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 

 Hikers: eat bananas – but take your skins home

They take two years to biodegrade – and Scottish mountains are littered with them

(Taken from the Guardian)

I have climbed Ladhar Bheinn, one of Scotland’s finest peaks. The view was glorious. And I threw a banana skin at it. I have stood on the magnificent Aonach Eagach ridge and gazed down on Loch Achtriochtan. And I threw a banana skin at that, too.

In fact, there are few mountains in Scotland I haven’t thrown a banana skin on. Forget all those energy drinks: nothing gets you up a ben like a banana. What’s more, they come in handy biodegradable wrappers. So I’m practically doing the mountain a favour, feeding the eco-cycle of nature.

But apparently I’m not. The John Muir Trust, which protects many of Scotland’s wild places, has just given banana-skin chuckers a stern ticking off. The trust estimates that there are now 1,000 banana skins strewn across Ben Nevis. Walkers, it seems, don’t realise that it takes ages for a banana skin to degrade: two years, in fact.

This comes as a shock. I have tutted my way round the litter-strewn shores of Loch Lomond and chased Mars Bars wrappers grabbed by the wind. Now I find that I am part of a “significant minority, who are littering and spoiling the experience for everyone else”.

And it gets worse. According to Keep Scotland Beautiful, orange peel, another of my happily jettisoned waste products, is pretty bad too. Still, at least I’ve never left a glass bottle. They last 1 million years, apparently – though I wonder how they know.

A load of rot: how long your litter takes to biodegrade

Paper bag - 1 month

Apple core - 8 weeks

Orange peel and banana skins - 2 years

Cigarette end - 18 months to 500 years

Plastic bag - 10 to 20 years

A plastic bottle - 450 years

Chewing gum - 1 million years

From Keep Britain Tidy (keepbritaintidy,org)

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 

I came across this piece in a local paper and it made me grin…

 Take a look in the mirror

MANY local guest house owners take the well-being of their guests seriously even when they are out and about.

One such lady is happy to discuss travel plans and give tips and advice on what to do and where to go to her many regular visitors. Even when her guests are independent and make their holiday arrangements without the benefit of her advice, she is solicitous on their return.

The remarks of one group who obviously do not subscribe to the philosophy of the poet Burns when he suggested that we try “to see oursels as ithers see us” has shaken her faith in some tourists’ grasp of reality.

The sheer crust of these people has left her speechless which in her case, it has to be said, is quite some feat.

When her guests returned from a day out she enquired, “What did you do today?”

They replied: “We went to Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit.”

She responded: “That’s nice. Did you enjoy it?”

Their killer reply was: “Not really. They were full of tourists.”

Click HERE for source

As a local I am often asked by people contemplating a visit, “what is there to do at Loch Ness” so I end up reeling off all the things that come to mind at that time.

I thought it would be a good idea to write them all down quickly with the briefest of explanations for each just to give you ideas for your visit. I got to a hundred without even thinking much so no doubt more will come to mind in due course, but for now I have made my list.

Wherever you stay around Loch Ness your host will be able to fill you in with more details of the places that intrigue or interest you. To help you locate some of the places in my list have a look at the dynamic map here http://www.visitlochness.com/mapping/index.php

I will be posting 10 ideas each week for the next 10 weeks so please check back frequently and build up your list of things to see at when you come to Loch Ness. By the way, these are in no particular order, they are writtes just as they came to mind!

1) See the optical illusion on the Falls of Foyers. - Look at the waterfall, look at the rocks is the water falling or are the rocks climbing!

2) Feel the breeze and admire the views from Suidhe Viewpoint the highest point on road down the south side of the loch.  There is an interpretation board and a breathtaking walk to take you even higher.

3) Take a walk along the Caledonian Canal to Kytra locks – level and gentle

4) Enjoy freshly baked cakes and a coffee at Cobb’s Cafes at Urquhart Castle and the Clansman Hotel

5) Take a cruise out on Loch Ness with Jacobite Cruises – everyone must do this at some point during a visit to Loch Ness, it’s the best way to get up close and personal!

6) Look ‘over the edge’ at Plodda Falls – spectacular Victorian bridge worth a visit if you are in Strathglass area.

7) Find out all there is to know about shinty at the Shinty Shop, Drumnadrochit – like hockey but for men! Highlanders favourite sport

Enjoy all day good food at the Dores Inn – and walk it off as well some nice walks along Dores beach and the woods along the Caledonian Canal. 

9) Visit Loch Ruthven and see the rare Slavonian Grebe – the RSPB have a hide to watch Grebes Osprey and lots of other birds on this reserve.

10) Enjoy the unique splendour of Abriachan Garden and Nursery the only plant nursery on Loch Ness perhaps take a plant home to remind you of Loch Ness
 

Dont forget to drop by next week to see Part 2 - 11 to 20

You have got to love the fact that the web is abuzz with tweets about the NHS.

Like the Loch Ness Monster - the NHS is something that you either believe in or don’t, but the world would be a poorer place if the idea of it did not exist.