U... is for Urquhart Castle!

More on castles, this is a very very famous one. You wonder why you haven't heard of it? Well, that's because you have heard of it as the Castle by Loch Ness :)
Yes, Nessie and her stories do overshadow everything, don't they? So, Urquhart was a castle that wasn't built for strategy at all! What harm could come to them from a Loch really, other than wee  monsters! But, quite the contrary, this castle was built for people to live in, sort of like a huge mansion. The ruins that exist now date back to the 13th century. Earlier that that, it was apparently a Pictish fort, with objects that date back to the 6th century! Ancient... However, the castle looked very different in every century that it has seen.
Many modifications, including the extra fortifications, were added to it as and when required. Of course, like all other castles, invading it was seen as messing with someone's powers and so, it was the victim of a number of seiges and loot and plundering; but what remains today is still very impressive and picturesque.

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability, Edinburgh, Forth Bridge, Glasgow, Hamish, Isle of Skye, John o' Groats, Kirk, Loch Lomond and Luss, Mogwai, Necropolis, Old Man of Storr, Portobello, Queen of Scots, Robert Burns, Stirling, Tantallon Castle.

L... is for Loch Lomond and Luss

Loch Lomond is very very popular. Almost everyone who I know that has been to Scotland has been to Lomond. And it doesn't disappoint! The largest freshwater lake in the UK (nope, it isn't Loch Ness, with its monsters, that's the deepest), its waters are an absolute delight to look at. Silvery and ripling, the waters have a beautiful, serene quality with hardly any waves. The sides are dotted with low hills, and in autumn, the contrast of the yellows of the tops of pines with the surrounding dark greens is magnificient to look at!
Little known, and very close to the main tourist area of the Loch, is the village Luss. I only got to go there because I was with Scottish friends, who have lived in Glasgow all their lives! Luss is tiny, maybe a hundred or so houses. It is pretty and has this absolutely wonderful coffee shop where I had the most heavenly scones! Most of you will go to Lomond, if you can spare an extra hour, go to Luss, feed the duckies by the Loch, have a scone, you will have made a lovely headful of memories!

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability, Edinburgh, Forth Bridge, Glasgow, Hamish, Isle of Skye, John o' Groats, Kirk.