Has Nessie taken up paddleboarding? Tourists delighted with special Loch Ness sighting

Tourists around Loch Ness yesterday could have glimpsed a rare sighting of Nessie as the monster was spotted peacefully floating on a paddleboard.

Impersonating the most famous inhabitant of the loch was Paul Hughes (46) who was touring the area with his wife Jodey (40) and her family visiting from Canada.

"We just wanted to do something very silly," said Jodey, who moved from New Brunswick to Scotland 17 years ago.

"Growing up in Canada you would hear about the Loch Ness monster and since then visiting the loch has always been on my list of things to do.

"It was also the first time my father Eric and his wife Janice ever visited Scotland so we wanted to do something special for the occasion.

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Jodey – a weightlifting athlete competing with Team Scotland – said they were camping in the Highlands after the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year and loved it so much they decided to come back to explore the area.

Paul, who normally practices crossfit, took up paddleboarding around two years ago and decided to take on the waters in a Nessie costume.

"The water was so cold!" said Jodey.

"But we were very lucky that the weather was so nice yesterday."
The group also visited the Loch Ness centre and was very surprised to see how busy it was.

"We saw several cruises passing by when Paul was on the water, and two tourists who came all the way from Argentina were on a beach too. They said that seeing the Loch Ness monster made their trip!"

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