EuRo TrIp - DaY 3

Day 3 was a big day for us. We were hunting NESSIE, aka the Loch Ness Monster! We booked a 3 hour tour to ride along Loch Ness and see the Urquhart Castle. We kept our eyes open the whole way to the castle looking for Nessie, but she's a pretty good hider and unfortunately, none of us saw her. The castle itself was pretty cool, maybe not my favorite castle of all castles, but cool regardless.

Here's your Scottish history lesson for the day, feel free to skip the next paragraph if you don't really care.

"It is not known precisely when the castle was built, but records show the existence of a castle on this site from the early 13th century. The area had been granted to the Durward family in 1229, and they were probably the builders of the castle. It was certainly in existence in 1296, as it was captured by Edward I of England at this time. It was besieged by Sir Andrew de Moray in the course of his clearing the English from northern Scotland. Sir Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood was Constable of Urquhart Castle in 1329, and his grandson Robert Chisholm succeeded him in 1359. The castle was seized from the Crown in the mid-fifteenth century by the Earl of Ross, but recovered shortly afterwards. In 1509, it was given as a gift to the Grants, whose ownership lasted until 1912. During this period, the MacDonalds captured the castle in 1545, while it was also captured by a Covenanter force in 1644. The castle was then largely destroyed in 1692 by Williamite troops who had been holding the castle against Jacobite forces (Gifford 1992, 217). The intention was to ensure that the castle could not become a Jacobite stronghold, an intention that was fully achieved as the castle was never repaired and remained as a ruin."

~Thanks Wikipedia!

Here's the LOCH NESS

Mom, Brother Bazzie and me in front of the Ness

The only Nessie we could find!

Captain Ronnie and me on the boat ride

Urquhart Castle

The Trebuchet - the sign says it is the medieval equivalent of the big guns today.

Me sporting Perrin's highland cow hat we bought at the gift store. The wind came and I found it necessary to wear the hat. Side note: I had one goal in going to the highlands, and that was to see a highland cow. (Please see below) BUT I think they are just a myth and don't really exist. Because although I saw MANY cows, I didn't see any highland ones. Well, on the way back from Urquhart there were some WAY up in the fields, but I'm not going to count it. I wanted to pet one and bring it home. Didn't happen. Trip unsuccessful.

This is a highland cow and calf, so cute! Right?

And as for the rest of day 3, I think we pretty much took it easy. It was nap time and then dinner and then back to pack for tomorrow we will hit the road again!