Visiting Loch Ness

Ghd_Repairer

Dear Potential Visitor to Loch Ness

I am Paisley born and have visited many countries recently as an excercise my two daughters and I took a ryanair flight to marsielle hired a car and threw caution to the wind the scenery was beautifulll the locals were very helpfull and we found accomodation fairly easily just by asking around we finally ended up in paris before flying back to prestwick It was a great Time and my daughters will never forget it.

I would say to you the same applies to lochness and you are right the visitor centres are manned by people who treat you like a commodity Ignore them the beauty is still there and don't let anyone put you off

By the way the owner of the lochness monster museum is the chirpiest Bloke ever and although small it is well worth a visit.

If you don't like it drive a couple of hours in any direction and find something Different, If you like Quiet Visit Islay and go stand where the lord of the Isles ruled the west of scotland.

Good luck

iz007

I've pretty much decided now that the Loch News visitor centres are out. I will get a guide book from the library and read that whilst driving by! Sound like the "loop route" is a great way to see the area at it's best so will plan for that on one of the days.

I've also just found there is a ceilidh in Fort Augustus on Wednesdays in June, July and August so will be doing that, sounds like great fun!

We hope to spend half a day in Inverness (planning to visit Culloden on the same day) so if anyone has any "must visit" tips for there let me know.

Thanks again for all the replies, it's really helped with my holiday planning!

cdam

If it is a nice day do the Ness Islands loop walk, not too taxing, lovely scenery. If you have young ones a trip to Whinn Park, at the south end of the Ness Islands and across the river is great, although you may struggle to get them to leave. Museum is OK for half an hour, near the Tourist centre and town Hall.

I haven't been to Culloden since the new visitor centre opened, but hear good things about it.

A trip out to beauly along the Coast Road (i.e. not over the bridge but maybe coming back that way) is a lovely short drive. Beauly is very small but has a nice deli/ restaurant among other things.

Otherwise, just walk around, it is all very compact and do-able.

scbk

If you're going through Beauly there is a pipe band (and usually country dancing) in the square every thursday night in the summer


http://www.whatsoninverness.com/listings/2481/beauly-pipe-band

pogofish

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

IS Deet banned in the UK?

Nope. And for all that DEET is a pretty dubious stuff to put on your skin, it is still the best general repellant you can get.

Personally, I'd reccomend Boots silver tin repellant (yellow tin is ok too, bit weaker), which is good and often on BOGOFF. It also lacks the nasty solvents of some other repellants eg Jungle Formula - which although good, can rot synthetic fabrics and damage any plastics it comes in contact with.

pogofish

ailuro2 wrote: »

Buy your Avon Skin So Soft now... it helps a bit with the midges I'm told.(since DEET is banned in the UK) If you're lucky enough to land up in an area without them then you'll just have lovely soft skin. If you don't take it you will be sorry you didn't.;)

Don't waste your money - All that about Skin so Soft and its midgie-scaring properties or how the forces use it is just a myth. Something like this comes round every year or so, same with Marmite, mozzie bands etc.

Any repellance it has comes from solvents that evaporate when you first spread it on your skin - Once these have evaporated, after about two minutes, the residue is next to useless.

Even the added-DEET version that AVON produced to cash-in on the stories is very poor compared to most other repellants.

If you don't like or can't tolerate DEET, there are other repellants eg Autan or a number of essential oil based preps, eg Bog Myrtle or Neem oil but although reasonable, these do tend to lose their effectiveness faster.

Lastly, you might find that chain smoking and drinking whisky is a surprisingly good way to keep them at bay, or you will stop caring about it soon enough!

As for Loch Ness, I usually regard the A82 side as somewhere to get past/through as quickly as possible, with maybe a toilet stop at Drumnadrochit but as mentioned above the B862 side and the little roads/places in the hills behind it is a great place.