So we've hired a car and driven from Edinburgh into the Scottish highlands and spent last night in Inverness; gateway to Loch Ness and it's mysteries. We made a couple of detours on the way; most noteably at a whiskey distillery. Neither of us are big on Scotch, but we thought it would be criminal to visit Scotland and not learn how they make Scotch. The distillery we stopped at was Glenturret, home of the Famous Grouse experience. We previously thought scotch was just scotch, aged different amounts of time. We were wrong. For a start, scotch whiskey is distilled twice, while bourbon whiskey is only distilled once, and Irish whiskey three times. Then there is the fact that most scotch whiskeys are blended; mixtures of a few different whiskies in the right amounts to give the right characteristics. Famous Grouse is 'Scotland's favourite whiskey' and is a blend made with whiskey from four distilleries all across Scotland - including the Glenturret single malt whiskey. The Famous Grouse experience included a tour of the distillerey and an explanation of how it's made, followed by a BAFTA winning interactive audio visual experience which was really a big advertisement for the whiskey. It was pretty cool though, as there were images projected on the floor and walls, and we could interact with the image on the floor by stepping around. Then we got to sample some of the Grouse and some Glenturret whiskey.

After the distillery we headed to Inverness and had a litte look around. There wasn't really a lot to see in the town, we just stayed here for it's convenience to Loch Ness.

The next day we headed to a sight that our taxi driver in Edinburgh said we couldn't miss! It was the Culloden Moor, which was the site of the last battle fought on Brittish soil. The battle of Culloden was on the 6th April 1746, between the Scotts and the English. It was a pretty interesting place, although we didn't pay to go into the museum, we could wander around the battlefield freely.

Loch Ness was next on our itinerary, after a quick detour to the Black Isle Brewery (a small organic brewery making some really good beers) for a tour and tasting (so Zilla didn't survive her detox!), then we were excited to do a wee bit of nessie spotting. We drove along the shore, stopping in what we though were monster friendly areas, gazing across the water looking for any signs of movement - nothing doing. We came across a Loch Ness discovery centre which promised to give us all the info we could possibly need about the loch and it's famous monster. It was a pretty informative place, taking us through the geology of how the loch formed, told us that it's the largest body of water in Britain (bigger than all the others combined). Then we learnt about all the recorded sightings of monsters in the Loch and the different shapes of monsters seen. Next we learnt how many people have searched long and hard for Nessie, and come up empty handed, then a heap of scientific information about how there's not enough food in the loch too feed a monster. Maybe he ate it all and then died.

So we didn't spot any monsters, and were left thinking that science had pretty much killed the myth. Oh well, nice spot anyway.