A1 Loch Ness & Glen Affric Tour - 9 hrs 
A2 Culloden, Cawdor, Fort George - 6 hrs A3i Eilean Donan & Isle of Skye - 9 hrs A3ii Isle of Skye Special Tour - 11 hrs A4 Fort William, Harry Potter, Mallaig - 8 hrs A5 Jacobite Heritage Tour - 9 hrs A6 Great Glen, Inverlochy Castle, Fort William & Glen Nevis Tour - 8 hrs A7 Great Glen Forts and Castles Tour - 8 hrs A8 Great Glen, Isle of Mull, Torosay Castle & Oban Tour - 11 hrs A9 John O'Groats & the North Tour - 11 hrs A10 Great Glen, Fort William & Glen Coe Tour - 9 hrs A11 Speyside Malts, Cooperage & Culloden Tour - 9 hrs A12 Durness and The North Scenic - 11 hrs
S02 Specialist Loch Ness Tour
S03 All Day Diana Gabaldon Outlander Special Tour
S04 All Day Dark Deeds, Monks and Castles Special Tour
S05 All Day Winter Solstice - Rosamunde Pilcher Tour 
We collect you from your hotel or station etc. and firstly
head for the River Ness, one of the shortest rivers in Europe. Here we make a
stop for an introduction to the natural history of the area with particular
regard to the formation of the Great Glen and Loch
Ness. You will also learn about a strange sighting of something in the river in
the nineteen thirties which was, more or less, ignored and yet, today, is seen
as a very important component of the mystery.
From here we head along the river, over the Caledonian
Canal and make a stop at Dochgarroch to see a set of lochs built around
two hundred years ago. We then travel the short distance to the loch
passing the point where one of the
most
famous and definitely the most important sightings occurred. Mrs Mackays
sighting from 1933 which is credited as being the sighting which started
all the monster furore. You will also see a short interview with Mrs
Mackay on Tony's portable DVD equipment.
After a short stop on the lochside we travel to the
harbour which was used for the
biggest ever expedition on Loch Ness in 1987 - Operation Deepscan. Your
guide was the administrative co-ordinator of this expedition and
actually coined the name. Here you can board a boat for a short cruise
to Urquhart Castle where Tony will meet you off the boat. Alternatively
we may be able to get you out for a one hour trip on the Loch Ness
Project research boat depending on the time of year. We'll ask you about
this option after you have booked.
At
Urquhart Castle you will learn how these fortresses controlled the loch
and Great Glen for centuries. The castle is the location where St
Columba had a second encounter with a beast at the loch, this time the
Water Horse. Were his sightings true or just parables. We have the
answer to that these days and you will learn it here.
We now head into Drumnadrochit where you have the option to visit the Loch Ness Centre which was set up by your guide in 1980. In 2000 Project Leader Adrian Shine set up a new exhibition there which has received numerous awards and you have an option to visit it.
In the village of Drumnadrochit there is an opportunity to grab some lunch to eat "on the hoof" to make the most of your day and we head west, making a short stop to view the John Cobb memorial. Your guide will tell you about this ill-fated world water speed record attempt.
Continuing west we pass important landmarks - the original HQ of the Loch Ness Bureau in the sixties; the location where the infamous Frank Searle petrol bomb was thrown; the SYHA hostel which was once the Half-Way House Tea Room where several sightings occurred and we arrive in Invermoriston to view one of Wade's bridges and, often, some hairy cows.
Eventually we arrive in Fort Augustus and park in the
Abbey grounds. Tony will tell you about the monks who used to call this
home and for whom he set up a visitor centre in the nineties which sadly
closed in 1998. You will learn about the monks who claimed to see things
in the loch, in particular you will see a video of the most famous
monster
sighting of all time by Fr Gregory Brusey. Also in Fort Augustus there
is a chance to see the staircase of locks on the Caledonian Canal which
lift boats up to the level of Loch OIch.
Half of our trip is now complete and we take the Suidhe road out of Fort Augustus past Loch Tarff and we make a stop at the Suidhe viewpoint ... a vista which stretches for miles to the east.
After passing through the Fairy Glen and Foyers we rejoin Loch Ness at the location of the infamous Frank Searle's exhibition from the nineteen seventies and eighties. The story of this monster rogue is recounted by your guide who had many unpleasant encounters with him in the past.
Leaving
the Foyers harbour we continue along General Wade's road making a moody
and mysterious stop at Boleskine House where there is time to visit the
cemetery and to see the famous musket ball marks in an eighteenth
century gravestone. Is there really a tunnel from the house to the
cemetery?
After some photostops on the lochside we arrive in Dores where Steve Feltham has his "Nessiesary" Investigation HQ. Tea and buns at the Dores Inn.
Finally we leave the loch and return to Inverness where there is some time to spend your hard-earned cash in the Pringles Woollen Mill if you wish.
Once your trip is complete you will be fully aware of the true story of Loch Ness and much better informed than most of the so-called monster experts around the world.
Tony's Loch Ness book is due out later this year and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn most of its contents directly from the author before it is published.
PRICE £325 for up to six passengers.
