Dores

The watcher on the shore

A caravan sits on the shingle at Dores Beach, and the man inside it makes model monsters. Steve Feltham gave up his job, his home and his relationship and began a full-time search for the Loch Ness monster on 18 July 1991, after a childhood visit had stayed with him. He is still here, and his caravan and model-making base are now part of the village. "I still love the possibility that it's just going to happen suddenly," he says.

The water he watches is the reason most people come. Dores sits at the north-eastern end of Loch Ness, where a long stony beach opens the classic view southwest down the loch, with the hill of Meall Fuar Mhonaidh standing across the far side and woods wrapping round Torr Point. It is the quieter side of the loch.

Food by the loch

An outdoor food pop-up runs in the Dores Inn grounds beside the beach, with two food trucks, a large stretch tent and wooden tables. The food trucks serve flatbreads filled with venison salami, pickles and smoked Dunlop cheese; crispy cod with tartare sauce and a crushed-pea salad; a smash burger and fries from the outside counter; organic ice cream, strawberry sorbet and fresh garden juices. Cromarty Brewing's Happy Chappy has also appeared at the counter.

Walks through Dores

From the church car park a circular walk of about four and a quarter miles follows the shore through Torr Woods, past Feltham's caravan and a playground, with a chance of red squirrels or roe deer and views across to the Aldourie jetty and castle. The castle grew from a sixteenth-century tower during Victorian times; the walk passes its grounds without entering them. A longer Loch Ness 360 trail runs 10.25 miles to Inverness, before the Moray Firth and the Kessock Bridge come into view.

The parish church was built in 1828, though a church has stood at Dores since 1233. It is built of rubble walls and dressed stone, with Y-traceried windows, a later Gothic bellcote, an octagonal panelled pulpit and a galleried interior. The burial ground keeps stones from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The road south

Dores is eight miles from Inverness, about fifteen minutes by car, and sits at the junction of the B862 and B852. The latter carries on down the south shore to Foyers, where a path and steps lead to viewpoints over the 140-foot Falls of Foyers. The falls are about 10.9 miles from Dores in a straight line; the road journey is longer. Bus 302 links Inverness with Dores and Foyers. Summer parking can be pressured.

Festival echoes and an open question

For eight summers from 2006 the RockNess festival filled nearby Clune Farm with tens of thousands of people; it stopped in 2013, but its benefit fund lives on through the community trust, handing out small grants and bursaries. North of the village, a scheduled cropmark marks the post-pits of a late prehistoric timber roundhouse, at least fourteen metres across.

The loch gives nothing away. Feltham watches it anyway.