Drumnadrochit - Loch Ness - Urquhart Castle - Scottish Crannog Centre

Day 13

At mid-morning we leave Orkney to take the ferry back to the mainland.  We will then take a beautiful drive to the village of Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness where we will spend the next two nights.

Day 14

In the morning, we will take a boat ride on Loch Ness to the wonderful ruins of Urquhart Castle with its superb views across the Loch.  With its good natural defences, it was once home to a Pictish fort before the stone castle was built in the 13th century.  From the mid 1300s it was a Scottish royal castle but, during the Jacobite rising, it was occupied and blown up by English troops in 1692 and has been in ruins since.

In the evening, we will have our Group farewell dinner.

Day 15

On the last day of our tour, we will drive to Edinburgh and, on the way, visit the Scottish Crannog Centre on beautiful Loch Tay.  Crannogs are artificial or modified natural islands constructed from the early Iron Age.  Loch Tay contains the remains of 18 such sites and the Iron Age roundhouse at the Centre has been reconstructed on its original site joined to the shore by a 16 metre long timber walkway.  The Centre contains a small museum and exhibits of life in the Iron Age including woodworking, cooking and working with fibres.  The roundhouse gives a wonderful insight into the lives of the Celtic people who once lived on Loch Tay.

We then return to Edinburgh arriving late afternoon when our tour ends.