Scotland!

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long - I am in Scotland and since we have been travelling around the place/countryside/islands etc, internet has been scarce and when I have been on it, I've been organising things like buses/trains. Blah blah... How is everyone?! And how is life in your respective parts of the globe?

I am right now in Glasgow with young Ross, after a week on an island called Lismore (near Oban, on the west coast) where me, Rachel, Dan, Ross and Jen rented a cottage. It was beautiful and peaceful and we spent many a long hour musing over the ferryman (the island was only reachable by ferry and the Scottish ferryman very cute!) and eating chocolate tart. And drinking tequila. And playing celebrity heads. And serenading the sheep.

Before that me and Rachel and Dan were travelling around Scotland for a few weeks and I've got to say, I love this country. It's beautiful and the people are friendly and what's more, they speak with these cute Scottish accents! What more could you want?! I'll backtrack... We started off in Edinburgh (which I have finally learnt how to spell!), which was a beautiful old city - well, we stayed in the beautiful old part of it. We went to the Elephant House (not Elephant Hose!) which is the cafe where a certain JK Rowling started a certain cult, I mean, started writing a certain book, you may have heard of it, Hale Bote or something? Anyway I thought I'd start writing My Novel there, but instead I just started doing Sudoku and now spend more time doing that than writing! But I'm sure there's just as much money in Sudoku as in writing!!

Then we made our way up into the highlands and stayed in a little town called Kingussie. The hostel there had no hot water and then we were invaded by a group of what I can only assume were German 19 year olds, though they may have been Austrian 20 year olds or Swiss 18 year olds - I don't know! We went on a lovely walk (Rachel and Dan having become walking fiends since they have been in the UK) and had our first whiskey. Ah, those days before I became a whiskey drinker ... they seem like a distant memory!

After Kingussie we had a joyous day of travelling north to get to the Orkney Islands. That day includes the fond memories of driving into a ditch and me falling over and skinning my knee and feeling like a 5 year old all over again. My wounds are still healing and that was over 2 weeks ago now! But emotional scars... Anyway, we finally got to Orkney, after much driving and ditch-seeing and via car ferry (but no cute ferryman), and found our hostel which has been my favourite hostel on my trip so far and also the cheapest! It was on an organic farm and the hostel itself was basically just one room, open plan, sleeps 8, with a kitchen bit, table, etc... the usual. PLUS KITTENS!! The kittens belonged to the people who owned/ran the farm and hostel, and we were allowed to have them visit us whenever they mewed pitifully at our door. They were both tabbies (but there was also a reclusive black one we never saw), the one who loved - I mean visited - us the most was called Scarla, and her brother, Percy. Both a tad on the wild/playful side and took to attacking anything that moved, particularly Rachel's feet which Scarla seemed to decide were evil and must die. Fair enough really.

Also in Orkney, aside from the kittens, we saw a number of prehistoric sights that were amazing. It really is quite incredible to go into a 5 thousand year old tomb - quite difficult to comprehend life that long ago and to be standing inside something that was so old. ... Difficult to put into words and give it justice. All in all, Orkney was beautiful and bleak - the landscape so well suited to the typical Scottish weather: mist, rain, fog. A very haunting place. I want to return someday...

Then onto Skye, the Isle of. Again it was beautiful but in a totally different way - much more dramatic landscape compared to Orkney. Much more New Zealand. Here we drank more whiskey and went on a tour of a distillery. We also went on more walks as my poorly knee slowly healed (the scabs by this stage had been named: Tom (the favourite) and Greg (old Greg and little Greg) - named after characters in a board game me and Rachel playing in Kingussie: Heartthrob, "the dating game for girls"!) We also visited a place called Orbost, as Rachel comes from Orbost in Victoria. Went on a walk there and in a bay we saw a large pod of dolphins playing. We watched them for ages as they jumped out of the water and generally showed off. Who needs Dream World or Sea World or whatever it is?!

Then we went onto Lismore and thus I think I have completed the cyclical narrative of my Scotland travels. I now spend a couple of days in Glasgow, then onto Manchester to stay with Ross in his home town, then back to London for more incredible crepes, then back to Europe for less of that English-speaking thing. I will try and update a bit more regularly - might be a bit easier as I'll be in cities more than towns.
Hope everyone is well and life is good. Email me! Leave comments! I miss you all.
Love, E.
xxx