Good news: it is sunny and clear again today. It should be perfect weather to spot the Loch Ness Monster. Like all of you, I am a skeptic.
As we are leaving town, traffic is stopped, backed up. An accident? Long signal? This is the Ness River, could it be the...
Then, a boat goes by in front of us. We are at a drawbridge. A boat sailing by across the road; an illusion.
Soon we are driving along Loch Ness, and our eyes are wide open. I use the telephoto on my camera, spend time just searching. But we didn't have to worry about searching for the Loch Ness Monster, because it turns out Nessie has multiplied and is easy to find. I can state with authority that Nessie is green, friendly looking, and made of plastic. It lives mostly in gift stores, but has been spotted in other strange places such as the loo. Hoax and illusion, or myth and folklore? Say it isn't so! I believe.
We stop by the Urquhart Castle along the shores of the loch. Of course, like most things in the UK, they want to charge you to tour it, or even take photos. I find a hole in the hedgerow filled in with dead thorny branches, so I push them aside and take a photo. Back to buddy, then head out to the coast. Our sunny day disappears into the clouds; soon it is raining.
The Eilean Donan Castle rises out of the mist near the Skye bridge, then we cross over and we know we are on the Island of Skye, though we can't see much in the mist and rain. This is reputed to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world, but we would never be able to tell.
There's a hike we want to take... the rain is actually blowing sideways. A scenic drive, but all we see is fog. We find the Talisker Distillery, but everyone in a hundred miles is here and the next open tour spot is two hours away, so we change plans again and head to our B&B. There would be a beautiful view out our window, we are right on the bay, so we huddle up in the lounge for a while and read.
When the rain seems to let up a little, we head into Portree, but the rain blows sideways in under our umbrella, so we are soaked from the shoulders down. We press into the wind and fight our way to Cafe Arriba, a brightly colored, beach-vibe sort of place upstairs over the harbour. It was warm, and smelled that good smell of warm soup, coffee and chocolate dessert. Neil Young was playing in the background as we ate hot, spicy tomato basil soup. I had a steak sandwich with onions, cheese and chili sauce. Just the perfect foods on a wet wet day.
We linger a while, then head out again, but the wind and rain are unrelenting; everyone we see is hustling along, huddled down clutching hoods, umbrellas turned inside out, so we head back to our room, set our clothes out to dry and settle in with a bottle of wine and our books.
Tomorrow? Tomorrow is a new day.