This blog post is dedicated to my best friend Lorraine Cran and her son Ben as well as her Auntie Kay and Uncle Jackie
Picture of Loch Ness at Dores in 2012
The Loch Ness Monster Story
Before I tell my story of Loch Ness and cover the bit about dreams coming true, I thought I'd do a quick summary of the Loch Ness monster story.
So we have all heard of Loch Ness haven't we and most importantly we've all heard of Nessie, the monster who lurks beneath the Loch's deep dark water? Loch Ness is so deep it contains more fresh water than all of the lakes of England and Wales combined! The water is exceptionally murky due to the high peat content. Loch Ness lies close to Inverness in the highlands of Scotland and their have been legends swirling around it for over 1500 years.
Picture of Loch Ness from 2006
The myths of a monster were started by St Columba - well by the monk who wrote the Life of St Columba about a century after he died. Now St Columba travelled the length of Britain as many Celtic places have claims to him including Cornwall, Wales and the highlands and islands of Scotland. It is claimed he was visiting the Picts near what is now Inverness and he found them with a fisherman who had recently died. The locals claimed the fisherman had been mauled by a water monster. However, this happened in the river Ness not the Loch. Any way St Columba made one of his side kicks swim into the river and when the water monster duly appeared, the St showed the monster the cross and forbade it from doing any harm. The water monster obliged and fled in terror and naturally the Picts declared it a miracle and converted to Christianity. A legend was born. Now if you can read latin you can read the actual source document from the late 7th or early 8th Century, which has been put online here. You've got to love the internet and Wikipedia for alerting me to the fact that this manuscript held in a Swiss library is now online!
Tree on bank of Loch Ness 2006
I read about the St Columba story whilst visiting Urquhart Castle near Drumnadrochit earlier this year with my friend Lorraine and her son Ben. Urquhart Castle is fascinating in its self, perched on the edge of Loch Ness ever watchful. I wonder if the walls of the castle could talk whether they'd spin yarns about the times they had seen Nessie? The day I visited Urquhart Castle it was sunny and the Loch's dark mirror like waters reflected that deep blue back at us.
Urquhart castle 2015
About 3 weeks before Lorraine, Ben and I visited Urquhart castle some tourists from the Philippines shot video there, which claims to be of Nessie or at least a strange whirl pool like ripple effect you sometimes see when a large fish or animal is about to emerge from water. You can read about their encounter and see the video here. I particularly like the fact that their local guide was waiting in the car whilst they looked around and then took the footage, because of course he'd seen it all before! Naturally he is a believer and has his own Nessie sighting story. You find very few locals who aren't believers in my experience. Yes, cynics say, well it's in the locals interest to perpetuate the myth; it brings in tourists! But once you've been to the Loch there is no denying that it is not only stunningly beautiful but also incredibly eery.
Of course there was a long gap between St Colunba's initial sighting and the modern Nessie myth as we know it.
Loch Ness from Urquhart castle, the same day as above but cloud cover changes the surface to a silvery shimmer within seconds 2015
Glimpsing the Loch through Urquhart Castle ruins 2015
Although there is an account of a Victorian seeing a strange creature in the Loch, there is little information before then about any other sightings. It's important to bear in mind that Loch Ness is incredibly remote especially so before the 20th Century. A study of Scottish folklore relating to kelpie and other water creatures showed that Loch Ness was the most mentioned setting for such stories. Modern eye witness account don't begin in earnest until 1933 that coincides with the road being built along side the Loch, which opened up the area for business and crucially tourism. The first reported sighting of Nessie in 1933 was by tourists and Nessie wasn't in the water at all at first, they saw her moving across the road and into the Loch! Then a motorcyclist blamed crashing his bike, later in 33, on seeing the monster also.
Later in the 1930s came the famous "surgeon's photos" in the 1970s the most famous of the two pictures was declared a hoax. However interest in Nessie in the 1930s was strong enough that the Chief Constable for Invernesshire police wrote in 1938 that he was genuinely concerned about hunters killing Nessie!
Over the following decades right up until this year there have been more sightings, more dodgy photography, more shaky films, more confirmed hoaxes, more genuinely intriguing stories but nothing definitive. There is even a theory that Nessie is now dead.
You can read a summary of sightings, photos and films of Nessie on Wikipedia or far more in-depth information on this blog all about Nessie
Loch Ness Tree 2012
My Loch Ness Story
I always wanted to visit Loch Ness, I liked the idea of there being some large prehistoric aquatic creature living there. Then in 1992 I watched a TV programme about Loch Ness featuring a man who had given up his job and had gone to live on the banks of Loch Ness in a library van. He now dedicated his life to making clay Nessie models and to searching for the Loch Ness Monster. I have a feeling I watched the TV programme before starting university and the spirit of this man living in his mobile library van stuck with me. I love the romantic notion of leaving it all behind and escaping to a simpler way of life. I know in reality I'd get sick of the cold and I'd get bored but still I saw it as a really hopeful story. To the extent that 5 years later I got the opportunity to visit Loch Ness and I immediately thought of this man.
Loch Ness and Sky 2012
At the time I was staying with my friend Lorraine at her Auntie Kay's house. We talked about visiting Loch Ness and I told them about the library van man, not only did they know who I meant but that night there was a repeat of the programme about him! So we drove over to Dores, where he was pitched up with his van, and there he was still living his dream as a Nessie hunter and selling his models. I still have the model of Nessie I bought from him on the window sill in my study.
Anyway the man with the library van (I'm not sure if he still has it) is called Steve Feltham. You can read a great article about him (originally in the Guardian) here on the Dores website. Steve has a website too with lots of info on it and even a facebook group! I really recommend you read the article linked to above as it is a very inspiring read for anyone who wants to pursue a creative dream or is just tired of the rat race.
Loch Ness and Trees 2012
Since 1997 I have visited Loch Ness many times, usually with my friend Lorraine and I never tire of its ever changing beauty and its mystery. Loch Ness truly is enchanting whether we ever find out what is lurking beneath its surface or not. Sometimes I wonder if the mystery is better than finding out it's all been hoaxes and otter sightings!
Loch Ness and wooden Nessie 2012
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