Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness

Loch Ness is the largest lake in the British Isles. Thirty five kilometers miles long, an average 1.4 kilometers wide, it reaches depths of nearly 300 meters. If you look at a map you can see that it effectively cuts Scotland in two.

Loch Ness is a 300 million year old glaciated tectonic loch. The water never freezes due to the huge volume and the temperature at the loch bed is always higher than 42F. The natural convection currents within the loch help to release energy into the environment in the cold months equal to burning approximately 2.5 million tons of coal! It's no wonder that snow rarely lies for long next to this natural power station.

Life in the loch is fairly sparse although some thirty different species of fauna and several diffent species of fish have been recorded. Included amongst these are Salmon , Sea Trout, Brown Trout and Pike.

Some people even say that the Loch Ness Monster is a massive (and presumably very old) Sturgeon! It's worth noting that to the best of our knowledge, no one has ever found caviar in the loch.

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