Lovely Loch Ness

We were awake once again at 7.15 this morning, to a beautiful day with barely a cloud in the sky. We could expect an amazing 23°C today, quite extraordinary considering we were in Scotland and it was still only April! 🙂

After getting washed and dressed, we made our way upstairs to the saloon, and decided to go ashore and breathe in some of that incomparable, clean morning air. The water had hardly a ripple on it, apart from the “wakes” created by a couple of paddling ducks. As such, everything was reflected beautifully, from the fluffy cumulus clouds above, to the perfect outline of the bow of the Glen Massan.

We looked at the gorgeous little canal-side houses and thought how lucky their occupants were, to have this view every day. We did wonder, however, what it would be like in the depths of winter.

As the Glen Massan would not be leaving until after 11 o’clock, we had plenty of time to go ashore and look around after breakfast. In the meantime, we set ourselves up for the day with the incomparable Majestic Line breakfast starting, as ever, with the thick Scottish porridge served with fresh fruit, nuts, golden syrup and, of course, a wee dram. Today’s whisky was Dalwhinnie. 🙂

The porridge was followed by banana baked in orange juice and served on a warm crumpet. Trevor and I had never tried this concoction before, but it really was superb. I think I am going to have to spend the next fortnight on SlimFast once I get home! 😀

From Fort Augustus to Loch Ness, there are five locks in total (Glen Massan had already negotiated one of them, last night). If you recall, Neptune’s Staircase had to lift us up, now we had to go “downstairs” again, which we’d started to do at the Laggan Locks in Gairlochy (our last stop before arriving at Fort Augustus). We had already noticed that when Glen Massan entered each lock she was slowly going down, rather than up, and last night Trevor and I had commented on the man-made “waterfall” that had occurred because of the difference in water level between two locks.

For now though, Glen Massan had to wait as there were some boats coming through the canal from Loch Ness, and they had priority in the locks over us. We weren’t worried; this was a lovely place and spending more time here was very welcome. At least the little shops would be open now, and we could browse among all the Nessie and other Scottish souvenirs! 🙂

Once it was time for us to be underway, Trevor and Ian had been roped in (see what I did there?) to “walk the lines” again; they were becoming honorary members of the crew! 😀

In the meantime, quite a few of us disembarked the Glen Massan to enjoy a morning walk and make the most of our surroundings. We walked as far as the entrance to Loch Ness, and I had to take photos of the picturesque loch, the trees, the mountainous backdrop and all the pleasure craft to-ing and fro-ing with their happy passengers. What a beautiful place, and today we had fantastic weather to go with it.

We had a look in the nearby shops but didn’t buy anything apart from three boxes of Scottish shortbread (with the biscuits shaped like Scottie dogs) to take home as gifts.

On the way back, we stopped to watch as a swing bridge opened to let a big long sightseeing cruiser through, before it entered one of the locks, with the lock keepers shouting instructions and asking their skipper to manoeuvre the vessel over the left hand side of the lock so as to let some more boats in alongside. Another three pleasure boats made their way in, one after the other; all three of them end to end were still not as long as the sightseeing boat! Quite a few of us from the Glen Massan had stopped to watch; the invention of a lock on a canal is such a simple, yet ingenious idea. It’s impossible to credit any one person or people with its invention, because using locks to negotiate different levels of water can be traced right back to the times of the Pharoahs in ancient Egypt.

Once the lock-keeper had closed the gates and the water started to rise, we decided to make our way back to the Glen Massan, as it would be our turn next, to go the other way. Skipper Iain had advised that we could, if we wanted, walk along the canal as far as Loch Ness, but I decided to stay on board and go to the topmost deck, as it would give me the best vantage points for photos. 🙂

Once those who wanted to were back on board, Trevor and Ian were issued with their lifejackets prior to their walking the lines. This time, Trevor was at the bow from which engineer Dan issued instructions, and Ian was at the stern accompanied by steward Yaz. Iain the skipper was out on the port side bridge wing, using his joystick to control the Glen Massan, and calling instructions down to Dan. As ever, several people passing by stopped to watch or to wave at us!

Trevor (on the left) unhooks the rope and carries it ready to make it fast when instructed by Dan

Once Glen Massan had negotiated the final lock, everyone jumped back on board again, and I turned around to watch as Fort Augustus receded into the distance. What an attractive little place! I could understand why it was so popular.

But now we were in Loch Ness, which is probably the most famous Scottish loch worldwide, made all the more so by an enduring legend which first came to the world’s attention with a curious photograph in 1933, of a strange, serpent-like creature which was inevitably dubbed the “Loch Ness Monster“.

Over the decades, there have been many attempts (some scientific, and others in search of fame and fortune,) to find the Loch Ness Monster, or “Nessie” as she is affectionately referred to by locals. This resulted in Loch Ness being placed firmly on a map of Scotland, and subsequently tourists from all around the world began to flock to the largest body of water (by volume) in Britain.

Loch Ness is the second-largest loch by surface area (22 square miles) next to Loch Lomond, and its depth of 126 fathoms, or 756 feet (230m) at its deepest point makes it the second-deepest loch in Scotland next to Loch Morar. It is a long loch, around 23 miles (37km) and its surface is 52 feet (16m) above sea level, hence the need for all the locks along the way! One brag for Loch Ness is that it contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales put together. 🙂

The weather was so perfect, we all stayed on the top deck, in front of the wheelhouse, just taking in the views and the fresh air. It was amazing how green the grass looked, interspersed with the bright yellow of the gorse bushes. Ducks and geese paddled along, hurriedly moving out of the way of the passage of the Glen Massan, and we could hear the distinctive call of a cuckoo as well as the unmistakeable uplifting song of the blackbirds. This was just idyllic, and we were just so pleased we had booked this trip on a former fishing trawler, so full of character.

Presently we passed by Urquhart Castle, and I was able to get some great photos. We also passed a grand, turreted building (which looked as if it had come out of a fairytale) which was proudly flying the Saltire. A quick look at Google told me it was Aldourie Castle, which was originally built in 1626 as a laird’s house, and is the only habitable castle on the shores of Loch Ness.

Going below decks to use the loo, the appetising aroma of freshly-brewed coffee tempted me into the saloon, where our fellow shipmates were gathering as it was now tea time. Helen the chef brought out a huge strawberry sponge cake and my resolve not to eat so much today rapidly disintegrated. It was absolutely scrumptious! 🙂

It was warm enough to take our coffee and cake out onto the stern deck, and sit at the large round wooden table so we could still enjoy the scenery as we ate. In fact, the sun on the back of my neck felt very hot indeed, and I decided to go back into the saloon. Then I read my book, did some of this blog, and just spent the time pottering around the boat until we started to approach our mooring for tonight.

It was around five o’clock when we reached Dochgarroch Lock (don’t you just love the Scottish names?) which is where we would be spending the night, and soon Skipper Iain was manoevring Glen Massan into her berth at a wooden landing stage, with Dan ready to make fast the ropes, helped by Trevor. What a stunning place!

By now, you’ll probably have noticed my repeated use of certain adjectives such as stunning, gorgeous, idyllic, breathtaking to describe our cruise so far. I don’t have adequate vocabulary to describe it all… I don’t think there’s any dictionary has adequate vocabulary. All I can say is that when I look at the water, the sky and the rugged landscape, and breathe in the fresh morning air laced with the evocative smell of the sea, it makes me go all funny inside.

Dinner tonight was a foodie’s dream as usual, and so very Scottish. We started with a chunky, savoury cock a’ leekie soup with freshly home-baked bread which was almost a meal in itself. This was followed by a melt-in-the-mouth Sole Meunière, in which the fish was cooked in a lemon and butter sauce and served with capers and asparagus all on a bed of fresh fennel. It was accompanied by new potatoes and a side of more butter and lemon sauce if you wanted it. It was all washed down with lemon infused water and chilled house wine. Yum yum. 🙂

The meal was finished with the delicious cheeseboard and coffee as usual, and we all sat around in pleasant post-prandial contentment as the early evening turned to dusk outside the windows of the Glen Massan. So far I’d not managed to get a sunset photo, and I wasn’t going to get one tonight either, because of the proximity of the mountains and trees.

However, the clouds had a lovely pale pinky-orange colour, which reflected beautifully on the still waters of the loch. It still made a great photo.

And so the night drew in, and one by one everyone apart from Trevor and I had disappeared back to their cabins to turn in. As it was just so silent and still outside, we decided to go and have a short walk in the calm night air to stretch our legs.

Then it was back to the Glen Massan and back to cabin #3 (JURA) where we too got washed and into our ‘jamas and settled down. What a wonderful day we had had once again – this had been an amazing cruise so far, and we tried not to think about the fact that tomorrow would be our last full day before it was time to go home.