Loch Ness and around

Twenty-three miles long, unfathomably deep, cold and often moody, Loch Ness is bounded by rugged heather-clad mountains rising steeply from a wooded shoreline and attractive valleys opening up on either side. Its fame, however, is based overwhelmingly on its legendary inhabitant Nessie, the "Loch Ness monster", whose fame ensures a steady flow of hopeful visitors to the settlements dotted along the loch, in particular Drumnadrochit. Nearby, the impressive ruins of Castle Urquhart - a favourite monster-spotting location - perch atop a rock on the lochside and attract a deluge of bus parties during the summer. Almost as busy in high season is the village of Fort Augustus, at the more scenic southwest tip of Loch Ness, where you can watch queues of boats tackling one of the Caledonian Canal's longest flight of locks. Away from the lochside, and seeing a fraction of Loch Ness's visitor numbers, the remote glens of Urquhart and Affric make an appealing contrast, with Affric in particular boasting narrow, winding roads, gushing streams and hillsides dotted in ancient Caledonian pine forests.

Although most visitors use the tree-lined A82 road, which runs along the western shore of Loch Ness, the sinuous single-track B862/B852 (originally a military road built to link Fort Augustus and Fort George) that skirts the eastern shore is quieter and affords far more spectacular views. However, buses from Inverness along this road only run as far south as Foyers, so you'll need your own transport to complete the whole loop around the loch, a journey which includes a most impressive stretch between Fort Augustus and the high, hidden Loch Mhor.

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