We arrived late at Edinburgh airport, not entirely sure how we were going to get to Helen's place. It was a lovely surprise to see her waiting for us at airport! Helen is the sister of one of Byrdie's school friends.
So great to be in an english speaking country. I couldn't help but read every sign and billboard intially....
RAIN. Our expectations of Scotland were rain. So much so that when Byrdie looked at a weather forecast, she was geniunely excited that one out of the five days (Wednesday) it wasn't predicting rain. In fact it even had a sun and no clouds. So far Scotland has lived up to it's expectations. It rained everyday, including Wednesday.
We timed it well arriving during the Edinburgh festival. Spent hours watching free comedy shows (tips only) at a pub. Loads of buskers in the streets.
Experienced hill-walking (aka tramping) in Scotland, with Helen and her boyfriend Mark. The full experience with rugged rocks, views of moutains and Loch, purple heather and no visibility at the top due to being in rather wet cloud.
I caught up with Lucy who I worked with for a while in Wellie, which was lovely.
I loved Edinburgh. It had a really great feel to it (although skewed experience during festival).
CYCLING. We left Edinburgh on Tuesday, taking a train to Pitlochry and starting from there. Strange cycling on the left side at first! The scenery has been so... scottish, really lovely. The purple heather covered hills, sheep with black faces, highland cattle, lochs.
Our first night we stayed at a very basic campground. NO showers. and MIDGES. Midges are like NZ sandflys, but they don't bite as badly. However, they hover around your face in hundreds and commit suicide in your hot drink. very annoying. Fortunately, having nothing better to do, we had an early dinner (broccoli and stilton soup), before the worst of the midges. We then hid in the tent until morning (the tent was covered in Midges by morning). We have since bought insect repellent.
Wednesday, it rained so we stayed at a hostel in Killin. Learnt more about hill-walking and bagging hill tops (tramping up mountain peaks and 'collecting' them).
Thursday, we sent out in the rain and arrived in Oban. We decided to stay in another hostel. Of course once we were settled in, the sun came out and it has been NOT raining ever since. There is no ferry running today to the Outer Hebrides island we want to go to, so having a day off. Typical that the one day we aren't cycling, it's not raining. (and the free internet at the library is luring me inside...). Oban is a cute town. We are staying at the scenic campground and taking a ferry early tomorrow morning...
So great to be in an english speaking country. I couldn't help but read every sign and billboard intially....
RAIN. Our expectations of Scotland were rain. So much so that when Byrdie looked at a weather forecast, she was geniunely excited that one out of the five days (Wednesday) it wasn't predicting rain. In fact it even had a sun and no clouds. So far Scotland has lived up to it's expectations. It rained everyday, including Wednesday.
We timed it well arriving during the Edinburgh festival. Spent hours watching free comedy shows (tips only) at a pub. Loads of buskers in the streets.
Experienced hill-walking (aka tramping) in Scotland, with Helen and her boyfriend Mark. The full experience with rugged rocks, views of moutains and Loch, purple heather and no visibility at the top due to being in rather wet cloud.
I caught up with Lucy who I worked with for a while in Wellie, which was lovely.
I loved Edinburgh. It had a really great feel to it (although skewed experience during festival).
CYCLING. We left Edinburgh on Tuesday, taking a train to Pitlochry and starting from there. Strange cycling on the left side at first! The scenery has been so... scottish, really lovely. The purple heather covered hills, sheep with black faces, highland cattle, lochs.
Our first night we stayed at a very basic campground. NO showers. and MIDGES. Midges are like NZ sandflys, but they don't bite as badly. However, they hover around your face in hundreds and commit suicide in your hot drink. very annoying. Fortunately, having nothing better to do, we had an early dinner (broccoli and stilton soup), before the worst of the midges. We then hid in the tent until morning (the tent was covered in Midges by morning). We have since bought insect repellent.
Wednesday, it rained so we stayed at a hostel in Killin. Learnt more about hill-walking and bagging hill tops (tramping up mountain peaks and 'collecting' them).
Thursday, we sent out in the rain and arrived in Oban. We decided to stay in another hostel. Of course once we were settled in, the sun came out and it has been NOT raining ever since. There is no ferry running today to the Outer Hebrides island we want to go to, so having a day off. Typical that the one day we aren't cycling, it's not raining. (and the free internet at the library is luring me inside...). Oban is a cute town. We are staying at the scenic campground and taking a ferry early tomorrow morning...
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