The River Spey is a main artery to this region, supplying "uisge beatha" or the "water of life" to the many whisky distilleries that line its banks. More than half of Scotland’s distilleries are located in Speyside and it’s a must for a day-tour and sample - or three.
Just a few miles southwest of the Highland capital of Inverness stands Loch Ness, the largest body of fresh water in the British Isles. It was in the 1930s, during the construction of the A82 route along its shores that the modern craze for monster-spotting began. Perhaps the digging and blasting disturbed the reticent mysterious ‘beastie’ from its murky depths. Interestingly, 2017 had more official sightings (17) than ‘Nessie’s’ busy periods in the 1930s and 1960s!
Urquhart Castle was once one of the largest castles in Scotland standing on a rocky outcrop that juts out into the loch. Since Pictish times the site has been strategic and was partly dismantled by the English during the Jacobite rebellion to avoid it becoming a rebel outpost.