A US travel writer has laid into Loch Ness - and said its legendary monster has "never existed". Seattle-based Rick Steves' Europe writer and photographer Cameron Hewitt branded Loch Ness the "longest, deepest, most boring, and most overhyped lake" in a scathing Facebook post.
The experienced tourism researcher said he was forced to take the route in the Scottish Highlands as part of his role due to the loch's popularity. In his post, he wrote: "I hate Loch Ness. There, I said it.
"Famous as it may be, there's nothing remotely interesting about Loch Ness, once you're actually here. Loch Ness doesn't even crack the top 25 list of 'prettiest Scottish lochs'.
"It's simply a long, narrow lake with a string of cheesy roadside attractions, and a not-very-dramatic mountains on the far side." And he wasn't holding back when it came to the subject of the loch's most famous resident either, reports the Daily Record.
He said: "It's almost as if the Scots, determined to wring a little touristic value out of this giant waste of space, at some point said, 'hmm...we should come up with some utterly fabricated story to get people to want to spend time and money here'. And so the Loch Ness Monster — Nessie — was born."
He ranted: "There is no Loch Ness Monster... period. It does not exist. Never has.
"It's just empty hype, invented in the 1930s, kept alive by hoax after hoax, seemingly for no other reason than to get people excited about a little stretch of the nothingness contained within the Scottish interior." He then went on to discuss the boat tours (which he dubs "pointless"), the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition and Urquhart Castle - which he admits may be the only saving grace of the attraction.
However, he explained he has a valid reason for hating what is arguably Scotland's most famous waterway. Taking time to summarise his feelings, he added: "It's frustrating because there is so much to see in Scotland that's so much better than Loch Ness.
"I think I have such a chip on my shoulder partly because I find it insulting to the other great sights of Scotland and its Highlands that Loch Ness consumes far more than its share of oxygen. I like to imagine a parallel world where Loch Ness does not exist.
"In that world, people devote their time to so many other, genuinely amazing attractions in this part of Scotland." Cameron then points would-be tourists in the directions of some of the attractions and landmarks near Inverness they should be visiting, including Speyside Cooperage, Eilean Donan Castle and Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre.
