Urquhardt the Defiant!

The Rock of One Thousand Years.

Heading down the Great Glen, about halfway down Loch Ness, lies Castle Urquhart.  Without a doubt one of my favorite castles ever. Despite repeated attempts to destroy it, it has survived in one form or another for over a thousand years.   From earliest Pictish times this was a stronghold and a fortress. 

Parking is tricky and the best plan is to park in the valley and hike over a mile to the castle entrance.  Another plan would be to charter the ship Jacobite that can get you in much closer- but then you would need to return to Inverness. So the best plan is, as we say here, a wee walk from the valley below. Somehow our visit there was just right, and serendipitous in meeting up with the Bagpiper.