Day 5 - Loch Ness and More

With visions of winning one million pounds, we headed in search of Nessie this morning, even though the weather was a little damp. Upon arriving at NessieWorld in Drumnadrocit, the students were able to watch a short documentary on Loch Ness and the myth around the mysterious creature that lives in its depth. At Loch Ness' deepest point, it is 812 feet and 23 miles long. According to the captain of our research vessel, if the Loch was completely emptied, it could fit the population of the world 3 times over. Maybe he recently went to Blarney and got the gift of gab and was telling us some fish tales. The students were able to see how Sonar worked and were able to spot fish in the murky waters, but unfortunately, Nessie was no were to be found. Maybe the rain was too heavy for her to come out and play. We had our first opportunity to shop and the kids had their first chance to work on their budgeting skills.

From there we headed off to Newtownmore and the Scottish Heritage Folk Musuem. The kiddos attended a handwriting class in 1937 and learned how important penmenship was. It was the concensus was that this was something we all needed to work on - especially with traditional ink and fountain pens. They were able to buy some sweets at the 1930's Sweet Shop. They had all sorts of period houses, including a thatched roof house from the 1800s, some from the 1700s and tailor shops, workshops and the like. They all seemed to enjoy the experience.

Our last activity for the day was a trip to a working sheep farm to see how sheep dogs are trained. We were all amazed at the talent these dogs had and the skill of the shepherd. Neil explained how each dog was individually trained and had their own whistle and words to tell them what to do. We saw a demonstration on sheep shearing and some were even able to give it a try. Other activities included bottle-feeding baby sheep and playing with the border collie puppies. Nothing is better than children and puppies together. It was not easy to get back on the coach without a few puppies in tow, but somehow we managed.

Once back at our hotel, we had dinner of bangers and mash with vegies or meat or meat lasagna and then for dessert we had sticky toffee pudding. YUMMY!!!

Off to bed now. Tomorrow we are making our way back to Edinburgh, so we should be back in cell reception and hopefully have better internet access to be able to post some pictures. We have some great ones to share. Until tomorrow...have a lovely evening. :-)