July 5, 2008 - Loch Ness

We woke up this morning to another beautiful morning. We had clear blue sky and fluffy clouds.

Loch Ness is a narrow lake, only about a mile and a half wide. However it's 24 miles long. We watched a short video about the history of the sightings of Nessie.

We took a boat ride on the loch, searching for Nessie and/or other great sights. There is a castle on the lake called Urquhart Castle. Very scenic. While we were on the loch the captain let each of us drive the boat (no swans for me this time). We didn't see Nessie but we had a great time on the loch.

On the way to Loch Ness this morning I saw a field full of deer grazing. I couldn't get to my camera in time to take a picture, but it was quite a sight.

We have CD of songs that we play on the bus. Ray and Andrew started dancing to a song called "She's So Lovely." It's become a favorite, and the delegates request it every day. So, today all the leaders and the manager were up and dancing. It was a hoot, but I'm afraid we're all a part of the act now.

We ate at a cute little restaurant in Aervimore called The Bistro. It was just a chicken and rice casserole with vegetables, but it was plentiful and tasty.

We've seen plenty of sheep while we've been here. This afternoon we visited a sheep farm and saw a demonstration of sheep dogs herding the sheep. We also saw a sheep being sheared with hand clippers. The delegates also got to do a little of the shearing, and were given a piece of the wool. The puppies were still learning how to herd, so they worked with ducks. It was too cute!

On the way back to Spean Bridge we had time to stop at a park to just play and relax a little. We even had a spirited relay race.

One of the delegates bought a kilt today, and wore it to dinner tonight. He was very stylish.

We've been noticing how much daylight there is around here. It's light at 4:30 in the morning, and still pretty light at 10 at night. I commented that it reminded me of Alaska. One of the locals said that we're in the same latitudinal range. Now it all makes sense.

Tomorrow we'll pack up early and head for Pitlochry.