Woke up early again at 5am when the sun is high in the sky. But this time the sky was full of grey clouds. A true Scottish day. We had breakfast with our host, Jenny. And it included freshly picked strawberries from a nearby farm. Who knew strawberries could be full of such sweet flavour? Forget whisky. Scotland should be famous for its strawberries! We didn’t need urging twice to finish off the bowl. In chatting away to jenny, I enjoyed listening to a local’s perspective of the events and politics of their particular region.

Rosie and I took our waterproof jackets – just in case – and walked through Drumnadrochit village, through farmlands alongside a narrow busy road the 3kms to the ruins of Urqhart Castle, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking Loch Ness.

 

It’s set up well for the tourist trade, and we sat with other tourists and listened to a short movie in a little theatrette about the long and very bloody history of the Castle. Then we were free to wander around the ruins. My main thoughts about it all: Firstly they were amazingly skilled at building such a complicated structure. But such futility. The constant struggles back and forth, the sheer savagery. And pointlessness of it all. Lots of names that I’ve heard in history. Like Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, the kings and queens of Scotland and England. In the end, the castle was blown up by its own inhabitants so none of the enemy would ever take it. The first recorded hsitory of the place was actually St Columba who came to witness to and baptise a pagan Pictish chieftain who had a small fortifaction there. Lots of the actual is conjecture.

From the top of the castle tower, you get the most amazing views up and down the length of Loch Ness. With a wind strong enough to blow your hair off. We were very glad to have brought our jackets!  Rosie and I had brought a picnic lunch and sat beside the Loch, vainly looking for somewhere out of the wind to eat it. We sat there on the grass, watching the tourist boats chugging around the huge Loch, plying their trade in vainly looking for Nessie.

On the way back, near the village, we made a detour down a narrow walking track we discovered. After skirting round the village, the track ran out, so we asked a local for directions and then spent several hours walking the trails in the Craigmonie and Balmacaan woodlands.  I asked Rosie how she would describe them, and she says “Green with lots of open spaces under the big trees with moss and lots of flowers.” It really was beautiful. Some parts of the woodlands had huge oak trees, graceful birches, ferns, purple foxgloves and lots of other wildflowers I don’t know the names of. Other sections had tall, straight fir trees with grey lichens dripping off them.  At the very top it opened out to an area that looked like the Winnie-the-Pooh’s Thousand Acre Wood. Walking around a bend in the trail it opened out to a spectaular view looking down onto the village below and Loch Ness in the distance.

We put our rain jackets on and off about twenty times on this walk. We’d feel a few spots of rain, pull out the jackets and put them on. Then the rainspots would stop and we’d get hot from our exertions, so take them off again. But during the last half hour, the drizzly rain decided it would rain after all. But it’s just a mizzle. Scottish mist I think they call it. On the outskirts of the woodlands is a Californian Redwood, planted by a philanthropic laird in the late 1800s.

We were feeling quite weary by the time we headed back to our host house. Sore feet, tired legs and aching backs. Walking up that last steep hill, it seemed longer and steeper than I remembered! The rain set in properly by the time we got back – proper rain. After resting for a while, Rosie had to borrow a sewing needle to hew out a huge spolinter she got. Not from the long walking we’d been doing, but from the floorboards of the house we’re staying at!

It was still raining when it was time for dinner, so we wimped out and drove John’s car down to the village to Fiddlers Green again for tea. But the sun came out again soon afterwards. And it’s still shining now. But it’s time for bed!