Loch Ness walking, swimming, chatting

I woke up at 5.30 again today 🙄 and couldn’t get back to sleep. After reading in bed with a brew for a while, and doing my quizzes, I decided to get up and go out.

I considered getting the bus to Dores at the end of Loch Ness, where a Nessie hunter lives and there’s a good swim spot and a lovely walk. However, when I checked the bus times, I found they’re so infrequent that the next one wasn’t until 13:30. This wouldn’t leave me much time to explore before I’d have to catch the bus back.

Instead, I decided to visit the waterfall again. It was peaceful as I climbed through the woods from the campsite but when I reached the waterfall it was much busier. What seemed like a coach-load of senior Americans were clogging up the paths to the viewpoint, having accessed the falls from the road above. Many of them didn’t seem to have any manners, not thanking me as I stood aside to let them pass as they came towards me!

Finally, I had the viewpoint to myself to enjoy the sound of the birds, the dappled sunshine and the roar of the waterfall. I also discovered a good spot to take photos of the falls, along a tiny path, well away from the main track.

Back at the campsite, James came over with carrot cake, so I made us both a cup of tea and we sat and chatted for an hour or so, until he went off on his ebike and I did some painting, practising some techniques… poorly! 🤣

Then, the lady in the motorhome next door came over. She’d seen my swimming kit on the washing line and asked me if I’d been swimming in Loch Ness. Like me, she’d read online that it’s not recommended because it’s so cold… only 9 degrees this week! She was desperate to give it a go so I lent her my wetsuit jacket and John’s neoprene gloves and socks, and off we went. She loved it and, as we chatted away, we ended up swimming for about 18 minutes, despite the cold wind and water!

After a hot shower, I ate curry and rice, washed up, then headed to bed with my wine to watch the last two episodes of my series. I’ve enjoyed time to myself, in one place, but I’m looking forward to John getting back, and to moving on to visit somewhere new. 😃