Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Loch Ness
Deep, dark and narrow, Loch Ness stretches for 23 miles between Inverness and Fort
Augustus. Its bitterly cold waters have been extensively explored in search of Nessie, the
elusive Loch Ness monster, but most visitors see her only in cardboard-cutout form at the
monster exhibitions. The busy A82 road runs along the northwestern shore, while the
more tranquil and picturesque B862 follows the southeastern shore. A complete circuit of
the loch is about 70 miles - travel anticlockwise for the best views.
STRANGE SPECTACLE ON LOCH NESS
Highland folklore is filled with tales of strange creatures living in lochs and rivers, notably the kelpie (water
horse) that lures travellers to their doom. The use of the term 'monster', however, is a relatively recent phenomen-
on, the origins of which lie in an article published in the
Inverness Courier
on 2 May 1933, entitled 'Strange
Spectacle on Loch Ness'.
The article recounted the sighting of a disturbance in the loch by Mrs Aldie Mackay and her husband: 'There
the creature disported itself, rolling and plunging for fully a minute, its body resembling that of a whale, and the
water cascading and churning like a simmering cauldron.'
The story was taken up by the London press and sparked off a rash of sightings that year, including a notorious
on-land encounter with London tourists Mr and Mrs Spicer on 22 July 1933, again reported in the
Inverness Cour-
ier:
The London newspapers couldn't resist. In December 1933 the
Daily Mail
sent Marmaduke Wetherall, a film
director and big-game hunter, to Loch Ness to track down the beast. Within days he found 'reptilian' footprints in
the shoreline mud (soon revealed to have been made with a stuffed hippopotamus foot). Then in April 1934 came
the famous 'long-necked monster' photograph taken by the seemingly reputable Harley St surgeon Colonel Ken-
neth Wilson. The press went mad and the rest, as they say, is history.
In 1994, however, Christian Spurling - Wetherall's stepson, by then 90 years old - revealed that the most fam-
ous photo of Nessie ever taken was in fact a hoax, perpetrated by his stepfather with Wilson's help. Today, of
course, there are those who claim that Spurling's confession is itself a hoax. And, ironically, the researcher who
exposed the surgeon's photo as a fake still believes wholeheartedly in the monster's existence.
Hoax or not, there's no denying that the bizarre mini-industry that has grown up around Loch Ness and its mys-
terious monster since that eventful summer three-quarters of a century ago is the strangest spectacle of all.
Activities
The 73-mile
Great Glen Way
(
www.greatglenway.com
)
long-distance footpath stretches
from Inverness to Fort William, where walkers can connect with the
West Highland
