Edwards has had his share of sightings, as have many of the locals. Edwards has started a petition that he asks tourists to sign in opposition to the development plans. In just a few months he has collected some 1,500 signatures.

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The tiny village of Drumnadrochit provides a home to two major tourist attractions (and many smaller ones) based on Nessie: The Official Loch Ness Exhibition and The Original Loch Ness Exhibition. Neither is aptly named, says Takala. The ‘Official’ exhibition is unsanctioned by any state or local government agency, and the ‘Original’ exhibition came into being some six years after the ‘Official’ one. Competition between the two is fierce.

’The Official Centre takes a natural history view of the area for its theme,’ says director Adrian Shine, as well as ‘getting into the history of the legend and the searches for the monster. It stresses science and natural history, showing the things that have been learned about the place itself. There’s no other exhibition in Britain about the workings of a huge lake and Loch Ness is the country’s largest.’

Unlike the Original Exhibition, which Shine says is concerned purely with searches for the monster, the Official Centre tries to take the Nessie debate back to its origins, before it became the subject of media hype, and to focus on what type of animal might exist in this sort of environment. ‘The bottom line,’ he continues, ‘is that it’s a very good interpretive vehicle for an environmental exhibition, and it is the environment that people come here for. The only justification for a visitor attraction is to reveal things which can not be seen within the environment itself. We’re not trying to duplicate Scottish scenery within the exhibition, but we will attempt to reveal the hidden elements of that environment–the underwater environment.’

Despite different approaches to the whole Nessie phenomenon, the owners of both exhibitions vehemently oppose Historic Scotland’s plans. ‘The new development would destroy the castle’s historic aspect,’ Robert Bremner, son of the Official exhibition’s owner, says.

His father suggests an alternative site for development of the tourist centre. ‘We would clear the land and perhaps have benches and a picnic area, and provide toilet facilities,’ Bremner told me as we visited the hilltop site. ‘The car park would be farther away from the castle this way. And we’re not going to charge people for coming up here and using the facilities and enjoying the view.’

The view from this site, called Strone (pronounced Stroon), about a quarter of a mile above the castle and overlooking it, surpasses all others I saw during my visit. It stretches over the surrounding glens and right up the length and breadth of Loch Ness towards Inverness.

Alastair MacPherson, local artist and proprietor of The Art Gallery in Drumnadrochit, told me of another partially implemented remedy for the overcrowded car parking facility–a car park in the village that the locals have just recently enlarged at their own expense. He cites plans to start a shuttle bus service to take tourists to the castle from there. The car park lies directly across from the village green with its plethora of gift shops (including The Art Gallery) and tea rooms and just down the road from the two exhibition centres.

Along with concern over the environmental impact of the new visitor facilities goes a great deal of local discontent over the fees charged for admittance. At £3.00 per person, Urquhart Castle is the third most expensive of Historic Scotland’s tourist sites. Only Stirling and Edinburgh Castles, which are not only intact, but also lavishly decorated, are more expensive, charging £3.50 and £5.50 per adult respectively. ‘It’s clear that Loch Ness itself is the true draw,’ Shine says, adding that the castle essentially provides a convenient observation point for visitors–and an opportunity for profit for Historic Scotland.

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