Loch Ness is possibly the most famous body of water in the world, surpassed in fame only by its alleged monsters, that have been making regular appearances in the loch for almost 1500 years, starting with St Columba's encounter in the river ness, in 565 AD. The loch, which was largely inaccessible, without travelling over the mountains, was opened to the eyes of the public, one might say, when a road was built into the side of the mountain in 1933; followed shortly after by a rash of sightings of this now infamous beast of the Scottish Highlands.