Day 3: Scottish Highlands: Loch Lomond, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness

On Day 3, we were heading to the Scottish Highlands. On the way we stopped at Loch Lomond, Fort William, and finally we would be at Loch Ness.

The Scottish Highlands is the area northwest of the Highland Boundary Fault, which is basically a fault zone that goes from west coast (around Arran and Helensburgh) to east coast (around Aberdeen) of Scotland.

Some facts about Scotland: it covers around 78,000 square kilometer. It has over 30,000 lochs (lake in Gaelic). The highest point of Scotland is the peak of Ben Nevis. Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language that has been in Scotland since the 4th century. It is one of the official languages in Scotland. Otherwise people also speak Scottish English in Scotland.

Our first destination was Loch Lomond. "Loch" is the Scottish Gaelic word for lake. Loch Lomond is the largest stretch of freshwater in the Britain. I heard Loch Lomond is one of the most scenic landmark in Scotland. We got there early in the morning (around 8am?), stopped by and took some pictures.

Loch Lomond wasn't our main destination, so we only swang by and took a pic or two.

More information about Loch Lomond: http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/

After Loch Lomond, we were off to Loch Ness, which is in the north of the Highlands. On the way, we stopped at Fort William to see the summit of Ben Nevis, the highest summit of Britain (1340m). It was beautiful. Ben Nevis is covered by snow all year round. 

Journey continued driving up to the north of the Highlands. We finally get to Loch Ness. Like Loch Lomond, Loch Ness is also a freshwater lake. Loch Ness is incredibly deep and it extends itself almost 40 km southwest of Inverness. Loch Ness is famous for its legend of "Ness Monster," an aquatic animal. It was first mentioned in the biography of St. Columba (A.d 565) that Ness Monster attacked one of his monks. Later on there have been more people that have seen the monster. Scientists have tried for the last two decades, but so far no one can bring up conclusive evidence that Ness exists. It is believed that Loch Ness might be too deep (more than 300m) that even SONAR cannot work through the sandy underwater.

There is even an official website for Loch Ness Monster, check it out! http://www.nessie.co.uk/

Stream of Loch Ness

Boat departing for Loch Ness tour

Walk path along the Loch Ness. Seeing autumn leaves in December, so lovely.

A Scottish wedding was going on. Fun to see Scottish man wearing kilt.

 That is it for the Highlands! Not too much information but I hope you enjoy this post!