The Fairies of Brora
Our first stop on the way down was at a place called Brora where fairies live!
We just stopped to have a look around and for a hot chocolate. There was a good recommendation of a chocolate cafe in one of our books. It was sadly closed on a Monday but we did manage to find another cafe and it was a good alternative.
We parked in a car park and as we were walking into town we walked by some woods and found a sign that said “Jubilee Walk” . This is what we found.
Golspie Beach
After visiting the fairies we headed down a bit further to Golspie beach where I managed to get a swim in and then have lunch.
The Mermaid of The North
After Golspie we decided to go and see ‘The Mermaid of The North’at Balintore. I have seen photos of her before and was very keen to go and see her in ‘real life’. She was quite magnificent and well worth going to see.
It’s a really lovely story about her and well worth zooming in to read.
The Fyrish Monument
Next stop was The Fyrish Monument. Something we nearly missed as the Sat Nav just didn’t want to take us there!
On our third attempt we were driving on what turned out to be a very long driveway! The lady whose property it was passed us in a small truck and asked if we were looking for Fyrish Monument, when we said ‘yes’ she told us we were on a private driveway! She said that loads of people make the same mistake, guessing it is what everyone’s sat nav picks up?
We had already seen a field with deer running wild, so it would have been very interesting to see what her property looked like at the end of the very long driveway.
Loch Ness
The NC500 starts and ends at Inverness. The famous Loch Ness is also at Inverness so it’s an apt end to our NC500 trip. For us it started a bit further up at Ullapool once we got the ferry back from Lewis and Harris.
I have been to Loch Ness before but a while back and before I got into open water swimming. This time swimming at Loch Ness was definitely on my list.
I was very lucky to have found a swimming partner. I joined ‘The Inverness Swimmers’ on FB and arranged to meet up with a lady called Tracey who is an admin of the group. We met at Dores Beach which I believe is a popular place to swim at Loch Ness.
It was actually a very cold windy day and unlike any other loch or lake I’d ever swum in, Loch Ness had waves! Mainly caused by the wind Tracey said. Nevertheless I don’t think I would have gone in on my own. Tracey obviously knew the area and the loch. I’d actually read that Loch Ness was a constant 5 degrees celsius all year! This wouldn’t have stopped me but it did turn out to be untrue! Obviously you can’t believe everything that you read!
If you’re able to pop over to my instagram you can see us both on video
Here are some other photos of Loch Ness
I was still able to swim here quite happily in a swimsuit as I always do but it was a fierce cold wind getting changed after and as you can see I’m all wrapped up in my dry robe and hat whilst Tracey is not even looking cold in her jumper. We actually stayed in for 25 minutes. Very grateful to Tracey for meeting and swimming with me. Always good to have some local company. On my own I probably would have only dipped for 5 minutes if I had have been brave enough to go in 🤣
Just in case you are wondering I didn’t see “Nesse” 🤣
Time to go and get warm. We drove a bit further south along Loch Ness and stopped at a nice cafe for a toasted sandwich and mocha. I had to have two mochas to get warm!
Then we were ready to go and see The Fall of Foyers which is literally across the road from the cafe. It involved a short walk which was all downhill but obviously we did have to come up again but was definitely worth it, the falls actually drop fifty metres.
Well, this was now the end of our NC500 tour. Next we were heading back down through Cairngorms National Park and back to Hamilton to Julie and Andy’s again. In case you missed our previous post, Andy is Dee’s cousin and Hamilton is about 40 minutes from Glasgow.
We hope you are enjoying our blog and we’d love you to follow us
You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram, just click the icons below.
Our Life on the Road 