Nessie monster in lake scotland. The Mysterious History of the Loch Ness Monster. Loch Ness is a draw for tourists and scientists these days

November 12, 1933 someone Hugh Gray took the first photograph of a monster that supposedly lives in the Scottish lake Loch Ness. World fame for this photo was brought by the publication in the British newspaper "Daily Sketch".

Under public pressure, the following year, the Scottish Parliament was forced to put on the agenda the issue of the existence of Nessie - that's how the monster was nicknamed in the press. The deputies discussed the possibility of allocating funds for the study of Loch Ness and its inhabitants. However, heated parliamentary battles did not lead to anything.

Researchers have not yet found evidence that the Loch Ness monster really exists. AiF.ru has collected seven of the most interesting facts related to the Nessie phenomenon.

What is the name of the Loch Ness Monster?

The ancient Celts called the monster that lives in the Scottish lake by the rude name of Nisag. And now his affectionate name is Nessie. This name is short for Loch Ness.

Loch Ness monster. Photo by Robert Wilson, 1934. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Loch Ness monster seen over 400 years ago

The first written mention of a mysterious creature that lives in the waters of Loch Ness dates back to the 6th century AD. The biography of St. Columba speaks of his meeting with the "water beast".

In the life of Columba it is written that one day the saint went to Loch Ness and saw the funeral of a local resident who was killed by a certain lake monster

One of the saint's disciples frivolously threw himself into the water and swam across the narrow strait to bring the boat. When he sailed from the shore, Nisag rose from the water. Columba drove the monster away with a prayer.

Nessie is considered a giant sturgeon or dinosaur

Some researchers claim that Nessie is a huge sturgeon. Others insist that the monster is a plesiosaur. However, scientists consider both of these versions untenable. The fact is that a sturgeon cannot grow to such a gigantic size, and a prehistoric reptile in a Scottish lake would die of starvation very soon. There is only about 20 tons of biomass in Loch Ness, which is extremely small for a 15-meter lizard that weighed more than 25 tons.

Depiction of a plesiosaur by Heinrich Harder. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Loch Ness has been covered in ice for thousands of years

Loch Ness, like all of Scotland, was covered by a solid ice sheet during the last ice age, which began about 110 thousand years ago and ended around 9700-9600 BC. e.

Science does not know large animals that can survive in such conditions. However, some experts suggest that the lake has access to the sea through a system of underground tunnels that the monster could use.

Bathing elephants may have been mistaken for the Loch Ness Monster

In 2005 British paleontologist Neil Clark compared photographs of the Loch Ness monster with the tour schedule of traveling circuses on the way to Inverness. And he came to the conclusion that the locals did not see prehistoric dinosaurs, but bathing elephants.

A swimming elephant can indeed be mistaken for a monster. Only the trunk, crown and upper back of the animal are visible on the surface. This is how eyewitnesses described Nessie - a long-necked something with two humps.

The Scots wanted to protect Nessie from the British

In 1933, the British planned to find and kill the Loch Ness Monster, and put its carcass on public display at the Natural History Museum in the British capital. However, Nessie has already become the subject of Scottish national pride. Therefore, the mere thought that a stuffed animal could be exhibited in London infuriated the inhabitants of the region. Therefore, the Scots demanded that laws be passed that would protect the monster. However, this did not come to pass.

Is the Loch Ness monster just an optical illusion?

Researchers have identified the existence of a seiche effect in Loch Ness. These are underwater currents invisible to the eye, which can be caused by changes in atmospheric pressure, wind, and seismic phenomena.

Currents carry large objects with them. Observers may have the illusion that objects are floating on their own.

Tazhbentaev A.Zh. 1

Dontsova E.V. 1

1 Municipal budgetary educational institution "Adamovsk secondary school No. 1 named after Mikhail Iosifovich Shemenev"

The text of the work is placed without images and formulas.
The full version of the work is available in the "Job Files" tab in PDF format

1. Introduction.

Scotland is one of the parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a country with stunning nature and magnificent sights (see Appendix No. 1). The official symbol of Scotland is a mythical animal called the Unicorn. However, this country became famous thanks to another mysterious creature.

The famous Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, lives at the bottom of the Scottish lake Loch Ness. That is what one of the ancient legends says. For the first time, Nessie was talked about back in 565 AD, when something in the waters of Loch Ness tried to drown the companion of St. Columbus. Every year, millions of tourists come to Scotland in search of evidence of the existence of Nessie.

In this research work, I will try to find answers to a number of questions: "Does Nessie really exist? Maybe it's just people's fantasies? Or a sensational discovery of scientists?"

Relevance of the chosen topic: Many scientists recognize the existence of the Loch Ness monster, but fearing for their reputation, they are in no hurry to study this problem.

Purpose of the study: Conduct your own research that proves that there is no monster in Loch Ness.

Object of study: Scotland. Lake Loch Ness.

Subject of study: Loch Ness monster.

Tasks:

Acquaintance with historical facts and eyewitness accounts;

Studying the results of scientific research;

Research methods:

Study of scientific literature;

Analysis of historical facts;

Comparison;

Description;

2. The main part. 2.1.More than a legend.

Perhaps, none of the currently existing animals on Earth has received such attention and fame as the still mysterious beast that lives in the depths of the Scottish Loch Ness. The Loch Ness monster is by far the most famous of all mythical creatures.

The first chronicle record of the Loch Ness monster dates from the fourth century, written by the abbot Jonah. In it, he says that he saw a "terrible beast" that wanted to pounce on a person.

There is also a record that "a large fish with a snake's neck and head" lives in Loch Ness in a geographical atlas for 1325. Stories about the monster are also recorded in other chronicles, which are now stored in the library of Scotland. But this lake gained particular fame after a small sailboat capsized on Loch Ness in 1880 and went to the bottom along with people. The cause of this catastrophe struck many. Why did the sailboat capsize? With absolutely calm weather, almost no wind. Ancient rumors about the "underwater devil" spread with renewed vigor. (1) A brave man was found - diver MacDonald, who decided to "give battle" to the monster. And most likely he simply did not believe the stories of eyewitnesses. The diver went down to the bottom of the lake, and when he got back up, he said only one thing: “I saw this devil!” (4)

Time passed. In 1933, a railroad began to be built along the shore of the lake. They cut down the forest. Many people appeared near the lake. Almost every week he caught someone's eye (see Appendix No. 2).

A year later, one of the enthusiasts - Mountain - finally decided to solve the Loch Ness riddle. He created two dozen observation posts near the lake. A month later, with a little Nessie, as the monster was called, voluntary observers saw fifteen times, three of them close. However, these observations did not bring clarity.

That same summer, on the shore of a mysterious lake, hunters for the unknown discovered someone's footprints. Photojournalists witnessed them on film. In addition, according to all the rules of criminalistics, plaster casts were taken from them and sent to London for a special study.

The response from the zoologists was overwhelming. Yes, these are traces of a large mammal. It is well known to science. It's... a hippopotamus! But how could a southern animal get to the north of Scotland? The experts refused to answer the last question.

Probably, the analysis of traces was not erroneous. It's just that someone maliciously laughed at the hype around Nessie and fabricated a semblance of hippo tracks.

After this event, the search for the Loch Ness monster was so ridiculed that for many years scientists and just science enthusiasts did not dare to do it again. Only in 1957, a book was published in England, in which 117 testimonies of Nessie's eyewitnesses were collected. "It's more than a legend," author Constance White called the book. Photos of the monster were also published.

However, public opinion was almost unanimous about these testimonies with a very wary attitude, to say the least. And zoologists preferred to remain silent.(1)

2.2. Ordinary plesiosaur.

But events continued to develop. In the spring of 1963, a series of explosions are carried out on the shore of the lake. They do not stop for five days. At the same time, 230 people are monitoring the surface of the lake. And they were not deceived in their expectations. Obviously disturbed by the unusual, Nessie began to appear frequently from the depths. She was seen forty times during the summer! And filmed six times!

Now there was no time for jokes about "gullible simpletons." The documentary film about Nessie shown on the screen of English television made an impression.

The created commission, which included zoologists and lawyers, interrogated many eyewitnesses of the Loch Ness miracle with prejudice. And came to the conclusion: “We find that there is an unknown creature in Loch Ness. If this is an animal of an unknown order, then it deserves careful study. If it belongs to an already known order, then it deserves study on the same basis.

Prior to these conclusions, an attempt was made to describe the appearance of the "animal known or unknown detachment" from Loch Ness, based on the available eyewitness accounts and photographs. The following emerged: the length of the body is about 18 meters, of which the neck and serpentine head are about 3 meters. On the body one or more humps. Round tail. When Nessie was seen on the shore, she was counted on four legs.

What can be said about such a portrait? According to the description, it is very similar to a plesiosaur - a fossil fish-lizard of the Mesozoic era that lived in prehistoric seas (see Appendix No. 3). Huge predators - their length reached 15 meters, their massive head reached a length of more than one meter and was armed with sharp teeth more than 20 centimeters long.

And this beast lives in our time?

Even if we assume that the prehistoric lizard survived to our time, then another question immediately arises: how could a marine animal be in a freshwater lake? In addition, every serious scientist will say that it is impossible to identify an unknown representative of the fauna from the descriptions of eyewitnesses and a few photographs.

The study of Nessie moved off the dead center. Zoologists are looking into whether there are feeding opportunities in the lake for such a large animal. Geologists establish the history of the reservoir. The volume of the lake is calculated.

The findings support an exciting conjecture. More than enough food for Nessie. The area here is enough for dozens of plesiosaurs. The lake in the distant past was a sea bay and became autonomous after an earthquake or as a result of land uplift.

The marine animal could survive despite the gradual desalination of the water. Mild climate, lots of fish, plankton, no enemies.

The mystery of the Loch Ness monster continues to excite the minds. A new expedition is organized, this time consisting of physicists. Gordon Tucker announced that he would use a new type of sound locator.

"Spearfishing" has begun. At a distance of 1200 meters from the shore, the sound beam detected something massive, but it remained motionless. Finally, the sound locator catches the moving mass! The expedition made the assumption that they recorded the movement of the Loch Ness monster.(1)

2.3.Nessie is not alone?

While the riddle of the Loch Ness monster is being solved, let's talk about its relatives. Judging by the same "folk rumor", there are not so few of them.

For example, in Yakutia, an employee of the biological detachment saw a huge animal crawling out onto the shore of a lake. The skin of the beast was smooth, bluish-gray in color, there was a fin on the back, the neck was long, and the head was relatively small.

In the summer of 1953, two geologists, also on the Yakut lake, noticed on the surface some kind of living creature shining in the sun, which was swimming towards the shore. Its massive body, about 10 meters long, was dark gray in color, and had a high fin on its back.

If you ask people living in the areas of the Yakut lakes, they will tell you about lake monsters that eat not only fish, but also birds on the shore.

A group of scientists from London, who conducted observations on Loch Morar, published a sensational report. The report contains 27 of the most reliable eyewitness accounts of the monster that lives on this lake. It is a large snake-like creature, more than 13 meters long.

Professor Vakhrushev suggested that not one monster lives in the lakes, but entire families. Many skeptics ask why, then, the corpses of dead plesiosaurs do not float to the surface of the water. But it has long been known that crocodiles and some other reptiles swallow stones that play the role of ballast. Therefore, their corpses can remain under water and are eaten by demersal animals.

In the middle of the 20th century, rumors arose about a strange monster that looked like a snake. He was seen in Lake Eutopia, on the border of the United States and Canada.

Message from Norway, 1978: An unknown animal appeared in one of the lakes here. Residents of fishing villages claim that the monster is a descendant of a prehistoric fish or beast.

Newspaper report from August 1981: “Another animal unknown to science lives in the American Lake Champlain. The inhabitants of the surrounding places called him Shamp, it was a snake-like creature, 5-10 meters long. (1)

Thus, it turns out that the Loch Ness monster is not one of its kind, or is it all just a mass hoax?

2.4 Modern research. Versions.

Did prehistoric lizards still survive to this day or not? This question remains open to this day. Scientists around the world express their assumptions and conjectures, fantastic films and scientific television programs are being made, but there is no exact answer yet. The Scots are hardly interested in finding evidence or refutation of the monster's existence. For them, the monster is a reliable way to attract tourists who love ancient legends and tales.

Reports of eyewitnesses of meetings with the Loch Ness Monster continue to come in huge numbers in our time, but modern technology still does not help humanity to answer the question - who is this underwater inhabitant.

In 2001, several dead fish of the Atlantic conger family, which usually live in salt water, were found on the shore of the lake (see Appendix No. 4). It has been suggested that these animals were deliberately brought here from the ocean to act as monsters for tourists.(3)

In 2003, researchers from the BBC international group used sound sonar to explore the bottom of the lake (600 devices), but they did not find anything. Research in 2016 also revealed nothing.(3) Of course, the scientific world is full of mysteries, but many believe that all the data was simply classified, and in fact, Nessie, an amazing monster with a small head and a huge torso, exists.

At the moment, scientists give several arguments according to which the Loch Ness monster is fiction. I will talk about some of them:

1) Most of the proponents of the existence of the monster considered it a relic plesiosaur, but over 70 years of observation it was not possible to find a single corpse of an animal, as well as any fragment of the body, neither a claw, nor a tooth, nor scales;

2) In 2005, Neil Clark, curator of paleontology at the Glasgow University Museum, compared the first reliable sightings of the monster with the travel schedule of traveling circuses, and concluded that the locals did not see prehistoric dinosaurs, but bathing elephants (see Appendix No. 5 );(2)

3) According to the Italian seismologist Luigi Piccardi, a tectonic fault called the Great Glen runs along the bottom of the lake. Huge waves on the surface of the lake, as well as huge bubbles rising from its bottom, according to the Italian, are nothing more than the results of tectonic activity at the bottom of the lake. All this, according to Piccardi, can be accompanied by ejections of flames, characteristic sounds resembling a muffled roar, and also cause slight earthquakes, which are mistaken for a monster; (2)

4) According to the electrical engineer Robert Craig, for the appearance of the monster, observers took cases of ascent to the surface of previously flooded trunks of the Scotch pine Pinus silvestris, which grow in many along the shores of the lake; (5)

5) One alternative explanation for this phenomenon is that the owners of hotels and other establishments located near the lake used the ancient legend of the monster to attract tourists. Therefore, "eyewitness accounts" and photographs were published in local newspapers, allegedly confirming their claims, and even dummies of Nessie were made;

3. Conclusion.

While working on this project, I watched a lot of scientific TV shows, worked with encyclopedias and learned more about the Loch Ness monster. After considering all the material and comparing all the facts, I still believe that the famous monster in Loch Ness does not exist. Especially given the latest modern research that has not confirmed its existence.

In general, not a single obvious evidence of the existence of some ancient lizard in a Scottish lake has been presented to the judgment of experts and scientists.

People tend to believe in something inexplicable and mysterious, to invent and invent something that does not exist. A log and strong waves can be mistaken for a living being, especially when you see it at a great distance.

Perhaps someday there will still be irrefutable evidence of the existence of animals that have not yet been studied, but so far the Loch Ness monster remains a myth, an unsolved mystery and mystery for all mankind. Who knows, maybe Nessie is biding her time, and soon we will all open our mouths in surprise?

4. List of references:

Ermakovich D.E. “I want to know everything” / D.E. Ermakovich.-Publishing house AST, 2010.-156 p.

Internet resources.

Mezentsev V.M. "Encyclopedia of Miracles" / V.M. Mezentsev. - The main edition of the Kazakh Soviet Encyclopedia, 1987. - 288 p.

Nepomnyashchiy N.A. "Loch Ness and lake monsters" / N.A. Nepomnyashchiy: Veche Publishing House, 2002.-541 p.

Appendix No. 1. Appendix No. 2. Appendix No. 3. Appendix No. 4. Appendix No. 5.

First, it is probably worth saying about what kind of lake it really is. It is 230 meters deep and covers an area of ​​65 square kilometers. So Nessie is where to get lost. In addition, the lake is part of a canal that links the two coasts of Scotland. The channel is called the Caledonian and there is even a theory that the Loch Ness Monster swims from the lake to the channel, which is why it is so hard to catch it.

Loch Ness has a constant supply of water from the Moriston River, so the water in it is not stagnant. A river also flows out of it, which is symbolically called Ness (maybe monsters also live in it?). The nearest city near the reservoir is the Scottish Inverness, located 40 kilometers away.

The lake itself could well become the habitat of a prehistoric monster, like dinosaurs. After all, it has been in existence for a very long time. Scientists say that Loch Ness was already here during the Ice Age. It was formed due to the displacement of rocks. Given this age, the lake is, in fact, unique, because, like the Russian Baikal, it was able to resist waterlogging and did not become a swamp after 20 thousand years of its existence.

Fiction?

And now it is worth moving on to the details about the monster itself. For the first time it is mentioned in the chronicles of abbot Jon. He described the exploits of St. Columbus (not the one who discovered America) and told about an incident that happened to him on Loch Ness in 565. Columbus passed by the lake and saw the villagers, who, putting the body of a fisherman in a boat, sent him on his last journey. The boat had already left when Columbus asked what happened. The locals told him that the fisherman had been attacked by a monster that had jumped out of the water. Saint Columbus decided to check if the young fisherman had been possessed by evil forces, so he asked his student to jump into the water and moor the boat back to the shore. As soon as the student jumped into the water, the head of a monster appeared from it, which was waiting for the moment to pounce on him. But at that moment, Saint Columbus offered up prayers to heaven and ordered the monster to hide in the depths of the lake, which it was forced to do.

This is the first story about Nessie. Although researchers believe that there are earlier references. For example, even before our era, the ancient Romans lived here. Having explored the lake, they left drawings of local animals on the stone, from the largest to the smallest. All of them correspond to the fauna of the lake and coastal areas, but among them there is also a strange pattern that resembles a plesiosaur with a long neck.

From then until the 19th century, Nessie was forgotten, but since 1933 the monster has been seen in these parts more than 5 thousand times. Somehow it became more active in the 20th and 21st centuries, but most of the storytellers, of course, cannot be trusted. However, there is evidence that may well be true. One of them is a shot by Tim Dinsdale, who captured a huge living creature moving along the surface of the lake at a speed of 16 km / h. This film was recognized as real after numerous examinations. Another authentically truthful shooting belongs to Gordon Holmes. This video shows a monster with a long neck and a small head, which reaches a length of 15 meters. Holmes filmed how it dived, swam at a speed of about 10 km / h and turned its head.

In general, there is evidence, but, nevertheless, so far they are indirect. After all, clear films depicting Nessie never appeared, so it’s hard to say if there is a prehistoric monster in the lake. Moreover, skeptics say that if he lived here, he simply could not feed himself, because there is not enough food for him here. Moreover, an animal cannot live alone, there must be at least a few individuals here, who, all the more, could not get their own food.

But while scientists are trying to establish the truth, tourists can simply come to Loch Ness, go to the museum located on the shore, inspect documents, photos and videos of eyewitnesses, see fakes of Nessie and try to make out that same monster among the water surface. And if not, then you can just enjoy nature and admire the lake, which is quite interesting even without Nessie.

On the territory of Scotland, surrounded by mountain ranges, lies the deepest and most mysterious lake in Great Britain - Loch Ness. Millions of tourists annually come to its shores to admire the beauties of the surrounding nature and hope to see with their own eyes the secret of Loch Ness, the famous monster Nessie.

The lake owes its formation to geological processes that occurred hundreds of millions of years ago. Due to the abundance of peat deposits in the ground, the fresh waters of the glacial lake are muddy. Its length is about 40 km, the greatest width exceeds 2 km, and the depth of Loch Ness reaches 230 meters. Fog almost always creeps over the surface of the lake in the morning.

The surroundings of Loch Ness are no less interesting than the lake itself, and also deserve attention.

City of Inverness.

The port city of Inverness is the starting point for a trip around the lake. It attracts tourists with its unusual view, which shows a kind of cocktail of architectural styles from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The Museum of History and Art contains works of art made by Pictish craftsmen, early Neolithic artifacts and household items that tell about the life of hill tribes in different eras.

In the city of Inverness you can see St. Andrew's Cathedral, built in the 60s of the XIX century and erected in the Gothic style. It is famous for its similarity with the Parisian Notre Dame and keeps five icons donated by the Russian emperor.

On the site of the once destroyed inverness castle now rises a new one, built in the XIX-XX centuries. Its architecture is stylized after the Middle Ages and includes towers of various configurations: square, round and octagonal.

In local pubs, you can participate in traditional feasts, listen to folk music and taste local ale or whiskey, which is the hallmark of Scotland. By the way, you can take a tour of one of the many distilleries, with a mandatory tasting.

At a distance of 10 km from Iverness stands, built in the XIV century cawdor castle, known to the whole world from the works of Shakespeare. King Macbeth once lived here.

Drumnadrohit village.

In the village of Drumnadrohit there is a museum dedicated to the monster of Loch Ness. The museum with two exhibition centers presents expositions that allow tourists to get acquainted with the legends and history of the study of Nessie, the first mention of which is known from the Romans.

Today, the sight of Loch Ness can be seen in 3D using special glasses, or you can watch modern interactive exhibits and a laser show. To keep the memory of visiting the museum and the lake, tourists buy all kinds of souvenirs and take pictures near statue of the loch ness monster.

Urquhart Castle.

On the shores of Loch Ness are the ruins of Urquhart Castle, built in the 13th-16th centuries. In the northern part of the castle, the Grant Tower, five stories high, has been preserved. Visitors climb it to admire the beauties of nature and in the hope of seeing Nessie. Near the ruins of the castle stands a real catapult, with the help of which Urkarth was destroyed in the 17th century.

Fort Augustus.

In the western part of the Scottish Loch Ness stands Fort Augustus. You can look at the traditional life of a Scottish farmer by visiting a working farm. But the main attraction of the fort is the "Stairs of Neptune" - the Caledonian Canal starting here, consisting of 29 locks.

Fort William.

The main tourist center of Loch Ness in Scotland is Fort William, located at Mount Ben Nevis, the highest point in the UK. Here you can ride a funicular and enjoy stunning views of mountain landscapes, in winter you can ski down the mountain. A favorite pastime for tourists is a ride on an old steam locomotive from the Harry Potter films on a railway that runs between the mountains. Fans of outdoor activities will be interested in routes designed for hiking and cycling.

The fairly large freshwater Loch Ness is 37 km west of Inverness. It was formed in the Great Glen geological fault, is part of the Caledonian Canal, which connects the eastern and western sea coasts of Scotland. Most of the lakes in this part of the country are of glacial origin, Loch Ness is no exception. The water in the lake is muddy and has a specific shade due to the high content of peat in the bottom soil.

The lake is the second largest in Scotland, and the largest in terms of water volume. The local landscapes are nothing outstanding, but the views of the mountains and the ruins of Urquhart Castle make them picturesque in their own way. In calm weather, the lake is almost motionless, it was here that an attempt was made to set a world speed record on the water. Unfortunately, the attempt ended tragically, and now there is a monument to John Cobb on the lakeshore, who died on a jet-powered scooter while trying to break the previous record.

Loch Ness is one of the most visited attractions. The reason for the popularity of Loch Ness lies in the numerous legends associated with a huge monster that supposedly lives in the lake.

Legends of Loch Ness

In the spring of 1933, journalist Alex Campbell published an article in the press about how John McKay and his wife, standing on the shore, watched a strange animal leaning out of the water. For some reason, the journalist called the animal a monster. This is where it all started. Alex Campbell himself began to spend a lot of time on the shore of the lake, and, allegedly, more than once observed the amazing inhabitant of the lake. And besides him, there were many eyewitnesses.

Scattered eyewitness accounts made it possible to create a "portrait" of this mysterious creature.

It turned out that the "Loch Ness monster" has a body longer than 6 meters, a three-meter neck with a small head, three humps and a skin color that varies from light gray to dark brown.

Interestingly, some eyewitnesses were able to provide photographs, and Kodak confirmed the authenticity of the negatives. The monster received the affectionate nickname Nessie and became an object of interest for professionals who began to plow the lake far and wide in search of evidence of the existence of Nessie. The driving force was not only scientific interest, but also a material incentive. Various research methods were used, but none of them gave reliable results.

This does not prevent curious tourists who are hungry for curiosities from driving to Loch Ness and peering intently into its waters, hoping to see a monster, or at least its head.

Loch Ness lake

Infrastructure

Due to the popularity of the lake among tourists, the tourist infrastructure began to actively develop here. First of all, these are numerous parking lots on the western shore of the lake, along the A82 road. Anyone can leave the car here and take a walk along the lake. The most daring can swim if the water temperature allows.

The east coast is distinguished by a large number of paths leading to the water itself, but there is no big road here, so there are noticeably fewer tourists here. Local public transport is not very suitable for trips to the lake: buses run infrequently. It is better to rent a car or use the services of travel companies in Edinburgh or Inverness (you can get here by train from London).

The tour can include not only a bus to the lake, but also a walk on the lake on a yacht, which greatly increases the chances of seeing the Loch Ness monster.

You can also cruise from the coastal town of Dochfour or the tourist center at Drumnadrochit - this village is the unofficial capital of the "monster".

Every year, about 2 million curious tourists come to Loch Ness and peer into its waters, hoping to see Nessie's pretty face with sly (and what else can they be?) Eyes.

According to statistics, about 2 million people come to Loch Ness every year to get a chance to see Nessie with their own eyes. More than 300,000 tourists visit the official museum of the Loch Ness monster in the village of Drumnadrochit. Here you can get acquainted with the exposition, which tells quite fully about the history of the research of the lake, about the old Scottish legends about monsters and dragons. In addition, an information center is open for tourists in the village, several cafes and, of course, a shop where you can buy souvenirs. One way or another, but the owner of this tourist complex, his uncomplicated, but such a sought-after business brings up to 25 million British pounds annually.

Those who are interested in objects more reliable than a monster that may live in the lake will be interested in seeing the dilapidated Urquhart Castle, whose surviving buildings date back to the 14th century. This is one of the largest and most famous fortresses in Scotland, which repeatedly passed from one clan to another and was abandoned to its fate in the 17th century.

Where to stay

There are many hotels and motels in the lake area, where you can stay with more or less amenities, restaurants and eateries. Some tourists prefer to stay in their own tents. It is necessary to carefully approach the choice of a place for a tent: a piece of land may turn out to be private property, and then there will be trouble.