The monster of LOCH NESS – REAL OR NOT?

In this episode, I am finally reaching the most famous lake of Scotland: Loch Ness. Will I get to see Nessie, that’s the question!!

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Foulis Castle, Scotland Good morning, Internet. It is 8:40 in 
the morning and welcome back to the channel Welcome here at Foulis Castle I probably mispronounced that Um, in Scotland. So, I had my second night staying in a Scottish 
castle And uh, today I am riding is about 200 miles But my first mission of the day, is to actually find breakfast because of course, I had no breakfast here Um, and everything only opens really late But I found a place that opens 9:30 and it’s 45 minutes ride So that’s perfect, by the time I arrive they should open And then I can have breakfast The weather might be a little bit more dodgy today But let’s see if I get lucky again I hope so At least I am layered up, so I’m prepared Yeah, this place was a very good find 
also because these Airbnbs are cheaper than staying in normal hotels and 
they’re just so much more fun So.. That was really good but now I’m on the hunt for breakfast Oh, and fuel Let’s see The name of this place is going to 
give away my first real stop of the day ‘Cause I’m going to have breakfast at Ness Deli That does give it away, doesn’t it? Right, got my coffee And I can see the bike This is for breakfast So, I have arrived at probably Scotland’s most famous lake Let’s see if I can get a closer look There it is These murky waters are Loch Ness So, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the 
monster of Loch Ness, Nessie And over time, there are 1,200 recorded sightings of Nessie And those sightings date back all the way to the 7th century when a monk for the first time recorded something as a water beast And then well, the legend kind of exploded into modern times in 1933 when a couple saw an extraordinary form of animal cross the road and dive into the lake And well, despite all the sightings over the years there is no real scientific evidence that the monster of Loch Ness exists. But about a year ago, 2024, they did record some sonar images of an animal underwater that kind of has exactly the same shape as people believe the monster of Loch Ness has Either way, monster or no monster, it’s still an incredible lake because it is 37 km long And because it’s also very deep, I think 
it’s about 230 m deep Lake Loch Ness contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined And the reason why it always looks so murky and dark is because there’s a lot of peat off run from the hills around it So that adds to I think the mystery of this lake Let’s head towards Inverness I can really notice the difference 
though between the north where I was in a previous video and now that 
I’ve come back down again a little bit Because there’s definitely more people here The north just felt totally deserted Okay, I am approaching a very interesting site There we go I am now at a very interesting site I’m really happy that I made it here Uh, and I’ll tell you why in a second Well, actually, let me first show you the site This is the first one. I’m at a place called Clava Cairns So, what you’re looking at is a prehistoric cemetery dating back all the way to the Bronze Age, which is 4,000 years 
ago So, there’s three of these structures here, and all of them have a surrounding ring of standing stones And then a passageway that leads into the central burial chamber And these are called passage graves Let’s walk in Wow How this is built is not a coincidence So, this passageway is built right on the alignment of the winter solstice So that means that during winter solstice the sun would shine right in between here And this is something that has been found in several places I actually on the way up did stop at Stonehenge and I really wanted to tell you the story about Stonehenge Because that is so fascinating and probably well, England’s most debated rocks are at Stonehenge So obviously I also wanted to debate about it But then when I arrived at Stonehenge it turned out that you had to park your bike and then take a bus And in the end it wasn’t the place to to really tell that story But Stonehenge is also built on a northeast southwest axis So that means that the winter solstice and the summer solstice the sun shines directly on it And at first they thought maybe it’s a coincidence that it’s built right along the axis But then these burial sites and also other stone circles that were found in Wales were also built on that exact same axis So at some point you have to realize this is not a coincidence anymore Now so Stonehenge is a little bit of a different story I mean Stonehenge wasn’t built in one day That happened over centuries that people kept on coming back to the same site So Stonehenge, the first people there were around the Stone Age But later also during the Bronze Age, the same age that these ones were built People were also at Stonehenge and they found I think 56 pits at Stonehenge where people were cremated and that’s exactly what happened here as well So during the Bronze Age, the preferred method of burial was cremation Now, this one doesn’t have an entrance passage So it’s a bit harder to show you Can you see? See, so, there’s still a circle inside So, at this site, they found archaeological evidence of pottery So, that suggests that people were cremated and then their ashes would be placed into pots and then placed inside these burial chambers So this is the third one. This 
one has an entrance again Amazing What a sight, right? I find these places so incredibly fascinating And I just wonder like why did they pick this location? You know, for Stonehenge, it’s pretty clear because Stonehenge has always been a natural clearing in the forest So during the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, the United Kingdom was densely forested, it was 
wooded But where Stonehenge is, it has a chalk soil So that always was a natural clearing in the forest, so it made sense that they used that site for a deeply spiritual and religious 
purpose So I wonder if something similar was here. Maybe this also has been kind of a place where there was a natural clearing in the forest. I’m so glad I’m here because yeah, I was really disappointed that I couldn’t really stop at Stonehenge I completely underestimated how how 
that was going to look like I thought I could just walk up there, but um I couldn’t do that So, in the end, I rode past it, but couldn’t stop anywhere to tell the story So, I’m really happy that at least now I’ve visited a site that dates back to the Bronze Age and somehow has a similar story to Stonehenge. Ah, that was amazing! Amazing. Amazing, I love that Really interesting place Okay Let’s continue the ride Oh, wow That looks like it was not easy to build at all Oh, I can’t get enough of all these fields.. Just full of flowers So pretty Wow, it’s beautiful Spectacular Food Restaurants Open Those are the right words This is one huge bun Oh, this looks amazing That was very good Whiskey with haggis flavor
– Yes No idea what it’s like to be honest I can’t imagine that combination Well, usually they serve haggis with like a whiskey sauce Oh
– Yes, quite often you’ll get especially in restaurants, it’ll be like a whiskey gravy Like a whiskey sauce
– Ah I am a little highland cow Look at the rain down that valley there Am I going there? Looks like I’m headed straight there Hello Excuse me It’s very pretty Oh, there’s more of you What are you all doing wandering around the road? It’s dangerous, you know Oh, no. Oh, it’s stuck Don’t run through the fence, you silly I don’t understand why they’re.. No, no, no, no, no Don’t go through the fence. Go to the left Go there. Left No. Left, left Wide open spaces to your left They are determined to go through the fence Oh, see that little one can go through it, but the big one’s, yes There we go How was it so hard? Here comes the rain Um, Scotland You know, it’s supposed to be summer right now, right? I just had to stop for a second and just take in this landscape It is really.. oh, so different though right from the last video’s landscape It’s a lot greener here It’s more grass It’s obviously a little lower than where I was riding yesterday Sheepy It was a very wet sheep Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey You know what I spot? It’s another book swap Just like the one in Wales Oh, well then you know what I got to 
do I’m so happy I found another one of these because I just love these phone booths And now I have made a phone call from one in England I’ve left a book in one in Wales. And now I’m going to also leave a book in Scotland Sorry. You all right? Hello! How are you? Okay Do you live here?
– No Oh
– What are you looking for? I’m going to leave one of my books in the library Yeah. No, I’ve just been visiting somebody up there Yeah, just just do that
– Okay Bye-bye Okay Let’s quickly sign it What shall I say? Welcome to Scotland There we go Okay, I’m going to leave it Where shall I put it? I’m going to leave it like this Okay So, that does mean if you come and pick up my signed book, you must leave another one That’s how this works, right? It’s an exchange so Bring a book Come to.. Where am I? I am in.. Spittal of Glenshee Spittal of Glenshee All right, so here is Dundee I am north of Dundee Okay Let’s get going I have 21 miles to go Almost there This is so cool Where do I have to be though? So, I found myself another castle for tonight Although, fair enough I’m not staying in the castle I’m actually staying in the stables Technically, I have not slept inside a castle Remember in the first one I was actually staying in the courtyard And where I stayed last night was also not in the main castle but in the courtyard and tonight I’ll be sleeping in the old stables But still, still I am on kind of the grounds of another estate which I think is really amazing when you’re in Scotland So cool right? I mean where would the stables be? They be in front of the castle or behind? I don’t know much about Scottish 
castles I have no idea where I have to be See here then Here Welcome to the stables I have a little kitchen here See with view outside where I entered Selection of pans And then.. This is so cool This is yeah, the old stables How awesome. Oh, I have a balcony I’m locked in View over the estate Uh, I absolutely love it. Uh, so much better than a standard place to stay. So, yeah, I made it another day Oh, it was a long ride And, uh, the weather today was not as good as the last couple of days But still overall mostly it was dry So, I think I still got really lucky And it was just a really lovely ride A very different scenery wise Uh, a lot more forest, a lot more green, more farms Um but yeah, I really enjoyed it. So, I’m going to end this video now That was it for today. I really hope you like this video If you did, please give a big thumbs up, subscribe down below, and then I’ll see you in the next video