RETURN TO LOCH NESS
A gorgeous view to the lake, right after the corner (click to enlarge)
In front of me was a perfectly unobstructed view to the enormous lake and the steep hillside and rocky mountaintops on the right, all bathing in warm sunshine. The sun was glowing in the middle of white cumulus clouds straight across the lake seen from where I was standing and it was creating a broad bridge of light across the water. On the left and right the reflections of clouds and mountains were casting subtle vertical reflections. I didn't have to look at this sight for long to become convinced it was exactly the scene of my vision two nights before. Here it was, plain and clear!
A view to the left from the same spot
(I couldn't shoot straight forward because of the sun).
A misty rain front approaching from the North (left)
So what was I to expect? I was filled with gratitude for being guided into this place and moment. But I didn't feel anxiety or restlessness. I was quite calm, open to receive what ever was meant for me to experience, silently promising not to use this gift for personal profit or fame. I sat next to the road, my feet towards the lake, just to enjoy the sunshine and the scenery and see if something would happen. I also did some overtone chanting, which just felt a nice thing to do - and there was nobody in sight to hear me. An hour passed and nothing happened. Only I noticed a rain front approaching from the North along the lake.
I took the bike and proceeded further along the road. It went back into the woods and from the condition of the road I concluded it might soon lead to another dead end (later this turned out to be true). I decided to leave the bike and start climbing towards the top of the mountain although there was no path and the hillside was very steep. Then I began feeling very weak (mostly because of hunger, I guess) and I had to forget this plan. Again I had to turn back, and I was a bit upset by this. When I returned to my previous viewpoint, quite surprisingly the rain front was suddenly on me. I must have been really absent not to have noticed it before. And then it happened.
I was somehow frozen. I was able to reach for my umbrella and my camera, but my mind was totally and somehow automatically focused on a specific point in the lake. There was a complete change of conditions. Instead of pristine warm sunlight there was suddenly a cold rain with a strong wind that almost grabbed my umbrella. The gray surface of the water against the gray mountains and sky was wiped by wide arched waves. Yet my eyes were straight in the creature.
An unprocessed photo of the creature as I saw it.
It's not much, but remember it was moving!
It was coming from the North, apparently following the rain front - or actually I experienced it the other way round; the rain front was following the creature. Visually it was just an elongated small dark spot just below the wavy surface of the water, but my connection to it and the feeling of its true size made it a really powerful sight. Right in front of me it made a turn towards the center of the lake and for a while it was moving diagonally away from me. Then it turned right again to follow the direction of the lake.
The path of the animal as it was swimming along did not give an impression
that it was just drifting in the current.
The memory card of my digital camera was full, I knew it. I shot the first photo just when it had made the change of direction. There was room for three or four pictures at the most. I was expecting the creature to rise out of the water so that I could have the best possible picture. It didn't. When I took the second picture, I had already lost it from my sight. Nevertheless, it was the experience I was after, not evidence.
The second shot, nothing there. But you can see how gray it was.
Just based on my memory of the sighting, it was difficult to estimate how long it lasted. When you're in an altered state, time doesn't matter. I thought it might have been less than a minute, but based on the timing info on the photographs, the whole sighting lasted about three minutes. Very soon after I lost the creature from my sight, the rain front had passed and the sunshine was back. I turned around and right behind me was a large bush filled with big raspberries. What a magnificent ending for this experience, that was all the lunch I needed.
Before I left, there was a boat pretty much in the same place where I'd seen the strange animal a few minutes ago. I estimated the boat to be about 20 meters long and if that was right, then the animal had been roughly in the 10 m region. That seemed to be "correct", if I had any idea of how big Nessie should be.
This is the story as briefly
as I could tell it (I have written a more detailed article, published
as an extra leaflet in the December issue of the Finnish magazine Ultra).