Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

Last night we had a late dinner at the hotel.  The dinner was a two course meal, and we added a desert for each couple.  I had the prosciutto and melon plate to and Jim had the skenk soup to start. I had the sea bass and Jim had the venison steak for the main course, and we split a toffee topped cheesecake.  It was a very good dinner, and good way to end the day.  

Urquhart Castle (Cell Phone Picture)

Today started with a hearty breakfast at 8:00AM.  I had scrambled eggs with sausage and Jim had fried toast, a fried egg, sausage, and baked beans, and both breakfast were combined with toast and breakfast tea.  After Breakfast we headed out to find a grocery store to get bottled water, then headed out to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.  

On the way out to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle we stopped at Tomatin Distillery to pick up expressions we cannot get in the US.  Sadly, Jim could not taste anything because he was driving but he still picked up a few bottles.  Bill, did taste a few of the scotches, and ended up filling his own bottle directly from the casks in the tasting room and got to fill out a hand label for it.  After that we continued on to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.

Urquahart Castle is located along the shore in about the middle of Loch Ness.  It has been around since the 13th century.  The castle is now in ruins but still very explorable.  I was able to climb up several of the towers and look out over the loch.  After thoroughly exploring the castle we headed to the Loch Ness gift shop. Yes it is a tourist trap but I was looking for Nessie Christmas ornaments which they did not have.  From there we headed back towards the hotel and to get dinner.  Sadly there few places to eat in this area.  We stopped in Charlestown of Aberlour to eat, which has a total of three restaurants of which one is a take-out place.  So not a lot of options.  We ate at place just called restaurant, all the sign said, and was full of people on a bus tour.  The food was decent. That basically ended our day.

For tomorrow it looks like we will be going to several distilleries and a local castle which also has a distillery.