Day nine: Loch Ness

Yesterday was a day where the phrase, "travel like you're going to come back" totally applied. What I thought was going to be a quiet, 3 1/2 hour bus ride through the Highlands to Loch Ness where we would then get out and explore the area on our own for a while, turned out to be 12 hours of a bus tour. Aaaahhhhhhh, bus tours. On a list of things I really can't stand, bus tours are honestly in the top three. (Unless it's an open-top bus, because then at least you feel like you're a little closer to what you're seeing.) And then twelve hours of a bus tour? Jesus.

We kept stopping at those places that pay the bus companies to bring their passengers there for $5 coffee and $12 fish and chips. And then we got to the castle near Loch Ness, and had about half an hour to explore...only, you had to pay to get down to the castle itself, otherwise you could just look at it from the parking lot. Once we got to Loch Ness, we had twenty minutes to explore and take cheesy pictures in front of a few different fake Nessies. Then, it was a 3 1/2 hour ride back with the bus driver talking the whole way, just like the first leg.

Bleeehhhh.

The good part was the scenery was beautiful, and next time I'm in Scotland I definitely plan to go explore the area myself. It looks like there is some great hiking and camping up in the Highlands. Also, we saw a bridge where they filmed the Hogwarts Express for part of Harry Potter.

Here are a few pictures!