these other countries manage to do so well in providing toilets, interpretation boards and well made dry paths for walking in their wild places?
Scotland has some of the finest wilderness and a great network of roads to give access to even the remotest parts. Wouldn’t it be just great to see many more places where you can  get out of the car and walk as a family - granny, wheelchair and all. Destination Loch Ness has started to address this by creating long distance paths around Loch Ness for the enjoyment of everyone.

One personal wish I have, is for a walk at the top of the Cairngorms funicular railway where it seems ludicrous to corral people in the visitor centre at the top, denying all access to the glorious plateau. If a well constructed short walk was made that allowed people to get out in the fresh air without damage to the fragile habitat, it would then be a thing of the past to hear all the complaints from travellers on the way down, who feel they have been cheated.

81 to 90 series featuring 10 ideas a week from Visit Loch Ness

81. Find the ‘totem’ poles at Abriachan Woods
82. Visit the historic Beauly Priory
83. Take a walk in the ancient oak woodlands at Bona
84. Find the ‘secret loch’ at Inverfarigaig
85.  Buy your favourite whisky at the Whisky Shop, Drumnadrochit
86. Cruise on Loch Ness from Fort Augustus
87. Walk to the Upper Falls at Foyers
88. Step back in time at the Kettle Hole Lochans, Littlemill Wood, Inverarnie
89. Photograph the water lilies on Loch Bran
90.  Drive up Glen Affric ‘ the most beautiful glen in Scotland’ as far as the road goes

The following suggestions are Courtesy of Joe, a regular visitor from Alabama USA!

100-Climb the path to Battery Rock and enjoy the view overlooking Ft.
Augustus and Lochness
101- Walk the forest path from Ft. Augustus to Invermoriston, starting at Jenkins Park.
102- Bike the forest trail from The Inch in Ft. Augustus to Invermoriston
103- Enjoy the “Malt whiskey of the month” at the Inchnacardoch Hotel bar

Thanks Joe!

If YOU have a favorite thing to do in the Loch Ness area, just email info@visitlochness.com with your suggestions!

Weekly series 71 to 80 from Adelaide, Australia

Posting today from the Mercure Grosvenor Hotel, Adelaide – we booked a double room with a king sized bed but got a queen sized bed and a room which has just one small hanging space and 1 bedside table! I have never given this much thought until now, when we relax with a cuppa in bed, as you do when on hols (grin) -  nowhere for one of us to put their cuppa down, grr ! - have you ever tried getting into bed with a cup of tea in your hand?? Then the lack of hanging space and NO drawers in the room at all, means that for 4 days we have to live out of our suitcase. This is most definitely not how to run a hotel of this price -  even the Travel lodge at Heathrow was better equipped and a fraction of the price. It makes me appreciate the reason why Visitlochness.com members all have to be committed to the Visit Scotland Quality Assurance scheme, which I am sure wouldn’t give a very good grade to this hotel at all.

From my own experience of self catering, we wouldn’t dream of having a double bed with just one bedside table and lamp. I know we would be downgraded if we even tried to do it. So I say thank goodness we have a scheme in Scotland to ensure good standards of accommodation that I know all our members do their best to continually improve, so that our visitors know what to expect from their accommodation, whatever grade they choose.

Next ten great ideas for things to do at Loch Ness.     

71. Photograph Cherry Island, the only island in Loch Ness
72. Find out about wildlife and plants on a Highland Council guided Ranger walk
73. Visit the ancient remains of Corrimony Cairn
74. Enjoy a pint at the Whitebridge Hotel
75. View Loch Ness from the Wellington lay by
76. Wild walk in the Monadhliath Mountains
77. Visit Kilmorack Art Gallery
78. Get your picture taken with Nessie at Fort Augustus
79. Walk down by the River Moriston to St Columba’s Well
80.  Visit the Clansman Centre, Fort Augustus

Check back next Friday for our next 10 Loch Ness ideas form Tasmania.

Well - tonight is our last in San Francisco ! What a great 3 days we have had here, in what was once called the hippy capital of the world. If you can remember Scott McKenzie, then I guess you must be in the silver surfer age group. Tourism is the biggest industry in San Francisco, the place just buzzes with life - no sign of a recession, though one or two shops have closed down, but these have quickly reopened by new businesses eager to make a name for themselves. That is one of the great things about the American way of free enterprise - it encourages all to strive for success. When these people get knocked down, they quickly bounce back again. On the down side of this are all the beggars on the streets. There seems to be one on every corner - sad casualties of the free enterprise system. They make our few beggars look positively affluent. This system has even gifted the beggars here with a whole host of ingenious and entertaining ways of extracting your spare change.

I wonder if, just as I have found this place to be so wonderfully vibrant and refreshingly different, do American visitors to Loch Ness find us at Loch Ness refreshingly different ?  I hope so. We have so much in common with our American friends, both historically and culturally, and I, for one, am very happy that we have this special relationship with the people of the USA.

I look forward now to the next leg of our journey to Australia from where I will be posting next week’s blog. We leave San Francisco having found no monsters, just a big friendly giant!! 

100 things to do at Loch Ness 61 to 70

Just have to say I like the new page Trail of the Seven Lochs

61  Stay up late and watch for badgers

62  Enjoy a dram at Fiddlers, award winning malt whisky bar

63  Walk the round trip from Inverfarigaig to Foyers

64  Go and watch the dolphins at Chanonry Point

65  Sit down by the shore and enjoy a sunset over Loch Ness

66  After a long walk enjoy a drink in the relaxed ambience of the Bog Cotton Café, Cannich

67  Stare up at the tallest tree in the UK in Reelig Glen

68  Hit the bulls eye with some archery, Boots ‘n’ Paddles

69  Count the different coloured dragonflies and damsel flies at Dog Falls

70 Find the memorial to Lady Jane Fraser on the shores of Loch Ness near Foyers

Now - I know the first thing you will all say when you read this, and I entirely agree. Why jet off all the way to Australia when you live in a beautiful place like the Highlands of Scotland? Truth is, it’s not really a holiday at all - it’s a “duty”! visit to a young niece, whom we have never met, for her second birthday – she looks gorgeous from her photos. Worst part about it is, we have to go for at least 8 weeks! It hurts just thinking about all those unbroken blue skies.   

As we hate flying, we thought we would need to break the journey, so decided to stop for a few days in San Francisco!   

With our lack of practice at long haul flights, we realise we are bound to be jet lagged after the long flight to Australia, so we booked 4 weeks in Australia just to be sure we will be well over it before we have to return to Bonnie Scotland - good thinking you say - well here’s an even better, brilliant idea.

Given that we are bound to suffer badly from jet lag and forced to stay in Oz for 4 weeks, I just know I am going to get desperately home sick for Scotland, so came up with the idea to go to New Zealand – it’s just a short hop from Oz.  It’s just like home, so they tell us, so where better to go to try to alleviate the home sick blues for a week or three J  before flying home fresh !!

Now you must agree this is a stroke of genius to help us cope with the stress of having to visit the relatives down under !! and at least, now you will understand why we have been forced into taking so long over the visit!

The things we have to go through for the sake of family :-))

Below is 10 more things to do at Loch Ness and I promise you I will be participating in some of these activities in my dreams over the next few weeks.

Now, where did I put those sun gla…….?

51  Play 9 holes of golf on Aigas Golf Course near Beauly

52  Spend a morning shopping in the bustling village of Beauly

53  Enjoy the pleasures of real ale at the Benleva Hotel

54  Find the wall of the old fort at Fort Augustus

55  Climb Craigmonie Hill (150 metres!)

56  Visit ‘Bonnie’ the deer near Croachy

57  Take a drive from Inverfarigaig to Farr

58  Go horse riding along the shores of Loch Ness

59  Go cycling on the quiet south side of Loch Ness

60 Visit the Clog and Craft ship at Invermoriston 

I sometimes wonder, in our attempts to make a place better for our visitors, do we sometimes lose sight of just what it is that makes this part of Scotland so special.

For many of us, it’s not the polished picnic benches, it’s sitting on a rock on the riverbank. It’s not the expensive restaurant, its devouring a cheese and Branston sandwich on a hill trail, squinting to glimpse a wheeling buzzard quartering the distant hillside. Its the wide open spaces without a soul in sight and a deep breath of clean air. Its the sky at night without the light pollution.

At Destination Loch Ness we do spend a lot of time trying to improve all sorts of beauty spots and attractions to make your visits more memorable, but it’s the little things that happen along the way that makes our Highland days so special. I can sum it up by telling you about my experience today on the way to Inverness.

First, I had to wait for a family of roe deer to browse their way across our garden before going out to my car. Then, within a mile of home, I slowed down to let a family of pheasants amble across the road, and as I slowed, a beautiful red squirrel scampered up a roadside birch tree, mouth full of hazelnuts. Then, a half mile farther on, a buzzard sat on a roadside post, lazily watching me drive slowly past.

These magical times are what we all want for our visitors to see, and more… I for one, didn’t have the heart to tell the lady, so excitedly telling us she had seen a Scottish wildcat on the forest centre picnic table at Inverfarigaig, that it was actually the local forester’s tabby cat cleaning up the picnic morsels!

Who am I to destroy her magical moment with a bombshell ? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  

 Continuing the series of Ideas for things to do at Loch Ness  

I absolutely do not advise anyone to participate in the practice recently called tombstoning anywhere! A local lad sadly lost his life this week after leaping into the Falls of Foyers. The growth in popularity of extreme sports is fine but I would stress that it is done under supervision of expert instructor, so it’s not that I say don’t do it, just learn how to do it first before going out on your own or with your mates. We have a number of great outdoor activity holiday guides around the Loch Ness area - adrenaline junkies use them till you are good enough to show others how it should be done. The last thing I want to see anywhere in the country is all our falls, riverbanks and crags fenced off for safety reasons. Health and safety regulations already dictate too much of what we can and can’t do. Come, enjoy, but exercise caution when messing about in the country - rocks get slippery and uneven surfaces can make accidents in even the most unlikely places, so be safe, be careful and go home with great memories.

Nuf, have a look at 10 more things below that you can safely do around Loch Ness without ruining your appetite, remember the old Malteser ads!

31) Hire a Cruiser on Loch Ness with Caley Crusiers

32) See the illusive pine marten ?

33) Visit the most famous castle ruins in the Highlands at Urquhart Castle

34) Find the ‘Black Rock’ a secret hard to find even for locals

35) Take a walk up the Corkscrew and enjoy the views of Loch Ness

36) Run the Loch Ness Marathon in October.

37) Buy some truly original Loch Ness rock (not the kind you eat!) at Dores, ask for Steve?

38) Have a picnic on Inverfarigaig pier

39) Visit the beautiful, historic and just ever so slightly spooky Boleskine Graveyard

40) And while you’re at it.. why not visit Dunlichity Graveyard with it’s enclosure to the memory of the Clan MacGillivray

Technorati Tags: loch ness,extreme sport,activity holidays

20 to 30 from the 100 things to do at Loch Ness

After days of recent torrential rain it’s strangely comforting to hear that it is nationwide and not just us at Loch Ness getting it all ! Staying dry at Loch Ness is easier said than done this week. These next ten things to do are obviously for reference and not all possible this minute! One glorious advantage of this rain is the torrents and waterfalls cascading off the crags everywhere - all so spectacular to see.

The main holiday season is now past and the kids are back at school. This is the time when many people, mostly without kids, choose to visit Loch Ness. Accommodation prices are falling and you can often get great weather (this week excluded ! ) and some great deals to be had, so if you have been working all through the summer hols, have a look, give yourself a break before Autumn starts to show itself for real. Check the site for deals Visitlochness.com 

21. Buy yourself a big green monster!

22. Decide for yourself about Nessie – visit the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre

23. Buy ‘the T-shirt’ at the Clansman Gift Shop

24. Learn about the history and heritage of Loch Ness with Inverness Tours

25. Walk the 10 miles around Loch Affric

26. Count red squirrels on south Loch Ness

27. Eat home grown strawberries and raspberries at the Larder Tomich Farm Shop

28. Find out about the Caledonian canal at the Caledonian Canal Visitor Centre Fort Augustus

29. Canoe on Loch Ness ( who needs Loch Ness ? - you could canoe down my drive right now ! )

30. Have lunch at the Lovat Arms Hotel Fort Augustus

Continuing the series of things to do at Loch Ness the next 11 things are deliberately vague in parts, it makes it more interesting for you to look for answers. When you do visit Loch Ness you will at least have some items on your list of questions for the locals who are always happy to tell of local legends, and places of interest in the area. I note a lot of press reports this week of a sighting of Nessie on Google Earth, maybe certain locals can verify this!!

11)  Walk the Great Glen Way, all the way from Fort William to Inverness

12)  Go fishing on the River Farrar with Culligan Fishing

13)  Find the ‘Preacher’s Footprints’ in Glenmoriston.
In 1827 a travelling preacher, Finlay Munro, was heckled by two young men, who called him a cheat and a liar. He replied that the ground on which he stood would bear witness to the truth of his words until the final Day of Judgement. Two parallel marks in the ground are said to be his footprints wherein no grass grows.

14)  Sunbathe on Dores beach the only real beach on Loch Ness and a good place to launch boat or have a swim.

15) Take a walk through Inverfarigaig Woods – print a walk from Loch Ness map

16)  Look for red deer in winter at Loch Tarff or any time of year on the loch Killin road. You can find Killin on the dynamic map of South Loch Ness where it shows a bike trail and a scenic walk

17)  Explore the long distance ‘Trail of the Seven Lochs’ on horseback, on foot there are some nice stretches you can walk. coming soon, a dedicated map for riders and walkers.

18)  Go for a paddle in Loch Ness anywhere but especially good access to the shore from the south side along the B852

19)  Camp out at ‘Rockness’ - Annual festival held in June on the shore of Loch Ness quickly becoming one of the top gigs in Scotland’s

20)  Relax with a game of golf at Fairways