WATCH: Falls of Foyers above Loch Ness captured in explosive spate
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Spectacular footage of the Falls of Foyers in breathtaking spate have been captured by a local hotelier.
Elly Russell and husband Chris have owned and run Foyers Bay Country House above the shores of Loch Ness for three years now.
Video 1:
The long-established hotel is the closest guest residence of its kind to the famous falls and its viewpoints.
The keen photographer visited with her twins Emily and Faith (13) on Sunday morning and took basic mobile phone videos of the thunderous blast of water spewing out above the River Foyers.
She described the scene and micro-climate created as “phenomenal” amid this week’s torrential rains and floods.
Video 2:
“It was spectacular, to say the least!” Mrs Chisholm said.
“We went all the way down to the lower viewing point.
“One of the videos was taken by me as I walked towards the viewing point.
“You can suddenly see that the wind picks up and the force of all the water that was coming back up was so strong, it was pushing us backwards.
“The kids and I were like ‘woo-aah!’
“It captures basically the sheer power and force of it. It was just phenomenal.
Video 3:
“I was also fascinated by the way it was creating these huge, really white clouds of mist.”
In 1773, famous explorers Dr Johnson and Samuel Boswell also visited what they called “Falls of Fiers”.
The poet Rabbie Burns helped spread word of the Falls of Foyers by penning verses in 1787 describing waters beneath it as “a horrid cauldron”.
He wrote: “Amang the heather hills and ragged woods, the roaring Foyers pours its mossy flood, till full he dashes on the rocky mounds, where, thro’ a shapeless breach, his stream resounds.”
Tumbling 164 feet to the River Foyers, the Eas na Smuide – The Smoking Falls – became a popular destination for tourists using pleasure steamers on Loch Ness.
But in 1895, the North British Aluminium Company tamed the flow somewhat by building an aluminium smelting plant powered by a hydro-electric station, which drew large volumes of water from the River Foyers just above the falls
Some 125 years ago, the UK’s first large scale commercial hydroelectric scheme – one of the first in Europe – also began operations.
