Did you know that Loch Ness has more water in it than all the lakes in England, Wales and Scotland put together? Yes, it’s pretty deep! It holds 263 million cubic feet of water with a surface area of 14000 acres and could hold the world’s population 10 times over. These figures are staggering but when you consider it is around 22.5 miles long, between 1 and 1.5 miles wide and 754 feet deep – then there’s an awful lot of room for a wee monster to hide!
If you are on holiday and your touring around scotland you may well want to visit several of the Lochs including Loch Morar, Loch Awe and Loch Lomond all these are very beautiful and a great way to get around and have a fun day including going up and down hills and enjoying that driving experience around some stunning countryside on a Loch Lomond quad biking experience at sites like https://lochlomondquads.co.uk/ but of course the great pull will always be the monster at Loch Ness
The chance to spot ‘Nessie’ has been an attraction globally for the area since it first came to attention in 1933. If you fancy a trip to the Loch to stake it out and possibly grab a photo of something monstrous then you could be in with a chance of winning the William Hill award for the best Nessie photo so far. You’ll need a digital camera, a video camera, thermal imaging, warm clothing and plenty of time on your hands.
One of the best sightings so far was taken by a whiskey warehouse worker while he was out taking nature photographs. He had no idea what he had caught until he reviewed the pictures at home. His photo shows a two yard long silver creature with its head bobbing out of the water and a tail flapping about a yard behind the head. The photo fits perfectly with the widely believed description of the elusive beast, thought to be a long serpent-like creature. Tales from 1933 onwards have spoken of a limbless being and in 2001, two fishermen spotted a long-necked dark shape sticking its head above water and were convinced it was not a seal.
Over the years there have been 1,081 sightings of Nessie but the temptation for fakery is great with Nessie being worth £30 million to the Highland economy from tourist visits. But what do you think? Could you be the one to grab that shot that would show the world the real Loch Ness monster?
Steve Feltham has been looking for Nessie for a quarter of a century and lives nearby so that he can be there in super quick time should any discoveries be made. He says he had one possible sighting 25 years ago but not a peep since. He is a very patient man and spends most of his days selling Nessie figurines from a table outside in his best watching spot.
Loch Ness is fed by 7 major rivers and numerous burns with one outlet to the River Ness which flows for 7 miles through Inverness and into the Moray Firth. The rain catchment area for the loch is so large that just a quarter of an inch of rain adds 11 million tons of water to the loch. If there is some sort of prehistoric monster down there, then it has an awful lot of water to hide in!
