My experience with Loch Ness- BeeJay Chapman

I thought i'd share a piece from my paper on the spiritual pilgrimage in Scotland...it's about my experience with Loch Ness:

"That evening, we set up camp in the rain, which had been following us for a solid day. The next morning we awoke to more rain, and after approximately two wet miles we found ourselves upon the shores of- none other than- the fabulous Loch Ness. Once inside the town known as “Drum,” or the Loch Ness Monster tourist trap, we settled into the Loch Ness Monster Museum and Gift Shop, seeking artificial refuge from the rain. That evening we hiked another five miles or so up a mountain aside the great loch and finally pitched our tents on a rock cliff overlooking the loch. Although the previous rain had conjured up a great fog which allowed us to see only several feet in front of us, we knew that somewhere beneath all that fog was an enormous body of water: The magnificent Loch Ness. Although not visible from our perch up in the sky, the eerie presence of the loch was tangible and assured that there was something huge and mysterious on the other side of that fog: Loch Ness. “As darkness began to settle over the Great Glen I began to realize what a strange place I had come into. After sunset, Loch Ness is not a water by which to linger. The feeling is hard to define and impossible to explain. But there are reasons for all things and true that the soul of man was not forged in a day…After dark, I felt that Loch Ness was better left alone (The Great Orm of Loch Ness, p.8).” ..... It was, however, that very night in which something magical happened. With the dark came a breath of cool air which invaded the glen and moved all the wet weather out, leaving nothing but clear air. When we awoke the sight took our breath away. The layer of haze had peeled itself back to reveal a brilliant, shimmering Loch Ness down below. As we ate our breakfast atop that rock ledge, we realized just how lucky we were to enjoy such a view. It was truly a one-in-a-million glimpse, a view to inspire even the most cynical at heart. Surely this was one of the more intense faces of water that I had yet experienced."