Mary Queen of Scots picnic bench

Today we took advantage of the weather and Historic Scotland having reopened after conducting their surveys and headed for Loch Leven. I have long wanted to visit the castle on the island where Mary Queen of Scots came firstly as a guest and just a few years later, was imprisoned and later abdicated. The castle itself is a ruin now but you get a good picture both from what is left and from the useful information boards.
As members there was no charge either for entry or for the 14 minute boat trip across the loch.
The island is so peaceful, with only 12 seats on the little motor boat(you have to book online up until midnight the day before) and with only one boat an hour, it doesn't get crowded.
There's lots to see from the boat, the loch is starting to fill up with birds. As well as countless swans, some cormorants and a couple of moorhens we also spotted a heron . Lots to see both from the boat and the shore.
We spent half an hour or so exploring the castle then settled down out of the wind on one of the picnic benches with other lunch.
The island is very different to the one which Mary knew. It is much bigger for a start, in her day the waters came almost up to the castle walls. The loch was drained and sluice gates put in in the 1830s which lowered the water levels by about 1.5 metres. The reclaimed land around the shores of the loch was then sold. I imagine it would be very fertile. Kinetic House across the loch was owned by the architect of Holyrood Palace. It has a stunning seeing with viewers of the loch and the castle.
Well worth a visit, we'll be back to explore the island a bit more next time.
While we were in Kinross we noticed a lot of police activity. They were doing security checks and work prior to a very VIP visit later this month. Being me, I asked what was going on.