Today marks my 60th day of travel (59 actually in Scotland) & also the half way mark for my travels. I want to thank you all for reading my updates and for the many thoughts & prayers. I thank God for the opportunity I have had to be out here and look forward to the second half of my trip.
As you probably expected, this week started out like my normal week with work, walks, & tea. The main difference for Monday through Wednesday was the addition of planning my weekend ooting. Then the execution of the plan Thursday through Sunday.
Thursday started my grand ooting to the highlands. I made my way up to Fort William, & as I did I learned that City Link buses were not like my normal Stagecoach bus. The buses had all different interiors & ran differently based on the driver. My first bus had grey leather seats & the driver used the intercom system to talk to the passengers & make jokes that I found funny but may cause fear to others (mostly about how dangerous the road we were on was). The second bus had fancy Mercedes branded fabric seats and was completely silent the whole time. The following days also had different buses but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Upon arriving in Fort William, I had some time to kill before hotel check-in. I started by getting some food at The Crofter, which was recommended to me by a friend from church. The peppered steak baguette was very good & I would recommend it. From there I needed to get my steps up since riding the bus all day only landed me 500 out of my 10K step goal. This led me to walk the main street a couple times then walk to the trail head of Cow Hill. However, I decided not to continue onto the actual trail since it was hotter than I expected that day, I had a 1.5 mile walk to the hotel, & check-in was now open.
I had planned on checking in and chilling in my room for a bit since it was so hot out. Upon reaching my room, I found that it was what felt like 10 degrees hotter than outside. So I opened the window & took a shower in a bathroom straight out of a movie murder scene. When changing into my new clothes, I realized that I forgot to bring my belt & was wearing the trousers I planned to wear for the next 2 days which included the many miles of walking planned… So I set off, occasionally pulling up my pants as I walked into town in search of a belt. Searching the shops on the main street and surrounding street. Alas, no belt was to be found. So I got some food and headed back to the hotel room for the day.
The next morning I used my creativity to use my suspenders (braces for my UK readers) as a makeshift belt. I was later very thankful for this discovery since the day consisted of more hiking & running that I had planned. Which all started with a train ride to Glenfinnan, where the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct is located from the Harry Potter films. Upon arrival, I did what I often do, find a coffee shop. It was at this coffee shop that I learned that the Jacobite Steam Train, also from Harry Potter, ran several times a day & was going to be on the Viaduct around 2 hours from then. So I set off to stake my claim on a spot to take a photo of this legendary train. While making my way up rocks & dirt, I came to the realization that my train back was in a little over 2 hours from then. So when I found a spot with an ample view of the track, I Googled when the train was meant to appear & it was 10:45. My train was at 11… So I did what any self respecting scientist (kind of) would do. I RAN an experiment. Using my watch to time myself I both ran & jumped around the trail to get back to the train station, resulting in a time of 16 minutes & 30 seconds. I would not have made it.
With my new found hopes of taking photos of the Jacobite on the Viaduct removed, I looked at the small museum & then made my way back to the coffee shop. I talked with the baristas & a local woman who is very proud of the culture in Scotland & liked to throw shade at England. This was one of my favorite experiences of this week. They also reminded me that I could take photos of the Jacobite at the train station where I needed to be anyway to make my train. Making my way up to the train, I realized that if I didn’t get there before the Jacobite, not only would I not get to see it pull into the station, I also wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the tracks where my train would pick me up. So more running! Luckily I beat the Jacobite & had time to get my camera ready before it came, & I got my train back to Fort William.
Fort William was a waiting game. I walked the same main street I walked many times the day prior, took more photos, played pokemon go, & stood in boredom. This consisted of 2.5 hours of waiting for my bus to Broadford on the Isle of Skye. This bus was once again different, with black and red leather seats & Scotish music played over the speakers. The ride felt straight out of the Lord of the Rings as we drove through Glencoe. This is a valley with mountains & sheep on both sides. The conclusion of this bus ride led to me hastily checking-in to my hotel for the night, checking out a small market, going for a walk, & going to bed.
Saturday started as all good Saturdays do, haggis & a calmer version of Golden from K-pop Demon Hunters in the background. Once all the haggis was gone & the goldens said, I made my way to another bus. This one was blue and grey leather seats & silence. Our location in Portree brought a decision. I could take a bus to a popular hiking spot of Old Man of Storr, hike for 3 miles, and then wait for the bus to come back, or do basically everything else the town had to offer. I chose the latter, starting with a coffee from Burch Cafe, followed by a long hike that I stumbled upon. The hike was pretty & I got close to some highland coos for free, unlike many tourists who were paying to see the coos at a cafe up the street.
Making my way back into town I stopped by a local artist/crafter store where I purchased a rabbit pin and asked for lunch suggestions, specifying anything but fish & chips. It was at this lunch suggestion where I talked with a quiznos owner from New Jersey before she had to leave & continue her adventure with her husband. At this point I was deciding what to do & remembered there was a distillery in town. After waiting for 20 minutes outside while they were conducting an in depth class/tour I made my way in & was able to try 3 of their spirits, including a whisky that I quite enjoyed. Next I made my way up this little hill to a tower. Inside that tower I took stairs to the top where I was greeted by a lady who told me that after waiting a long time the clouds finally broke to reveal a view of Old Man of Storr in the distance, allowing me to see it after all. I then walked all the way to the other end of town to check out the Skye Candle Company Visitors Center. This was exactly how you’d expect it… Movie theater, bar/restaurant, cafe, & a small shop to buy candles.
Once I was confused by what I found at the “candle company”, I had time to kill so I walked around the cemetery for an hour. Then I got my bus back to Broadford and this time it was a double decker bus with a lot of things not working so it relied on the bus driver yelling at everyone, everything. After a little bit of chilling, I went to bed. This leads us to today, where I finally got a repeat bus. The one with the Mercedes branded seats. I was on this bus for 6 hours while I made my way back to Glasgow, then I waited for a bus to Kilmarnock, then waited for a bus to Newmilns. I am finally back and very tired from all my adventures.
Speaking of adventures, would you, your family, &/or friends like to have mini adventures together? Well I’m working with a small team (my mom & sister) to create an opportunity to help people connect these upcoming months. Check out https://howellevents.com/upcoming soon to see this opportunity (probably posted around Tuesday)