Heroes and Battles in the Glen

And now I have time to think.. lying in a four poster bed that is ancient.....
Yesterday was big! We travelled from Inverness down through the glens to the west and back via Fort William and Callander.

Watching Loch Ness

Forests are beautiful at this time of year and the silver birch and ash are green to the point of being bright lime! These forests line Loch Ness. This loch is huge.... very long and deep. Looking at the place it is possible that , in the 6th century, there was a creature sighted by someone.... must be a lonely life for a Nessie though unless there is a huge hidden family! So many people out looking!
There is one centre for the tourist minded and in there you can buy all kinds of things relating to Nessie. I refrained but had a few temptations!

So we went on..... and on.............
There is a great ruined castle on the banks of the loch - Urquart Castle. I was so busy trying to get things into focus and then I found the thing I wanted and then .. perfect focus.. what a pic this would be!!!!

I saw it to the left!

Except for the fact that had not put Le Specs on and had taken a most inspirational photo of the fir tree just in front of me! Thought the zoom was extra efficient!
However. This is what I was looking at in reality

Urqhart Castle on Loch Ness

Onwards...... towards Fort Augustus and Fort William. These were two towns that the English had so they could control the activities of the Highlanders- after the evictions form the crofts, the highlanders still wanted their homes back... funny? The English wanted it all for themselves so they effectively governed the highlands.

Moving on from these places, we were about to go into the most majestically awesome amazing Glen - The Great Glen . Geologically massive with the ancient evidence of glaciation carved into its visage. green masses of rock towering and a smooth U shaped bottom of the valley.

This was where the infamous Glencoe Massacre occurred.Glencoe Massacre

Moving on.... still distances to go... and it wasn't until around 7 or so that we got to Callander where food would be appreciated. Found a beautiful restaurant called the Roman Camp, on account of there being found some roman runs close by. The Romans had never really stayed here though and had moved back to the safety of Hadrians Wall. 

This food was beautiful- elegant service, in a house built in the 1600's and obviously owned by wealthy folk.

Then home..... where we arrived at about 10.30.....