I’m not going to lie, when we planned the drive up to Inverness from Edinburgh, the main reason was to visit the famous Loch Ness. I didn’t do a whole lot of research before planning, and since it was the winter there were no boat tours operating. It can seem a bit weird to plan a trip to a lake that you cant even go in but the presence of Urquhart Castle makes it worth it nonetheless. 
We actually stayed the night in Inverness (Inver…Ness) right on the River Ness, so we were a short drive from the Loch itself. On the drive, we hit a small snow storm and snow was just pouring down on us. We hopped into the entrance for tickets to the castle (and gift shop) and were ushered into a small theater that showed a brief movie on the history of the castle from the 6th-17th century – essentially it was always under attack and finally the guys that held the castle gave up, set the whole thing on fire, and walked away. Idiots. 
After they blow your mind with that final fact, the curtains of the theater open up to reveal floor to ceiling windows perfectly framing the castle in a beautiful view. For us, we were thrilled to see the snow had stopped and the sun had come out!
Since the weather had been, well, “under”… we were the only ones at the ruins for the first 30 min or so which was really cool (we didn’t have to do weird camera angles to cut ppl out of the photos!). The outlines of the rooms are identified with signs and small snippets of information, and you are able to go up into the 5-story tower for some gorgeaous views of the lake. You can even walk all the way down to the lake (or Loch) itself! Scotland is really such a beautiful country and this spot was no exception. The Urquhart Castle Ruins up against the backdrop of the loch and hills on a cloudy day met every expectation. 
While the castle and lake were beautiful, this post wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t mention the REAL reason the loch was on our trip itinerary…to see Nessie the Loch Ness monster! Honestly, it may seem a bit silly to visit a lake of a mythical creature but on the other hand, we had come so far not to at least visit the lake…so we could say we visited it! The jury is still out on whether or not Nessie exists (people have been arguing about it since the 7th century) – there are staunch believers and disbelievers on both sides of the story….I am not sure where I stand on the issue, but I think we came away with a pretty nice shot nonetheless 😉
If you’re making a trip to Inverness, don’t forget to head over to the Culloden Battlefield as well – you can find my post on that here!
On the other hand, if you’re in Scotland but not able to make it to Loch Ness, try heading to Lake Awe. The lake has several islands in it with remains of ancient castles on them – like Kilchum Castle, the most photographed castle in Scotland!
Xx
Kali