August 17 – a chilly but sunny forecast for today. The temp was in the 40s this morning, so I wore my sweatshirt and fleece jacket. We headed into the woods, and stayed there most of the morning, occasionally glimpsing Loch Ness through the trees.

Then we got to a clearing, and there it was!

No monster sightings today. We read that the last Nessie sighting was in 1985, so we don’t hold out much hope for one, but we’ll keep looking!

We amused ourselves at a traffic reflector in the middle of the woods:

Pretty soon we came to Invermoriston, which has one hotel, a collection of guesthouses, and no other services. They have a very welcoming sign:

They have an old bridge, one of over a thousand built by Thomas Telford in the early 1800s to improve communication and transportation in the Highlands.

They have a waterfall:

They have standing stones:

They have a memorial to the fallen of the great wars. The WWI memorial contained two soldiers that share Jim’s surname! We look for the names of our forebears in every town, but these are the first we’ve found. Like so many names in America, Jim’s was changed many generations ago from MacLennan to McClenon. We count it as a match.

There is also St. Columba’s well. St. Columba was an Irish evangelist who came to Scotland in the year 563 to convert the Picts to Christianity. In 565, when a sea monster in Loch Ness (first Nessie sighting ever!) attacked his traveling companions, he banished it to the bottom of the Loch. So, this well used to have toxic water that made people break out in boils and die, but after St. Columba blessed it, the water was pure and cured people of their ills. The well is blocked off so you can’t get to the water.

So, now we are in another lovely guesthouse. We are full of lasagna and planning tomorrow’s hike. Good night!