Drumnadrochit is the village that Loch Ness made famous, and it is a place that has learned to live with its monster. It sits on the north-west shore, where Glen Urquhart opens out from the hills and meets the loch, about twenty kilometres from Inverness along the A82. The village has the practical things a rider needs, including fuel, shops, cafes and pubs, along with a couple of exhibitions devoted to Nessie, which treat the subject with varying amounts of seriousness. The first recorded report of a creature in the river Ness comes from a biography of St Columba written in the seventh century, which describes him telling a monster to turn back, and the modern fascination dates from the 1930s.
The loch is the real draw, and it is enormous. Loch Ness is about thirty-seven kilometres long and holds more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, with a depth of over two hundred metres in places. The water is dark with peat, which is why you can see nothing beneath the surface. A mile or two south of the village stand the ruins of Urquhart Castle, on a rocky headland above the water. It was fought over in the wars between Scotland and England, and in the end blown up by its own garrison in 1692 to keep it from Jacobite hands. It makes one of the most photographed ruins in Scotland.
The riding from here has options. The A82 along the loch is wide and quick but busy in summer with coaches, caravans and camper vans, so patience is useful. A better choice is to turn off west on the A831 to Cannich and onward to Glen Affric, a long glen of pine forest, lochs and mountains that many call the most beautiful in Scotland. The road narrows and twists, passing through remnants of the old Caledonian forest, and there are red deer, red squirrels and, with luck, golden eagles overhead. The surface is mostly good but narrow, with passing places on the upper sections.
Weather is quick to change, and a mild morning can become a cold wet afternoon without much warning. Midges are a fact of life from midsummer into early autumn, so carry a repellent. Beauly and Muir of Ord, a short ride north-east, have more shops and fuel, while Inverness has everything.
For a coffee, the village offers several options, and an early start gets you ahead of the coach tours.