Behold our first view of Urquhart Castle and the Loch Ness at 9.15am on 8th March.
Horrible horrible weather. It was the first time I've experienced hail in Scotland. The castle looked like a very sad fortress in a giant churning vat of tar.
Because of the rather violent weather, we waited 10 minutes in the car for the visitor centre to open at 9.30am. After that short interval of 15 minutes, we emerged from our cars and revisited Urquhart castle and the Loch at the exact same photo point. And look how it had changed:
The hail had gratefully let up. Sunlight peeked out from behind the clouds and washed over Urquhart castle, which now stood prettily poised for that perfect postcard shot! And the Loch itself - if there really is a monster living beneath its depths, I understand why. It makes a beautiful home with its sparkling deep-blue waters which just seem to stretch out forever into the horizon.
We could've stayed longer in the carpark taking shots of Urquhart and the Loch from afar. But eventually we went into the visitor centre, paid our 6 pound fee which got us admission inside the castle itself.
This is a place designed specifically for tourists in mind, you can be sure of that. The gift shop is the first place you're led into. It is stocked with every imaginable thing including shocking pink Urquhart lollipops, picture books dedicated to Highland Cows and tapestries depicting fair maidens and chivalric knights. While inside the marvellously-stocked shop, we were led into a miniature theatrette where we enjoyed a polished 8-minute film, styled as a 'historical re-enactment' of the Castle's checkered past. At the end of the film, the screen rolled up slowly in the still-darkened theatrette. This was followed by what must be the most predictable move ever designed for impact: the curtains behind the screen dramatically pulled themselves apart with flourish revealing...Urquhart Castle itself in the distance!
It's really quite tacky and groan-inducing, but I must say the castle did look quite splendid from inside the theatrette, basking rather smugly in the sun.
The management of the Castle must have some formidable 'weather' button to ensure tourists get the best possible views of Urquhart when those curtains part. Because just as we entered the castle itself to poke around, the glorious sun vanished and was replaced by slushy snow and howling gusts of winds. What a drastic turnaround! Spent a wet, teeth-chattering one hour walking around the castle grounds before being beaten back into the gift shop. And just 5 minutes after we entered the warmth of the adjoining cafeteria, the sun came out again just as a new wave of tourists filtered out from the theatrette. Coincidence? I think not!
Anyway, back to Urquhart Castle itself. Perhaps the term castle is a misnomer. It should really be called Urquhart ruins because the original castle was more or less blown up by its own inhabitants several centuries back - a useful nugget of information from the 8 minute film!
The ruins themselves are about as exciting as ruins can get I suppose. There are spots signposted as former chambers or chapels which are literally just foundational stones, which gaze up vacuously into the sky because there's no longer any ceiling. You can get some nice views of the Loch up-and-close by climbing up this former gate tower in Urquhart (at least I think it was a tower), but the castle/ruins itself is nothing that big to shout about. It's the kind of place you'd go to simply because its right on the banks of the Loch Ness, and signposted as an 'attraction' in its own right.
View of the Ness from the tower
After Urquhart, we headed up toward Inverness the capital of the highlands! It's a rather non-descript looking city and we more or less drove past it en route to the Cairngorms national park, our next would-be-attraction for the day. I say that because we once again experienced the temperamental power of Highland weather there. The park was blanketed in snow which continued to fall thick and fast. So much for the rich, green landscape featured in Martin's guidebook - we got a blinding white deal even on the cusp of Spring! I didn't take any pictures because i) we didn't want to leave the car except for a mad dash to the nearest cafe for hot chocolate and warm spiced wine and ii) there wasn't all that much to take pictures of anyway except for snow-capped ski mountains which I already had my fill of on the first day. A bit of a disappointment! But that's life for you.
So after a quick drive around the Cairngorms and getting our tyres stuck in the snow more than once, we made a hasty exit home-bound, with several stops and snow fights along the way. We stopped briefly in Perth along the way to look for dinner.
I mention Perth only to give a word of advice: never go there on a Sunday night. Or perhaps, never go to Perth at all. It was literally a ghost town when we went. The kind of street scene you expect after an army of zombies have invaded and infected everyone. Nothing was open at 5.30pm except Pizza Hut, and to cap it off, there were a couple of yobbish-looking people who extorted a grand total of 1 quid from one of us.
Given the slim pickings at Perth, we headed back to Edinburgh for our posh dinner. Found ourselves at the All Bar One on George Street, which proved much more satisfactory and happifying. It was so good to finally get some warm food!
Thus we ended our Highlands trip over a hearty meal and a bottle of white wine. Cheers to us for making it that far! I couldn't have asked for a better road trip (except for the weather I guess).
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