Our Holiday in Inverness V

Day 5: Wednesday 7 October 2009

Henry enjoyed his morning walk at Allt na Criche - a rather steep and invigorating forest walk.

Fort Augustus was our main port of call today. It is a very pretty village set on Loch Ness, with the Caledonian Canal running through it, (and 23 locks, apparently).

We ate an industrial piece of cheesecake, but better coffee in the Moorings Cafe.

On the whole, Fort Augustus was too touristy for our liking, with coachloads of tourists milling around and jostling each other in the shops. Last time we visited (some years back), we took out a boat on Loch Ness and motored around for an hour, which was a lot of fun. Sadly, we did not catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster, but she may be out there somewhere... The volume of water contained in the Loch is amazing: it is 23 miles long and up to a mile wide in places and very, very deep.
Here I am lurking next to the UK's smallest lighthouse - cute!

We had a scenic drive back via Dingwall, Dornoch, Embo, and Nigg. The castle below could be seen from Dingwall and was surrounded by a swirling mass of rooks when we were there.

Dinner: Pizza Express, Inverness
JKW: melanzane parmigiana (aubergine in a garlicky tomato sauce), toffee glory (ice cream, toffee sauce, fudge pieces); glass of red wine.
RJW: Romana Pizza (vegetarian toppings), tiramisu, coke.
Cost: £34.20
The restaurant was glass fronted with a view of shoppers rushing by. The atmosphere was cheerful and lively. The staff were very pleasant and service was fast. One of our favourite meals of the holiday.