Of salmon, birds of prey and loch monsters

Day 13: Rogart to Drumnadrochit
Km driven: 208

We left Jessica at the train station (where you have to flag down the train for it to stop) and started our morning at the falls of Shin, where when lucky you can see salmon jumping. We saw one!!

Our next destination was Dunrobin Castle in Golspie, the castle of the Dukes of Sutherland. The castle is full of historical furniture and paintings of the family. The nursery has a service of plates and dishes painted with the adventures of a mischievous cat. So cute! The library's and the study's floor are strewn with lion, leopard and other big feline pelts. We could imagine the ladies in the drawing room and the gentlemen in the billard room.

But what we really came for,  apart for the fabulous view over the sea hidden in the mist, was the falconry show. A hawk, an owl and a falcon. We learned everything about the difference between the gliding, silent hunters (the sailor) and the flapping, equally silent hunters (the rower). The first sits in a tree and waits for a bunny to walk by before stooping on it. The second flaps his wings to take height before looking for and stooping on a prey.

The falconer would get right behind a spectator before offering a piece of bait on his glove to the bird, making it glide right over our heads to the ooohs and aaahs of the audience. When rewarding a special trick (or teaching a new bird new tricks), he would offer a "chicken mcnugget": ...a dead chick, gotten from a farm interested only on keeping female chicks for egg laying.

To open our appetite after those emotions, we went on the Big Burn Walk, a nice stroll down a burn to see its falls. We were out of the mist then and the water and the most stones offered us a spectacular time.

We yielded then to the call of the fish and chips. The nice bellyfull made us sleepy (a dangerous combination on the road), and a coffee later we arrived safely to the Groam House museum. There we learned what little is known about Pictish stones. A quick stop to what little was left of Fortrose' cathedral and we were on our way to Inverness and its Loch.

Mid-way along the Loch Ness, we found our hostel (sporting a rendition of Nessie). We left our bags and went to Urquhart Castle for a view of the Loch at sunset. Nessie didn't show up so we went back to a night with a snoring roommate. (The hazards of youth hostels.)