Scottish Highlander barge.

Whatever the weather certain passenger cruise craft have to carry out their business and entertain their guests. During an interval in the recent misty weather we saw the Scottish Highlander barge go up to Urquhart Castle in the afternoon on one of its 7 day cruises.The 117ft long craft travels from Inverness to Fort Augustus on the first day of its cruise where it docks for the night and the entertainment begins. The following day it journeys back up Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle allowing passengers to view the ancient structure at close hand from the loch whilst enjoying drinkies and lunch prepared and cooked by a master chef . By the time the barge returned to Fort Augustus, passing our house en route, the night was beginning to close in and it looked quite magnificent lit up in the darkness. The Scottish Highlander barge caters luxuriously for 8 passengers and cruises along the Great Glen from Inverness to Fort William stopping for day trips to various sites of scenic or historic relevance along the way.

Loch Oich

On our journey down to Fort William recently we drove alongside Loch Ness for a while and over the mountain passing Loch Tarff. Skirted the village of Fort Augustus at the end of Loch Ness and enjoyed a leisurely journey to Loch Oich noticing all the time that the cloud base was getting lower. We had to stop at the swing bridge which was shut to allow the 'Lord of the Glens' cruise liner to pass through the Caledonian Canal from Loch Ness and onto a very mysterious misty Loch Oich.

2009 Loch Ness Marathon

We woke up to a clear blue sky this morning which was a welcome change from the rather blustery weather we have been experiencing lately. Very pleased about that as the 2009 Loch Ness Marathon starts at 10 a.m. this morning. Walked up the grass track passing the holiday cottage to the top road to wait for the runners entering the Baxters Loch Ness Marathon this year and to look out for local celebrities...Graeme Ambrose is still up and running and doing well.The race starts at Whitebridge and they run the 26 miles - initially along the south side of Loch Ness, up the punishing undulating uplands beyond Dores and eventually finish in Inverness by the River Ness. One of our guests was entering the Marathon for the first time so we watched and waited with Michelle and their dog Nikita. It was very chilly but great fun and we had some good laughs with the competitors as we tried to keep their spirits up. This year there were 3521 entrants for the Marathon and it was won by Simon Tonui from Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham in 2.20 + 13 secs.