Arthur M, Lilley II age 12, of Frankfort, Germany

 What is the Loch Ness monster?

Let’s first take a peek at Loch Ness, a journey which will take us to bare rounded hills, the gentle glens and silvery lakes of Scotland, The ragged coastline is fringed with many off shore isles and countless fingers of the silvery sea reach deep into the land, The mountain ranges tend to run from southwest to northeast, The glens or valleys tend to follow the same slanting direction and at one point the Great Glen of Scotland slices the country in two  Lochs or lakes, nestle on the floors of many of the glens 

The Great Glen, also known as the Valley of Glenmore, is a series of lochs slicing in a straight line from the Firth of Lorne on the southwest coast to Beauly Firth on the northeast coast Nature, however, forgot to complete the chain  A strip of dry land prevented a waterway from connecting the North Sea on the east coast with the Atlantic on the west  In 1773, James Watt who gave us the steam engine, surveyed the region, In 1822, the chain of fresh water lakes were joined with manmade canals to make a single waterway 

The waterway is the Caledonian Canal, 60 miles long with about 22 miles of man made construction  It saves 400 miles from a voyage around the north of Scotland To find Loch Ness, we enter the Caledonian Canal through the Firth of Moray on the northeast shore We funnel down to the Beauly Firth and past the ancient town of Inverness  We are now in the canal and soon reach a narrow, steep sided lake of fresh silvery water  We are sailing along on the surface of Loch Ness 

Mere and there steep shoulders dip down to the water's edge, The water outs bites and small bays into its rocky walls with mysterious caves above and perhaps below the surface,

At twilight the shadows add to the eerie mystery of the lakes s reputation  For, since the l0th century, various people have reported seeing a scaly monster in like the ocean going dinosaurs which thronged the seas 100 million years ago,these waters  He is said to be a kind of sea serpent 30 feet long, perhaps somewhat

The lake is 24 miles long, a mile wide and its floor daps down to 250 feet which is enough water to hide a sizable monster  Many people who live around Loch Ness are sure that a great reptile lurks in their lake and once in a great while lifts his huge head above the water But no scientist has used a tape measure on him or even taken a photograph of the Loch Ness monster In fact, there is no scientific proof that the Monster exists at all  Sad to say, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the Monster is a trick of lights and shadows, plus a little twilight imagination

But lens keep an open mind and wait hopefully for the shadowy evening when a group of scientists settles the matter for good and all For no one can say for sure that a few lonely dinosaurs did not remain after their relatives said goodbye to the world some 60 million years ago though we must admit that this is not very likely