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.

A number of people over the years have asked “when does the heather bloom in Scotland?” so I will try to answer the question here.

The heather that dominates the Scottish hills is ling heather, Calluna vulgaris, one of the heathers in the family Ericaceae. The pale purple to pinkish lilac spikes start flowering in July, with most plants flowering in August, but some continue into September and even October. It is the August flowering that colours the hills most and is what visitors come to see and know as the “heather in bloom” time of year. However, the time of flowering is influenced by latitude and altitude with those plants further south or lower down the hillsides flowering first, with a wave of colour extending north and up the hills. Flowering is also influenced by aspect – heather on south facing slopes blooms earlier than on those facing north. This all means that the heather flowering season is extended far longer than each individual plant, with colour to be seen somewhere in the country over several months – all the better for us !

This is complicated by the fact that another type of heather, Erica cinerea, bright magenta-purple bell heather, tends to have a slightly earlier flowering season and is often growing on the drier places on the hills, in amongst the Calluna, which favours the wetter areas.

Cross-leaved heath, Erica tetralix, with pale pink clusters of flowers at the tips of the branches may also be found on Scottish hills – mainly in wetter areas – but is more rare than ling or bell heather.

For gardens, varieties of both ling and bell heather have been developed that extend this flowering season even further. Ling varieties may be found that vary in flowering from June to November and bell heather varieties can be chosen to have flower all year round.

At Loch Ness we have some spectacular countryside to see the heather in bloom in all its glory and having travelled extensively throughout Scotland over the years, I can honestly say that the very best place I have seen heather in bloom is on the high roads around South Loch Ness in the Errogie, Strathnairn area in July and August.

See Loch Ness Welcome for info about this part of Loch Ness.

Destination Loch Ness have launched a Voluntary Payback Scheme (VPS) for raising funds to help keep Loch Ness beautiful and encourage responsible travel. The scheme is dependant on local businesses collecting funds for local projects, who better to do this than locals?

Visitors and others have the opportunity to contribute to the scheme through a number of forward thinking businesses around Loch Ness who are acutely aware of the special beauty and environmentally precious nature of the area. They want to improve visitor experience by improving the infrastructure and the same time preserve natural beauty of the landscape around Loch Ness for all to enjoy.

Here’s how you can help.

When you book accommodation at Loch Ness or buy tickets to a local event or attraction, you might see an option to add £1 to your bill.  Please – for just £1 – go for it ! Your money will be used to fund projects like the Loch Ness Trail and other environmental projects that will help keep Loch Ness beautiful for future generations to come. One of the accommodation providers to take up the VPS ”donate a £1” scheme is Evergreen B&B, based at Inverfarigaig, a hub for walking on   South Loch Ness and a key ‘access point’ to the trail.
Based on the experience of Evergreen, the owner Graeme said, “it is very encouraging just how much visitors are willing to contribute. It demonstrates that most people these days understand that enhancing and protecting our environment is a worthy cause”.

Here’s how you can help even more!

If you book a holiday or even at Loch Ness and you are NOT asked to “donate a £1” ask WHY NOT or add a comment to instruct that business to take the extra £1 and send it to Destination Loch Ness. Everybody round Inverness and Loch Ness knows who DLN is!