On Day five of my hike I was doing another 15-20 kilometres day walking from Alltsigh to Lewiston. My Dad had raved about his experience in Drumnadrochit the community is relatively blended into Lewiston.
The hiking on this day was pleasant as the day was beautiful and sunny, yet not too warm. The path rose above the Loch Ness with views in between the trees. As the path got closer to Lewiston the trail merged onto country roads until, right before the road descended down the last hill, a path cut to the west taking me through a wooded and pasture area into the south end of Lewiston.
Lewiston and Drumnadrochit was a good place to stop with a number of nice coffee shops and restaurants. As well as some local sites to explore.
The modern focus on the Loch Ness monster has a base in Drumnadrochit with the Loch Ness Centre on the North end of Drumnadrochit. This multi-media experience tells the history of Loch Ness and its famed monster, providing the background going back centuries to Saint Columba and then the more modern sightings and scientific work done to try and find the alleged sea monster that people felt existed in Loch Ness. It was an interesting way to learn more about this.
Later in the afternoon I walked the three kilometres south east of Lewiston to Castle Urquhart. This ruin of an old castle is managed by Historic Scotland. Enough of the ruins are there to give a sense of the space and the site does a solid job of telling the history of the location and its inhabitants. Inside the Visitor centre there is a video on the history. Then walking out from the Visitor Centre the site has a lot of plaques giving more information. Urquhart Castle sits on a site with over a millennium of history starting with Scottish Chieftains in the seventh century who liked the strategic location as an entry point to the highlands behind Loch Ness. Over time the site had become a home to the early Scottish kings and later captured by the England monarchy in 1296. Over the centuries it was attached and traded hands between various groups and raiding parties from the Islands and Highlands of Scotland. The Grant family was gifted it by the British monarchs in the 16th Century as a means of presence to offset growing Jacobite threats. They held it but were attacked by Jacobites in 1790 and fled the castle. When the Jacobites left they blew up the main gates and the site was left to ruin subsequently. In the 1990s Historic Scotland took control of the site to develop the tourist site I was able to visit.
I ended the day at the Loch Ness Inn and the Lewiston pub for a tasty meal. I knew I had a long day ahead for my find day on the Great Glen Way.
BorealHiker 