Day 7, July 8th Loch Ness CRUISE!

“After visiting the castle you board the Jacobite Queen and begin a wonderful cruise back into Inverness.” This boat – the Jacobite Spirit – docked at Urquhart Castle just before ours.

While waiting for our boat to arrive, we played with the WILD SWANS!

The Jacobite Queen arrived right on time. And we piled on board.

Inside were comfy booths. (All of which were FULL of silly people who didn’t know how much BETTER the view was OUTSIDE!) But MOST welcome, was the Full-Service BAR below deck!!!

My Full-Day Tour mates (Sandra from Holland, and Uki from Japan) joined me OUTSIDE the QUEEN, up in FRONT, for all the fantastic sights. “You have excellent views of the castle from the water then the Queen pulls out into deep water, turns and heads towards Inverness.”

Obviously, no mere camera (especially a little digital one like mine) can capture the vistas and
views I saw. So, I didn’t bother taking any “scenic” pix of the Loch Cruise.
However, after we cruised out of Loch Ness, I captured pix of our trek through the
Caledonian Canal.

Several private docks line the canal that connects Loch Ness with the River Ness (that runs through Inverness to the sea). This dock may or may not be the one we stopped at (duck-feeding pix) when traveling on the Bus to the Nessie Exhibit.

I don’t remember well (oh, surpriZe) … But, I think we went through TWO LOCKS to get from Loch Ness to Inverness.

I’d never been through a “lock” before. So, I was fascinated by it!

For others who haven’t done this; a canal’s “lock” system controls water-levels so that ships can go

from one “sea-level” to another, without bottoming out. (Locks prevent the water from running “down hill” and making the passage too shallow to navigate.) Here’s how it works: You pull into an area enclosed front and rear by huge water-tight gates. Then, water is either pumped IN (to raise the water level) … or OUT (to lower the water level).

Here you can see how the water level was LOWERED
so that we could travel on to Inverness.

Once the water level inside the gates is equal to the water level of the next section to be navigated, the forward gates open, and you sail into the next area.

“Finally, after arriving at Tomnahurich Swing Bridge about 5.30pm there is
courtesy transport to take you back into the city centre.”

Once back at the “city centre,” I jumped in my car and set off on
the 3 & ½ hour drive to PERTH!

Go DIRECTLY to the FIRST page o’ DAY EIGHT PIX:
PERTH Déjà VU!

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