SCOTLAND - A WEE ADVENTURE

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This trip had been on my mind for quite a while. Last summer, it was the main thing I wanted to do, but with COVID raging through Europe and borders still closed, that just wasn't an option.

While I was back home in the US in July, I kept an eye on the news. At the start of August I saw that Scotland and the UK changed up their travel requirements - if you were vaccinated you no longer needed to quarantine for 14 days. BOOM BABY!!! I was in business!!! As soon as I figured that out, I knew my plans were on and I had a nice little adventure to look forward to.

Since the planning and idea had been on my mind for a good long while, I had a good amount of time to ruminate on it. With that, I came up with the following three goals for a road trip through Scotland:

1. Mountain Bikin'
2. Hikin' and Backpackin'
3. Whiskey Drinkin'

That was all I wanted to do, and hot-diggity-damn was I in for a treat!!!

A Turbulent Turnaround

After landing in Stuttgart, returning from my wonderful trip back home, I was ready to hit the ground running and head straight off to my next adventure! The plan was to land, pick up some bike parts, do laundry that night, pack the car, and the next day head out on the road with Rupert, my bike, and three weeks of adventuring in Scotland! Welp, Delta and KLM sure had something to say about that.

Getting to baggage claim I waited, waited, and waited some more, until the turnstile stopped and neither of my bags showed up. Quite the unique little wrench the universe handed me. I was ready to just sit there and wait until the next plane came with (hopefully) my bags, but got in touch with KLM and hit the road.

First stop was in Tübingen to pick up my bike parts. As soon as I got home, I set to getting my Patrol (bike) back up and running with the serviced parts. At least I could get that squared away and ready for the trip. But for the rest of it, I kinda needed my biking, hiking, and adventuring gear. And since my biking, hiking, and adventuring gear were in two suitcases somewhere in the hands of KLM, I was kinda put on ice.

Thanks to jet-lag, I had a bit of an early night. I be-bopped around the house to get a few things done, took care of a couple small tasks, but since I couldn't do laundry to really get things done, I called it a day.

That next day, I was itching to get going, but KLM was nothing but slow to the punch. Well, long story short, the minute I left the house in the afternoon to go run and get something, that was the exact minute the guy showed up with the suitcases. Thankfully though, they arrived intact and now the real trip prep began!

I briefly toyed with trying to get everything done and leave that night, but opted for the more relaxed route (I was on vacation dammit!) and had that night to get prepped and ready to go. Laundry at the laundromat, groceries and snacks from Kaufland, and slowly but surely figuring out all that I needed to bring with me for the adventures at hand.

Along with that trip prep, I did the logistical trip prep of figuring out what the actual limitations/rules were for entry. Although I was vaccinated, I still had to do a PCR test within two days of arrival, so I did my best to figure where in the hell that was possible. Eventually I got all the logistics squared away, including booking my train ticket the next day, my bags were packed, and I was ready for one helluvan adventure!!!

Off We GOOO!!!

Spark Notes - My Polarsteps Journey

After a good night's rest, it was time to load up and GTFO. I made a nice breakfast, packed all my snacks, got all my stuff in the car, and then Rupert and I were ready to go!!!

The most direct route to Calais was through France, but France has some pretty high tolls which I wasn't looking to pay. Thankfully, the route through Luxembourg and Belgium dropped me right into the Northeast corner of France to skip all the tolls. Hot damn!

The early start got me out on the road on a grey, cloudy, and rainy day. I had a train departure on the Chunnel (!!!) all set, and a PCR test reserved shortly after I was set to arrive in Great Britain, and although it was a bit flexible, I had a goal and timeline to hit for the ~7 hour drive. So I jumped in the car, turned on Shantaram audio book (thanks for the recommendation Dawn!), and I was off!

I had on-and-off rain the whole way. But with fairly empty roads, the drive kept rolling along fairly easily. I had soon enough passed through Luxembourg, then Belgium, and after filling up on gas, air, and a snack break, I was headed into France! From the border it was just a short hop, skip, and a jump down the highway, and soon enough I was pulling up to the Chunnel (aka Eurotunnel, its official name)!

It being such a revolutionary bit of infrastructure the world over, I was extremely stoked to get the chance to experience the Chunnel! Yes, it's officially called the Eurotunnel, but that name is boring and too stiff. My time was booked for a ride across the channel, but I actually arrived a little early and got a spot on the earlier train. Lovin it!

As I rolled in and checked in, I had just enough time to run into the giant welcome center, use the facilities, snag a power adapter, and then my group was being called into line. And with that, it was time to get going!

Well, if I'd have taken my trip a year or two before, I have a feeling the whole process would've been a little less complicated. But with that ridiculous thing known as Brexit, things are a bit different. So as I jumped into the line to get loaded on, I had a bit of a process to get through.

From the giant parking lot at the welcoming center, once you see your train/group/number on your ticket on the giant board, you hop in your car and join the line (queue). At first you kinda curve around, and then someone verifies you can enter the giant fenced off area where things get real.

The two lines of cars opened up to about 10 lanes, and first step was the French Customs checkpoint. Easy enough, quick chat with the guy, then pulled off to the next stop. British Customs checkpoint, also simple enough. There I was surprised with some English (should've expected that...), but made it through with no issues. All along the way were bunches of sensors and xray things, but the funnel of checkpoints and such was complete, and then I got funneled through to the actual waiting area. Kinda like a ferry, I just had to sit and wait.

After a good 10-20 minutes of standing around in the hazy sunlight, looking at the gigantic complex and all the stuff going on, my line of cars was on the move - time to load up! The waiting area was right next to the train tracks, so after getting on the move, we were led onto a big bridge that spanned the (what seemed like 20) train tracks in the complex. But the bridge had ramps that led down to the gaps in between each track, and our group was shuttled down one of those. Once we came to track level, there was an open train car waiting for us, and in we go!

Once onto the train car, we were all ushered forward until we were either butt-up against the car in front of us, or at the start of a new train car. For me, I got the start of the new car bit, and once I parked, it was a matter of waiting until we got going. That sign came once the doors between the train cars got shut. We were on our way! (Can you tell I was pretty excited for this whole thing!?)

Parked, train doors shut, and just kinda waiting, I didn't even realize once the train started moving! Made sense, because all I had to look out of from the giant monolithic train car was a tiny little porthole with a view to the outside world.

The ride was actually quite smooth. But since I didn't have anything to look at (and wouldn't have even if there were bigger windows, we were going through a tunnel under the sea by the way...), I decided a nap was in store. We were only supposed to need about 35 minutes to cross the channel, so that was some perfect timing if you ask me.

Naps - always the right answer. After I woke up, I still had a little time until the trip would come to completion. As I was heading into a foreign land and foreign world, where the driving would be something different than I know, I took after some recommendations and put myself some reminders together to help keep me on track on the wrong side of the road.

All of a sudden, there was light coming out of the porthole, I was officially on Britsh soil! Quite a pretty cool, and altogether quick and seamless, way of getting there! We stopped, the doors between the train cars opened up, and after a bit of waiting, we were let loose and let the games begin!

As soon as I was out and back in daylight and on dry pavement, I snapped into gear. As I said, I was now driving with left-hand traffic, and it was an immediate entrance to a different world. Mental reminders to constantly stay to the left started, I maneuvered out of the giant complex, and I was on the highway (motorway) to start heading north. Off we go!

Heading North

After I was unleashed onto British Soil, as I said, I had a PCR Test to take. On the way, I pulled off a Motorway rest stop to fill up on gas (shit's expensive yo), and popped in to use the bathroom (loo), and had my first kinda shock/surprise. Ritter Sport is a German chocolate, something I get fairly regularly. But seeing the Rum Traube Nuss version in English was a very vivid double take for me - I was definitely in a foreign place.

My PCR appointment had me take a B-line over towards Gatwick Airport (south of London). Google Maps took that pretty literally and had me take some country roads to get there. Normally I'm not a fan of that, as I'd rather take the fast roads to get there, but this was a delightful little detour that led to something fun.

As I learned very quickly, which held firm throughout Britain and Scotland, once you get off the motorway, streets can get really thin. Hedges, fences, parked cars, there's not a lot of space to squeeze your car over the road. Additionally, they get bumpy and rutty as hell. But, despite the toothpick wide lanes (honestly, not too much different than the tight alleyways in Germany, but just an adjustment for me being on the wrong side of the road), I cruised past the various countryside accoutrement of the UK. Oh Look!!! A Double Decker Bus!

Once I got to the parking lot-turned test center, I had a fairly easy time of it. Got in, checked in, stayed in my car as they probed my nose, and in the blink of an eye I was finally set free to start my first big trip in a year. But first I had to get out of the place. It's hard to enter the code at the gate when the display is on the right side of the vehicle, and I'm on the left...

But thankfully someone was right out in front of me, and I was able to sneak behind them and get out. Now, finally off and running, I decided to double back along the country roads I'd taken on the way in to go see something that piqued my interest.

After thinking I took a wrong turn and pulling into the wrong side of the parking lot entrance (oops!), I reoriented and got myself on the correct direction. Shortly thereafter I found myself at a little clubhouse with a sprawling semi-kept lawn. Time to watch some cricket! :-)

I don't know how I got turned on to cricket, but I'm a huge fan of it. Never been to a game, still don't know all the rules in-depth, but I have always been fascinated by the sport.

To be honest, I find cricket more of a sport than baseball...

I pullled up and put my 'dinner' together and was able to find a bench next to the pitch to post up and watch. What a perfect little way to go! A cozy bench, some local folks practicing some cricket, and a relaxing evening to get my first taste of British culture.

It seemed to me that this was a local clubhouse (likely similar to the German Verein setup), with a bunch of folks out for some practice on a Saturday night. There were some folks by the clubhouse with some drinks, there was a little scoreboard over there, and it looked like I stumbled upon a little slice of life in the neighborhood. How delightful!

Relaxing, delicious, somewhat-insightful, low-key, and overall enjoyable. Really glad my eyes were scanning on the drive to the test center, and LOVE the inherent flexibility of solo-adventuring. The practice didn't last all too long, but I was able to sit, eat, and watch a little bit of such an intriguing sport.

After their practice wrapped up, it was time for me to hit the road. At that point, I still had about a 6-7 hour drive to get to the border of Scotland. Since it was late in the day, and I wasn't feeling like pushing it, I knew I wasn't going to get it all that night. Despite that, I hit the road and knew I could get a couple more hours out of the way before knocking off for the night.

With my audio book keeping me going, I used the trip to get more and more used to driving on the wrong side of the road. The day slowly crept forward towards a beautiful sunset over the road. With the sun down, I kept pushing a bit further, but ended up looking for parks or some potential places where I could park in relative peace for the night.

That search put me onto a park right next to the motorway with a decent looking parking lot, so I re-routed and headed towards some sleep. Got off the highway, headed through a town and took a right, and then right before the park I saw what looked like a little pub. Being in Britain, pub culture being a big thing, knowing I was on an adventure, I knew I had to stop in for a little night cap.

Turned out to be a money decision as I'd stumbled upon a little Inn. There was a wedding going on out back, but the cozy little pub was open for enjoyment, so I popped in and had a friendly chat with the folks behind the bar to help me decide what I was in the mood for. Some friendly banter, learning that England didn't have a mask mandate, and settling on my goods, I was ready to relax.

Quite the perfect place to relax after a full day of driving. Soon enough, my cask stout arrived, and then the piéce de résistance - a lava brownie. Gah' DAMN I love me some brownies. Being able to enjoy them in a big cozy chair in a comfy, cozy room with tons of old-timey pictures and posters and such. What a delight!

The Black Hound Stout was smooth, the lava brownie was delectable, and it was the perfect spot to whet the tongue and finish off the day. I wrapped up the deliciousness, jumped back in Rupert and motored over to the park nearby. Once there, I found an empty spot and started the first of many nights of re-organizing Rupert and building up my bed before knocking out for the evening. What a refreshing feeling to be back on the road and back on an adventure.

Day 2 - Starting Off in Scotland

Once I woke up, I really didn't want to go anywhere. Knowing I was on vacation, I had all the time in the world. On the one hand, I had an incredible adventure ahead of me, but on the other, knowing I could sleep and be lazy for as long as I wanted, it was tempting. All said and done, I rolled around for a lot longer than I thought, but eventually got in gear, re-packed Rupert, and hit the road.

As I started out, I needed to fill up on water. The two gas stations I stopped at didn't have any water fountains (and I wasn't in the mood for paying for water), so I was a bit out of luck. Next, I figured I'd stop and find some breakfast. The one place I stopped at should have been open, but the metal shutters across the storefront said otherwise. Not wanting to waste much more time, I made the executive decision to hit the road and head north.

The drive started out with a beautiful morning through blue skies and sunshine. But once the motorway weaved up through the Lakes district through, the landcape and the weather started to change. Grey skies with tons of rolling hills, the drive was quite enjoyable and left me wishing I had more time for some stopping and exploration through that assumedly gorgeous region.

The further north I got, the more rural it got, with tons of sheep and stone fences all over the place. This was a trend that would stick the whole trip. But with those aspects prevalent on the road, it sure made me feel like I was in the UK. Soon enough though, I'd officially crossed into Scotland!

Shortly after crossing over, I was off the motorway and starting my adventure. I'd been looking forward to this for such a long time and stoked to actually be there and getting it started! The first stop of this grand ride was part of one of the three Trip Pillars - Mountain Biking. But as the first first thing, I had to get some food and water in me.

After stopping at Starbucks to fill up my thermos with coffee and fill up on water (the folks there were surprised by my non-scottish accent), I googled and found a good breakfast spot in Pat's Patio and headed over. Once I got there I thought I was in the wrong place. But after realising I had to walk through the nursery and plants, I waltzed into the cafe, ordered me some breakfast, and was surprised by the beautiful patio in the back. A camera phone can't do it justice, but my first taste of Scottish nature, in the hay fields, trees, hills, and calmness in all of it, was a great start to the nature-side of the trip!

Pat's gave me a great start to the day in some delicious pancakes and coffee as I did a little research for the days ahead. From Pat's though, it was an easy drive over to the trailhead for the first stop at 7 Stanes (Ae) to start some Mountain Bikin'!

In reasearching the various destinations for mountain biking in Scotland, 7 Stanes came up pretty often. It's a group of trail networks spread throughout southern Scotland, and came with some good reviews, so I was pumped to get started. Unfortunately, I didn't have money on me, so I went in to the cafe (how cool!) that was right next to the bike shop (WhAT?!?) in the parking lot, snagged a milky way to make change, and then went back to the car to get ready to ride!

After setting out, there was a weird grinding sound in the rear brakes, so I 180'd real quick to go fix that. Adjusted the caliper location, pulled out the pads, pressed in the pistons, and after that it was good to go. Second try was the charm here, and soon I was on the trail headed up to the top!

Up we go! Kinda. It was not super straightforward where to go, but I took the first forest road and we were on the way. It was a bit of a pedal, but soon enough I made it to the top top and took a minute to enjoy the views. Nothing like getting a beauty bike shot.

Now, down we go! To start, I got in a couple runs on the orange lines. I was expecting some intense features and fun stuff, but aside from only a couple things that I had to roll around, the trails were all pretty tame. I rode over to another trail, gave it a go and enjoyed the rocky but fun ride.

After a bit of riding, I realized how a lot of the trails were really short. Then after some more riding, I got the feeling that the downhill trails that were there were a bit of an exception in the southwest highlands. As I'd learn through the next couple days, most places have tours mapped out, longer XC routes. That is not the kind of riding I'm a big fan on, and was not what I thought I would be riding.

I got some more riding in and had a few chats with some other riders as I was gearing up for another run. Friendly folks, and they talked about their big loop around the tour trail. After one more run down Shredder and then Omega Man, I decided to call it a day. Overall, fairly good stuff with a couple drops, bunches of rocks (that would be common throughout ALL rides), some technical bits and a few other things. To be honest, it was an ok first ride in Scotland, and not as exciting/dynamic/intense as I was expecting. Oh well, more to come!

Back at the car, the parking lot was nearly empty. With the quietness I lazily put all my bike stuff away, got changed, filled up on water, and then did some trip research while leaching off wifi from the cafe there. Noice. Following that - nap time. :-)

Once I was awake and ready to roll, I left the trailhead and motored on over to Dumfries, the big town in the area. The plan was to cruise through town and find somewhere to eat. I researched a couple restaurants and after running into a few that were closed (ended up being a common occurrence), I ended up at Crumb.

Entering a restaurant on your own is almost always a bit weird. Shaking off that entrance I got in, seated, and got myself a Glenkinchie 12-yr to start off the culinary tour of Scotland.

While waiting for my meal, there was a birthday girl at the other table who was really shy. They brought out a cake with some candles on it, and it seemed like she did not want to be there. But, soon enough, my food was out and time to feast. Holy shit that sea bass was delicious! A lemony taste off the grill gave it some bright flavors and went really well with some shrimp. Fucking goooooood...

After dinner I headed back to Rupert and reached a mood that would occur every so often during the trip where I was just unsure what to do. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I decided to grab the camera and head off on a walk through the town of Dumfries.

It's not a huge town, and with Covid still on everyone's minds, it was weird with how quiet and empty the walk through town was. Despite all that, it was nice little loop through the city on a quiet Sunday night.

On my stroll I started off through the center of town, and the headed out to the river. I got a good vibe of the buildings and the town, then enjoyed my walk along the river. Some ducks, some townsfolk, some clouds, and a relaxed walk really calmed me down. After rounding the trail back towards town, I headed back to Rupert with the plan for getting out of town and finding a place to sleep.

At that point I was just looking for a quiet road with enough space to park. As I'd learn, there's a pretty prevalent setup in Scotland with small rest stops/pull-outs all over the place along the highways and roads. I was headed in the direction of one place, but stumbled upon one-such rest stop on the way, so I parked, reshuffled Rupert, and hit the sack.

Day 3 - Stone Castles and Stone Rolls

I slept. A ton. I didn't realize I could get 12 hours of sleep in an not-so-ideal sleep setup in Rupert, but it happened. I rolled around more than I liked, but it was a wonderful night's sleep. After waking up, I had a lazy up-and-at-'em, and started the day with an apple and PB&J croissant with a few onlookers.

Initally I'd planned to continue the mountain biking at Mabie Forest. But after taking a look at what was there, it looked to be just a small jumpline and I doubted the quality of the trails based on what I'd ridden the day before. So I audibled, changed things up, and was off to see a castle!

I parked a little outside of the area, thankfully remembering I had a tall bike on the roof and wasn't sure I would make it through the archway. But I parked and then walked on down to Caerlaverock Castle.

Along with the unique name, Caerlaverock Castle is quite the unique castle. It's in the middle of a fairly big moat, and has a triangular shape growing from the main gate. I walked across the grass field directly in front of the castle and could admire the various shaded red brick all covered with moss, algae, and lichen. Unfortunately, the inside of the castle was closed due to the danger of falling rock, but I started a loop around the moat.

Although the inside of the castle was closed, that didn't mean I wasn't able to explore it. At the entrance gate, there was a QR code that led to a 3-D Model of the castle! In that model, you could scroll around the digital representation of the structure, and even some of the physical info signs inside were in enough detail to be able to read and learn from. How cool!

Around the back side of the castle, as I was sitting down on the grass trying to read a sign on the model, a lady behind me asked me to move. I was sitting there, there was a wide open knoll to either side of me, but for some reason I was in the way. I got really irked by this. All she had to do was take a couple steps to the side in either direction to get me out of view (you know, that's kinda how field of view works), but insisted on standing there and making me move. That pissed me off more than it should’ve, but I stupidly obliged despite my frustration.

Idiots aside, it was a cool little walk around the castle. Definitely a weird setup with the whole back of it being wide open (likely wasn't that way way back when...), but it added to the overall uniqueness of the place.

With my walk around the castle I walked up to the little info center and learned that I'd just walked around the "new" castle. Although it was built in the 13th Century, there were ruins of an even older castle (aptly named the "old" castle) on the same grounds just a short walk through the woods away.

Naturally, once I knew about it, I had to go check it out. The walk through the woods was short but pretty as I made my way to the "old" castle. Turns out, it was essentially just the floor plan of what was the old castle after archaeological excavations and clean up work. It was kinda crazy to see just how small it was. I couldn't imagine having any kind of biggish gatherings there considering I could walk the length of the side in about 15-20 paces.

I was enjoying the calm, grey morning and did a little walking out to a nearby pasture before heading back to the new castle. Once there, I found myself a bench to sit and castle- and people-watch. Turns out, it's hard to eavesdrop on British and Scottish accents. I enjoyed the nice little break and taking in the castle for a bit more, before heading back to Rupert and continuing the adventure.

From the castle, I stopped off real quick to fill up on gas, and then was off to Dalbeattie. Ready for another bike ride, I got parked, situated, and me and my Patrol were once again ready to ride.

One of the dudes that I talked to at Ae recommended this place, almost solely because of one thing - The Slab. This seemed like one heckuva feature, so I was stoked to go check this out and was excited at the prospect of some more downhill-/enduro-type trails. At least that's what it seemed like from the Trailforks map.

The ride in was fairly straightforward, and I was able to check out one black run (it was not a black), then head up to the red for the lookout (there wasn't really a lookout), then I pointed my ride towards The Slab.

It was more XC trail to get there, but I finally reached The Slab. Turns out, it was a little smaller than I imagined. Despite that, it was still a gigantic slab/ramp of rock. Pretty impressive and unique. There were some folks there when I rolled up, but I took a quick look and got a good ride in. Fun stuff. I then pushed back up to give it another go. I love me some good technical fun!

As I was riding alone though and out there on my own, I didn't want to take any chances on an unexpected crash on the rock, so I continued on from there. On the map, there was a spot I thought I'd find some downhill single track. I headed that direction, but had to hunt to find the trail to get to the top. I ventually found it and headed up.

The trails were a bit jumbled, and I wasn't sure if my gps was off. It wasn't off too far, but despite the map showing a few trails there, I only found two. Despite being just two, they were two good, raw, techy, fun trails; short but pretty awesome. Unfortunately an emphasis on the short aspect, as I felt like as soon as I started the trail it was popping back out at the road and kinda running out of decent options.

After a couple runs, I decided there unfortunately wasn't much there for me. I took the roll around and hit a few rocky lines and some fun features on the way back to the parking lot.

With two somewhat lackluster trail networks already under my belt, I was a bit bummed about the mountain biking prospects. Those two spots came fairly well recommended, but didn't end up having much there, at least not much along the lines of what I like to ride.

Doing what I should've done months beforehand, but now with a bit of a reference to what was there, I did the basic google search of 'best downhill mountain biking in Scotland', and found a couple other places that look more appetizing for riding. Most ended up fitting into the general trip route towards the end of my road trip. Optimism back in the holster, I put some pins on the map, and it was time to keep on keepin' on.

Back at Rupert, I lazily got changed and bummed around in the parking lot as I planned my next moves. Having a quality camp chair around is perfect for taking a load off for a break at the car. Using my handy-dandy space phone, I mapped out my next stops, got a plan in place for sleeping that night, and was off and rolling.

First stop, Garlieston for some grub. Rolled into the tiny town, parked, and strolled along the harbor front for a bit before dipping into The Harbour Inn for dinner.

The Harbor Inn was a cozy little spot. Being the little tiny hole in the wall it is, it was packed to the gills. There was no space inside, so I was relegated to the patio. Not a bad relegation though.

It was a calm spot outside, but I got some chicken and chili (which turned out to essentially just what I know as sweet and sour chicken) with some fries (chips) and rice (thankfully just rice) to go with a cask golden ale. Both the drink and the food were pretty decent, and I was able to enjoy the meal on the mild summer evening.

Back to Rupert, then off to my campsite. I'd been listening to Shantaram while driving, and it's a really enveloping book. Unfortunately, that means it's been taking my mind off the countryside a good bit. Beautiful countryside on the drive though, with so many goddamn sheep with a few cows sprinkled in.

I'm not sure why, but for that night I opted for a more structured sleeping arrangement. In hindsight, it likely had a ton to do with wanting a shower and place to shave. I got in late, but got my tent popped up with a view out onto the ocean, did a little reading by the water, and then called it a night and tucked in for bed.

Day 4 - Adventures in Galloway

In the tent it was a fairly easy wake-up, despite my shoulder/left back still killing me from the weeks prior. Once out of the tent and after a clean, warm shower, I got everything packed up, re-situated, and had some breakfast.

Before I took off though, I went for a walk along the beach. The trail along the beach mirrored the road for a while, but eventually I jutted out onto a natural jetty to get a little closer to the water. It was quite a long jetty, so I didn't make it all the way out to the end. As I was walking out there, I kinda got over it, heavily influenced by the stench of exposed algae and barnacles. That was something I hadn't smelt in a long while. Phew...

I don’t think this is the only reason why I like mountains more than sea/ocean, but ocean vistas are just so broad. It’s hard to capture it all in a picture. Mountains are the same, but there is height to it, elevation, something for the up and down, a little bit more depth and variation. In comparison, oceans and beaches and the like are primarily side to side, not a lot of height change. Just my $0.02...

The trail back to the car was relaxing and quick, and once I got back I was off and rolling. As mentioned earlier, Shantaram was getting really engaging. I feel like audiobooks might be too much of a distraction or attention puller for me, as I really focus on the book and story, rather than taking in the countryside.

Despite the audiobook distraction, I enjoyed the drive over to the Galloway Forest Park. There, it was a single-lane road through what felt like a jungle to get me into the park and where I wanted to go. But after maneuvering around some cars I got to the parking lot and started my little adventure.

What was I there to check out? Well, a rock. But not just any rock! Bruce's Stone was just a short hike up from the parking lot, and as things opened up, I headed over to the stone.

A beautiful overlook over the lake, Bruce's Stone is meant to commemorate the victory from the Battle of Glen Trool that Robert the Bruce helped orchestrate. A battle that helped start the campaign for Scottish independence. Because the battle took place wayyyyy way back, there wasn't much (any) actual remnants of the battle, but envisioning an old 14th century battle in such a gorgeous valley and area was pretty cool.

While enjoying the impressive stone and monument, as well as the beautiful view over the lake, I toyed with the idea of a hike up the Merrick (peak right on the lake) for the view, but just wasn’t feeling motivated enough for it. Another idea of taking a hike around the lake below the stone came into my mind, but I wasn't all too inspired about that either.

In trying to figure out what I wanted to do next I got a little disappointed. Since I'd already worked my way back to the car, I decided to just take a nap. Not as adventurous as I would've liked, but naps are always an acceptable choice, even if it's a backup.

And here is a perfect example of the downside of both my method of travel, and part of my personality.

Method of Travel - My preferred/predominant way to travel is to really not plan all that much out in advance. For example, leading up to this trip, I had a number of way-points, sights, things, and such that I wanted to do and pinned them on my map. From that, a general route organically came to be. Unfortunately for this trip, there was a good bit more research and ideation that should/could have taken place leading up to the journey - case in point, where to go mountain biking.

Although I had a bunch of things planned out for further on during the trip, the stretch from where I was at to Glasgow was empty. This was daunting for my go-go-go mindset, as I wasn't sure what to dive into. My expectations were that I'd had some good mountain biking already in me, and would glow off that to some other things. But the lackluster biking kinda put me in a somber mood and made me realize I was lacking a plan and concrete things to do. That open-endedness and lack of clarity negatively affected me and got to my head.

Now when I encounter a point where I feel like I ran out of ideas, then I (just like any other time) run into a point that I wasn't expecting, where more effort was required than anticipated to continue on. This leads me to...

Personality - I have very weak mental fortitude. Nearly regardless of what I'm doing (weirdly enough, physical activity doesn't seem to be affected by this mentality), if I run into a point where the going gets tougher, I lose focus and momentum. I don't know how this has come to be of late, as I was not like this through college. But lately I've become very undisciplined and lacking perseverence to take a deep breath, readjust, realize I've gotta change tactics/effort/techinque/plans, and then go forward with a renewed vigor despite the increase in difficulty.

This moment in time hit me like that. I had exhausted my ideas for that section of the trip and had to figure out what the rest of the plan was (increase of difficulty - not having something lined up next). This kinda daunted me, as such a blank slate of potential for things to do, analysis paralysis crept in and added to it. So with all of that impending, the easy way out was a nap to delay the decision.

Once I woke up, it was time to be active. So first things first I just hit the road. This time, I just threw plans to the side and took the time to drive with no more maps. I knew I was eventually headed towards Glasgow, so that's what I followed on the signs. Time for some open, flexible, spontaneous adventuring.

All the commentary above is valid and prevalent, for sure. Adding to that, this situation was likely just a bit of rust build-up from not traveling for so long. Finally back out on a new adventure, I had to get used to all the ups and downs of traveling again - slowly getting back into the swing of it...

With a bit of a new lease on the day, I was off and ready to see what came my way. As I said, I jumped back on the road, and had the overall plan of slowly making my way to Glasgow. Shortly after starting out, I found my first place to stop, breathe, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

After that first stop, it was only a short ways down the road when another pretty valley popped up and I decided to stop again to take in the beautiful countryside, and then again as the valley opened up to the ocean and the town of Girvan below. Nothing but gorgeous scenery. And shittons of sheep.

So far so good with the fun flexibility and adventuring. Not much further down the road was Girvan. Before I was fully in the thick of the town, I stopped and parked next to the wide open park with the intent of a little more extensive walk around town to get a vibe on the local flair.

The park was a nice big expanse of grass with the local WWI and WWII memorial right in the middle. These types of memorials were really prevalent all over the country, and was very intriguing to see.

That giant hump of rock behind the monument in the picture there really stood out on the landscape. Naturally, I was intrigued, and luckily enough, further along down the way was a nice little sign to talk about it. Turns out, that little hunk of rock is named Ailsa Craig, and is resposible for all/most of the curling stones for the Olympics and Paralympics! What a cool little bit of trivia!

From the memorial and sights of Ailsa Craig, I continued down the boardwalk and slowly made my way into town. Turned out to be a delightful little town to walk through, with a good bit going on. True to my typical routine in a city, it involved a lot of walking, a good bit of picture taking, and just quietly enjoying the town.

For me, especially when I'm underway on my own, visiting a city is a fairly straightforward process and usually just involves walking around and taking pictures. Because I'm pretty stingy to begin with, I usually just stick to the walking because it's free, it keeps me mobile, and I get to experience/see a lot through that. Interactions with locals or people come up as they come up, but are not necessarily all-too-frequent, which means a lot of me-time to explore. Not sure if that's good, bad, or just different.

Girvan turned out to be a beautiful little harbor town, with enough activity to keep your head on a swivel, but small enough to make it a relaxing swivel around. I walked by some workers pulling some fish farm nets and loading them onto a truck for cleaning, watched some underwater welders get suited up and ready for a dive, stopped and got myself some soft-serve (not the biggest fan, but it was sugary and I was hungry), and had an overall delightful and relaxed time on a nice little mosey on through a gorgeous little town on the coast.

As is evident from the pictures, it was my third day in Scotland already, but I had yet to see my full shadow. A partial appearance occurred briefly a couple times, but holding to its stereotype, Scotland held true to be the land of grey skies (but thankfully no rain yet!).

Once my little loop through town and the various sights of Girvan was through, my plan was to keep motoring on. Dinner time was approaching, so after a little looking on the map, I spooted Ayr as the target to get some grub. But, thanks to a handy little feature of Google Maps, I'd spotted something to go check out on the way, so I pointed Rupert in that direction and I was off!

The drive took me through some more gorgeous countryside. With the pin in the map, the route essentially dropped me off across the street from some kind of machine shop. The road to the castle looked not too receptive, so I was a little unsure of what I was in for. But I parked and started my search for Dalquharran Castle.

Turns out my intuition was firing on all cylinders, as there was a fence with a clear prohibition of vehicles clarified. Good job Me. But past that, it was a bit of a weird walk in. A bit wooded to start along a pretty well trodden logging road, and then I took a trail that I thought pointed in the direction of the stonework I saw through the bushes. I soon felt misled for a hot sec as it led to a field and then a giant wall of hedges. Dun dun dun...

Despite the initial scepticism and worry, that wall of hedges had an opening. Not wanting to go further in the wrong direction, I dove into the hole in the hedges to see where things go. After the break in the stone wall, I was led down a tunnel of trees, and then voila, a castle!!!

I'd stumbled upon not just any kinda castle, but luckily enough an abandoned/derelict castle. How dope! As I rolled up, I had no idea about the history or background of the place, but would've guessed it was built sometime in the 1800s. Maybe. I'm not good at guessing. (Wasn't far off though - per Wikipedia built in 1790) More importantly though, how does a giant, well-built place like this become abandoned!?

I'm not sure how this was listed as an attraction on google maps, but despite the "Stay Out", "Danger", and "Warning" signs, there was a little hole in the castle wall that was conviently not fenced in. You know me, time to dive in.

Once I entered the castle, I was surprised and a bit bummed to see the majority of the inside of the place to be fully gutted. Not just the plaster, the decorations, or just the coverings and such, but the floors and cross beams and bigger stuff. Despite that, there were tons of cavernous rooms and spots with nature taking completely over. Pretty cool place to explore around.

After meandering around the ground level, I wandered my way down to the basement, and it got a little weird and creepy. Back up to the main level, I wandered around a bit more and then stumbled upon the only intact staircase in the place. Sketchy, kinda. But I was on an adventure. So I went up it and delightedly found that it took me all the way up to the roof of one of the two entry towers. How dope!

Being up on the roof was prety damn cool, but also a little bit weird. I wouldn't say I'm scared of heights, per-se, but being up there, alone, in an abandoned castle, I was a good bit on edge. Although stone is a reliably strong material, I had no idea how old it was. That and I was four stories up with no harness or saftey other than my sensibilities. I wasn't going to take any chances.

Using those good sensibilities, I selectively wandered about the few existing and trustworthy ramparts. Not too far away from the staircase, but it was pretty interesting to explore some more viewpoints. Another couple came into the ruins and was wandering around with their dogs while I was up there. Just so I didn't freak them out, I said hello from up high and all were enjoying the exploration.

Mommy, that's TWO pictures of me already. I hope you're satisfied :-)

Definitely cool to be up there and enjoy the giant abandoned, gutted structure from above. But returning to safer ground I headed back down the tower staircase and found myself wandering over to the other building. Looked like the smaller side building used to be a stable or something, but it was quite a dump. It smelt like urine, was muggy, and there was garbage all over the place. I've dveloped a sort of mentality (mostly developed from video games) to try and find little discoveries or items or whatever in places like that. But there was nothing to be had there...

What a cool spot to spelunk around. Although it's not exactly a secure location, sure glad google had that listed as an attraction. I was kinda over the urine smell, so I left Building #2, and slowly worked my way outta there. Quite the cool-as-hell find. Sweet stuff. The way out had me round-about back to the road, and I was happy to find Rupert sitting there waiting for me!

Jumping back in, I headed off to Ayr for some dinner. I had a good place in mind, and once I got into town and parked (didn't have to pay!!!), I headed over to the restaurant. Well, once again I ended up heading to a place that was said to be open (their website and google), but after calling I learned that they were closed. What gives with that?!? Huge bummer too, because their seafood looked absolutely delicious.

I was a good bit bummed, and therefore hemmed and hawwed on trying to find a fallback. After a bit of searching and indecision, I decided on a spot that was thankfully pretty close by. Again a bit of a weird feeling dining alone, but it was a nice spot. The waitresses were super friendly and helped me audible to get a little salmon on my mac and cheese for some extra deliciousness. Overall, friendly spot, good food, and a nice little place to fuel up.

After dinner, I didn't have a plan or anything laid out, but on the walk back to the car I continued with the fun flexibility and followed what piqued my eyes. What piqued my eyes? Smoking Goat. Helluva name, and turned out to be a great little hole in the wall.

Got in, talked to the somewhat nice bartender, snagged a lager, and then headed out to the back patio. Turned out to be a bit more clubby than I thought, but the patio outside was a nice place to wind down. While I slowly sipped, I got caught up on some things and researched potential places to park and clock out for the night.

Here I learned a lesson I tried to implement throughout the rest of the trip - go with the flow! Show up, walk around, see what looks good, and go with your eyes and gut. Solely relying on your phone to make decisions is not the right way to go.

While walking back to the car, I ended up walking through the Loudoun Hall, one of the oldest buildings in town. Not sure how much of it was original, but it was built in the 15th Century. Crazy to walk through places in Europe that are hundreds of years older than the country I grew up in. Tons of history and tons of memories from eras past.

Back at Rupert, I hopped in and headed out to find a spot to sleep. On the hunt, I realized just how perfect the spot from the first night was - tucked away from the road and quiet - and how they'd be harder to find all over the place. But I got to the first spot I'd scoped out. it was on a decent hill, and was at a seemingly well-traveled intersection. Wasn't feeling it.

Off to the second spot I scoped out, and that was even more well traveled. Damn. But, in the interest of not wasting all night trying to find a place, I found spot two was at least a good enough distance from the road for a bit of solitude. So I parked, got situated, and kinda just crashed. Unfortunately though, it was a bit of a tossy-turny night due to my achy back and the lights from the cars nearby. Oh well, that's how it goes.

Day 5 - Sunlight guides me to Glasgow

Despite the tough night's sleep, I woke up in great spirits. Why, you ask? I was greeted with the first bit of sunshine for the trip! The first day of September bringing my first sunshine in Scotland. Hot damn!

Despite the sunshine, I was a bit lazy in getting up and getting put back together. It was an early start though with the bright light, so no worries. First things first, off to find some breakfast. Once again, despite finding it on the map, I rolled up and the cafe in question didn't look to exist. What the heck... Another audible leads to another great decision - time for some Timbits! No idea Canada had an embassy in Scotland!

My next stop was to go explore the nearby town of Troon. On the way though, I cruised by an airport and saw what I thought was the Antonov AN-225, the biggest airplane in the world. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to see another engineering marvel, I made my way along the airport and got out to explore and see what I could find. Turns out it wasn't that one, but a different Russian-flagged craft. I took some pictures, tried not to look too suspicious in front of the Royal Military base, and even spotted a US C-17, which seemed a good bit out of place.

Thankfully no Military Police came out to nab me, so I packed it in, enjoyed some more timbits, and then made my way over to Troon. Still looking for a bit of sustenance to start the day, I got into town, parked, and wandered over to the cafe nearby, Drift. Got in, snagged an açaí bowl (felt a little required to eat something healthy...), a coffee, grabbed my book, and headed out to the sidewalk to enjoy it all in a calm manner.

Not gonna lie, but I was very much out of my element in a way. Listening to an audiobook, AND reading a paperback?! This is the most literary activity I've had in a while!

I gotta say, I'm not a fan of the short, squat coffee cups. Too easy to slosh around and spill something. Gimme a tall coffee mug, and all is right in the world. They feel better in your hands and they're a better vessel.

Breakfast was a really relaxing delight, and with the sunshine warming things up, I had to head back to the car to get some shorts before starting my round of exploration. There was a public toilet where I parked, and with the increase in people out and about, I knew I had to head there before getting called out for indecency (or maybe that would only happen in the prudish US...).

Unfortunately, after gathering my stuff (wanted to brush my teeth too), I learned that it cost 30 pence just to get in. Damnit. I tried jumping the gate, but the damn thing just started beeping at me.

I headed back to my car, wrangled up what change I had, and gave it another try. Well, I only had bigger change on the order of 1 pound. I threw it in, but that just made it jam up, as it only accepted exact change. I tried to fish the big coin out of there, but the damn thing wouldn't budge. You gotta be kidding me...

While I was there looking like an idiot, an older dude walked in and looked at me like the idiot I was. He asked what I was doing, I was a bit worried I was in some trouble, but I answered him and then he told me to give him my shorts. Come again? A bit of a weird request, so I naturally hesitated. But at his third request, I handed them over and he grabbed them and just waved them behind the gate and boom! The gates just opened right up. What a wiley old bastard :-) I got in, got changed, brushed my teef, and now I was off on an exploratory walk!

The sunlight really made everything pop. Just lovely to be able to wander around on such a beautiful day! With the low tide, the mid-morning freshness, there was tons to see and not a lot of commotion.

I started out heading to the waterfront from the parking lot and following the promenade down the way. After passing some colorful buildings, I rolled up to a large grassy knoll and headed up it to get a good view over the water, and then continued on to a fantastically placed bench for a little break.

While taking a load off at the bench, I enjoyed the beautiful sights on the water while diving into my book. But then, after a few rounds of stopping to take in the beautiful view, I noticed a Coast Guard helicopter just hovering over yonder. No idea what it was doing. I was intrigued, so I finished up my chapter, packed my bag back up, and continued on.

That pesky helicopter kept on hovering as I made my way along whatever beach access I could find to get me a little closer. That ended up taking me down onto the beach and I got to check out some cool tide pools. After exploring those there for a bit, I was kinda done and headed back to the road. Of course, right at that time the copter decided to roll on out with me.

Back on the road, that was unforutnately the end of the park/beach area. But no worries, I wandered over through the part of the pier that was open, said hi to some seagulls, and got to watch a bunch of lazy seals bobbing in the water waiting to mooch some fresh caught fish from any of the fishing boats. No dice for them though.

Turns out, Portland Street is the main drag through town! Gotta love a little bit of Oregon everywhere!

From the end of the harbor area, I turned and headed towards town. Once a bit more park opened up, I jumped over there and found another appealing bench for a nice quick break. The break was (and usually always is) nice, and from there I circled back to town on the hunt for some lunch.

Using the no-google approach, I jumped into the first bar that looked appealing. Unfortunately, they only had booze, no food, but the lady asked the folks at the other side of the bar for seafood recommendations. They shared one, but I passed that up and ended going back to The Harbor Bar, which I spotted on my walk earlier in the day. Boom! Gotta love a name that's so straightforward, simple, and perfectly accurate.

Walked in and found myself a spot back in the beer garden. And then I waited. Thankfully I'd grabbed my beer at the bar before heading back while asking some questions. Turned out the waitress was brand new and still getting her sea legs under her. She was a super friendly gal and was doing just fine, so I sipped my beer in patience (I know, suprising for me...) and enjoyed the moment.

Not sure how, but that glass somehow found its way to my kitchen cupboard. Interesting coincidence...

While waiting, I did a good bit of reading on Jo Nesbo's Kingdom. After long last though, my Keep it Shrimple hobo joined the table and I was super excited. Essentially their version of a hobo is just a bunch of shit dumped on chips. Definitions aside, that shit was delicious. So was the beer.

The Harbor Bar - great spot for a delicious pause. But soon enough I'd finished up my meal and was back out on the street. From there, I kinda backtracked along my route from earlier back to the car. Well, I wanted to stop off for a bio break before hitting the road again. But as I walked past that same restroom from earlier, there was an "Out of Order" sign on the door. Hmmmmm.

Back in the car and back on the move. For some reason, Google really likes finding the most direct route, which coincidentally is definitely not always the most well traveled route. There were way too many times I was directed through blind corners and feeling like I’m driving down someone’s driveway. Maybe that’s the UK, but Google's getting a little cheeky in my opinion.

The adventure continued as I slowly inched closer to Glasgow, but not without a stop in Elderslie first for a little trip down Scottish History lane.

Despite never having seen Braveheart, I had to stop in to a monument dedicated to one of the heroes of Scottish Independence, William Wallace. The site was presumed to be where he lived for a majority of his youth before becoming the helm of the movement for Scottish Independence. After Wallace passed, that helm was passed on to Robert the Bruce, but Wallace was the strong leader that got things rolling.

I rolled up and walked into the little park with the multiple monuments and informative signs. First things first, I did a little reading on the first sign and it said that the gas station next door had a pamphlet to read further but they didn’t. I headed down there and the lady said the signs at the monument were a little old. They didn't have any pamphlets, bummer.

Back to the monument to take it all in. Small but quaint, and an informative setup. Great stonework, a beautiful day, and a good place to learn some more about the impactful hero of Scottish Independence.

Now it was on to Glasgow! From Elderslie it was just a short drive to the largest city in Scotland. Weirdly enough though, despite it being the largest city, there were no skyscrapers of note on the skyline during the drive in. Honestly a fairly flat skyline, but I was stoked to be pulling into town!

Rather than trying to find a place to sleep in my car in town, I opted for my stint in Glasgow to find a cheap hotel. Once I got into town I headed that way and got checked in. Thankfully I was able to find a parking spot directly out front of the hotel. Literally right out front. That put me a little more at easy with my precious bike just sitting on the roof of the car. Double U-Locks and I felt like I was in pretty good shape.

After I got checked in, I laid around a little bit to relax for a hot second. But, not wanting to waste the good day, I got up and started exploring around Glasgow's West End.

Not a stone's throw away from the hotel was a big 'ole park. Next stop - that place. The first piece of note was a giant, extremely well manicured lawn bowling center. Unfortunately, no activity or action on there, so I strolled on by and continued on.

From there the park slowly melted into the University of Glasgow campus, the fourth oldest university in the UK! To add to it, they've got a pretty cool tag line - "Changing the World since 1451". Not bad.

Up the hill, I wandered past some statues of Lord Lister (pioneer of antiseptic surgery) and Lord Kelvin (you know, Degrees Kelvin...), past the Engineering Building (looked pretty old), and then made my way into the courtyard(s) of the prominent main building. It was extremely impressive, and old. For some reason, as I was wandering through it, I had a vague memory that that building was a partial inspiration for Hogwarts. Not sure if true or not, but definitely impressive.

In the first courtyard, then through the covered foyer to the other amongst a gaggle of folks taking grad pictures and some folks hanging out on the lawn. Beautiful building on a beautiful day, hard to pass that up. Wandered around Courtyard #2, then back out to the street out front of the building for a bit of a view over the town.

After wandering around the main building, I headed up an alleyway and was encountered by a staircase with statues of both a gilded lion and a gilded unicorn. The lion, I can get. The unicorn? Had no idea what was up with that.

At some point later on in the trip, I was interacting with a local Scot and inquired about this quizzical unicorn. Well, the lion made sense, as it's the official animal/mascot (feel like there's a different descriptor for this) of the UK. And as I was told, the unicorn is the same but for Scotland. Being such a unique and magical place, why the hell not have a unicorn be your official animal!?! Love it.

I continued my meandering through campus, and set my sights on the library, as that looked to be the biggest building around. I headed into the lobby, but got pretty quickly turned around. No heading up to the tallest point in the building for a lookout over the city if you're not a student. Whomp whomp whomp...

Continuing on, campus slowly morphed into a bit of a trendy restaurant/bar district along a touristy cobblestone street with some cool street art (will be diving into more of that later), and then down a big commercial avenue, before weaving my way through a bunch of stuff to get down towards the River Clyde.

My meandering was leading me towards the tall ship and the museum nearby. But as I approached, I realized I wasn't going to be able to get to it, because they were setting up for some kind of festival. How cool!

Well, trying to be friendly while some dudes were installing some rigging or stage or something and a few building a temporary fence to block off the path I was headed towards, I asked what was going on. As soon as I asked, the oldest and fattest guy of the group, without skipping a beat, said, "Oh, aren’t you a little to old for that now...”, and not in the form of a question. Well fuck. No hiding it now... Not gonna lie, I was a good bit dejected after that, but I continued my walk and weaved my way through the quasi construction site to try to get to the waterfront path.

The closer to the water, the more things to see. And this holds true (so far in my experience) the world over. But there is nothing like a city with an appreciable body of water in or through it. Seriously. It contributes to such a great atmosphere, a little more relaxed vibe, and provides a great place to relax.

Glasgow really reminded me a lot of Portland, Seattle, and Hamburg. I got lucky to hit it on some good weather (and not the pissing rain it's known for), but such a beautiful city!

As I worked my way to the waterfront, I was thoroughly enjoying the great sunlight, the awesome street art, and the incredible pencil of a building across the river.

Once at the waterfront, I hung around to try and snag a good picture, but ended up not getting it. Badummmm. Continuing on over the bridge I had my sights set on that cool looking tower. The sun was slowly creeping down the sky, so the golden light was really adding a delicious glow onto everything in sight.

Getting across and walking over to the giant toothpick (actually the Glasgow Science Center Tower), it was unfortunately closed. Not just closed because it was late in the day, but still closed down due to Covid. HUGEEEE Bummer. Huge. But, while hanging out on the pedastal at the bottom of the tower, I watched a snippet of the ‘About Me’ video for the tower, and the whole thing rests on a 65cm ball bearing so the whole tower can rotate. Now that's some cool shit.

What a beautiful day. And to add to all that beauty and awesomeness, I had California Honeydrops' Tell Me (I Wanna Know) stuck in my head for the entirety of my delightful little walk. A sunny day, a bubbly song, it was all putting me in a real good mood just sitting there and enjoying it all. What a great song.

Energized, yet relaxed, and full of enjoyment on the gorgeous day, I got up and continued my sauntering through town. By that time, the sun decided to finalize its goodbye for the day, and put some beautiful reds and oranges on the town as it did so. I walked past and over a few gorgeous bridges, and checked out this giant (no longer operational) crane on the opposite bank before pointing back towards the west side of town.

At that point, after a pretty good loop around town, I was hungry and needed some food. Stat. Once again, I went with my gut and stumbled upon the first place I looked at, but they had already closed their kitchen. Damnit. So I backtracked to a Persian joint. Turned out to be MONEY. Got me some lamb kabobs, and that shit was delicious.

I luckily enough got the one table that was out on the street. It was tight, and the sidewalk was small, so there was some good activity all around. While sitting and eating, there was a group of three gals that were hanging around waiting for their takeout. At first it annoyed the hell out of me having people kinda hovering over me while I sat and ate, but after a while it was amusing to listen to their chatter, or at least what I could make out of it through the thick accent.

Solid calories achieved, it was time for some liquid ones. With that, I wrapped up dinner, then walked back to the first place I dipped into (craft beer bar!!!! :-D). Walked in, friendly chat with the bartender, and settled on a good IPA from Ireland, which the bartender had a nice hint of amber to its taste. He was right. and it was yummy.

A great beer in hand, a good book to read, and a nice night to sit out and watch the world go by. Unfortunately, rules in Glasgow made the street shut down fairly early, but I was able to still relaxedly finish my drink before I got booted indoors. From there, it was back to the hotel to realize I didn't have a functional power adapter with me, down to the corner store to get one, then back and off to bed.

Day 6 - The Colors of Glasgow

For some reason I slept like shit and just rolled around for the two hours leading up to my alarm going off. That was annoying. But I eventually got up and cleaned up before heading down for breakfast. Plans changed quickly as I learned that it wasn't included with the room. Oh well, off to a cafe to start the day!

My plan for the day was a self-guided tour of the city followed by a guided tour of an aspect of the city, so the morning was meant for the city center. Ready to go I hit the street and headed towards downtown, but stopped off at the Ottoman Coffeehouse on the way, and it was a perfect spot for the biggest chocolate croissant I've ever seen, some fancy-ass hipster coffee, and time to relax in a comfy chair with my book.

After the comfy and cozy cafe, I was back out onto the somewhat cold, fresh, and grey streets; a clear contrast to the day before. I meandered the streets, enjoying the vibe of just another day in town. Doing a bit of a zig and a zag, there were a ton of fancy-schmancy cars on display as I made my way to the National Piping Center!!!

As we all know, Piping (bagpiping to the non-Scots of the world) is sterotypically pegged to Scotland, but as I came to learn, it's an honest representation, and a treasured part of their history and culture. The museum was small but informative, interesting, and showcased some cool exhibits. Throughout it did a great job of showcasing the role the bagpipe has played in Scotland's history, starting as an instrument and gradually morphing into a sign of pride, strength, clandom, a battle procession, and so much more. To add to it, I finally learned how the damn thing works!

After an insightful cultural excursion, I thanked the museum staff, and was back out into the city and in the thick of it. The Piping Center was really close to tourist row, and I headed through it. I'm really not a fan of shopping districts, but it was the most direct route as I made my way through it to head to one of the main squares.

Continuing on, I weaved my way through the east side of downtown. Lots of semi-busy streets, but plenty of quiet corners along the way. Beautiful buildings, a random Clocktower literally in the middle of the street, and just some pretty views to keep the wandering feet and eyes occupied.

My stroll eventually had me on the eastern edge of downtown as I made my way to the bigger park over on that side, which was home to the People's Palace. Well, as luck would have it, they were setting up for another festival in that park, so there was no way to go check out the palace. In fact, options were pretty limited even for walking through, so I just essentially did a loop around the fence to point me back towards town.

At that point in the mid-morning, I had to start watching the clock so I wouldn't miss my tour. But once I got to the waterfront, I headed back towards town with my sights set on some food. After walking by some pretty bridges, google showed me there was an Afghan restaurant briefly across the bridge. Boom. Done.

After the short walk from the bridge I arrived and got myself a table. Once I ordered, I took off my glasses to rub my eyes. It was a damn good thing I did, because one of the arms was barely being held on by a thread!!! The screw holding on the left arm had somehow back itself out and was nearly gone. What the hell?! The flange was bent and screw ready to pop out, but I had no idea how that had happened...

While I was freaking out about that, I got in my lunch order and got some naan bread to go with it. With unfortunately nothing small enough on me to help with the screw, I looked up a glasses shop I could head to right after lunch before the tour. But before I could drown myself in worry, the food tidal wave hit me.

Started off with the salad, which was fresh and delicious, and was best with whatever red sauce that came with it. Next, the naan and hummus, also delicious, and also best with a little of that red sauce dribbled on top. Then, the lamb chapiti, with an additional two discs of naan. Holy shit it was a lot of food, and holy shit was it all extremely delicious. I couldn't finish it all, but that meant I had some walking snacks to take with me!

The day I was there was just a few days after allied forces completed their withdrawal from Kabul, and after the terrible travesty that was the poorly managed and implemented withdrawal (and war, but that's a deeper conversation). News of the humanitarian crisis and the devastating scenes as the taliban took over and people were desparately doing anything to get out of there were hard to watch, and embarassing to know that after 20 years of war and oil hunting, my country did not do much to help the people that helped them, as those people tried escape from a terrible situation. That's a subjective review of the situation, but all-in-all, it was extremely sad to see what was going on.

Time was running short before the tour started, so I bolted from the restaurant back across the river to the nearest glasses shop I could find to see if someone could fix them. Long story short, kinda. The guy was super nice and ready to help, but they didn’t have the right tools to help (which didn't make sense, it was just a small philipps head...). At some point I took the tools and got it to a point where it was screwed in enough to hold for a while. I just couldn’t fold the glasses together or else the screw would pop out again. Damn.

At least, for the time being, they were serviceable enough to get me through the day. I just had to whip out my tools once I got back to my car. But from there, I was off to the Street Art tour! Super glad I came up with that idea and plan.

As I arrived at the meeting spot, felt I was in the wrong place, but I ended up walking past the tour group to start. With everyone present we were off! To be honest, I felt bad for the tour guide, as she was a semi-shy college student who had to shout pretty hard at every stop with the commotion of the city all around her. All in all, great way to walk around the city and learn about the country, the city, and the awsome culture/rules and atmosphere of the street art scene in Glasgow, such as:

• If you’re well known and respected, it's less likely that others will tag or paint over you
• A black line through your work is the biggest insult you can get
• Most of it's illegal, but the commissioned stuff can net you a pretty penny
• There are many different ways to go about it - stencil, freehand, projection, and maybe more

Well, our tour took us all throughout downtown to a number of pretty incredible works of art. Rather than going in detail, here's a bunch of pictures with some descriptions:

The piece de resistance was the first one we saw. It's reportedly an image of the artist's ex-girlfriend, titled Not Dead Yet. No lie, I was cracking up every time we saw this, as I can only imagine how pissed that woman must be to see her pissed off face plastered all over town!

Right at where the tour started was one of an awesome panda (which apparently has been painted over since I was there), and one of a self-portrait of one of the local artists, who kinda looked like a mix of Kanye and CeeLo.

Aptly titled Wind Power, a work by Rogue-One (who had his hands on a ton of walls in town), that is an absolutely beautiful concept. My favorite color with one of my favorite pieces of machinery.

A work by Smug of his girlfriend picking up us puny humans. Incredible size and detail.

Rogue-One painted this, I think for one of the many climate conferences years back. The World's Most Economic Taxi, cool enough, the bricks on the wall are painted on rather than real.

This friendly thief :-)

No way of confirming this, but as per our tour guide, this is one of the first ever Banksy works (and apparently silver lettering says Banksy, I'm not so sure...). Huge diss that he was black-striped. But again, not sure if it's actually Banksy.

This awesome pixellated (rhombus-ated) piece. All individual shapes are a single solid color, but blurred together they turn into a dude!

This awesome, colorful space landscape and the magical astronaut at the end of it.

Swan Dive for Love. Not sure what the actual title is, or how the hell this got painted in secrecy (maybe done in broad daylight, but it was a good 30'/10m up the side of a building), but it was a pretty cool one.

And my favorite pieces of art during the tour (and some I saw before and after), were the little cactus guys. Works by Negative Destination, they were little green cute cactus figures painted all over town - what's not to like about them!

All in all, some absolutely incredible works. Huge size but incredibly fine detail. Absolutely impressive works of art. And just that, they are truly works of art!

While we were all loitering about the last stop of the tour, the big nature mural (Fellow Glasgow Residents), I got to chatting with a couple folks. Derek and Susan had come up from Edinburgh for a quick weekend adventure, and stumbled on the tour just like me. At first, we chatted over the incredible art and great work we were able to see, but as this was the first real interaction I'd had with some local Scots, I decided to dive a little further into the conversation.

As something that's been on the international news about Scotland for quite a while, I asked pretty quickly about the Independence referendum. I'll admit, I'm vicariously all for independence purely because of my incomplete foreigner's viewpoint - a small, progressive, beautiful country branching out and taking full charge of its destiny. But Derek shared his viewpoint and some very good details, points, and arguments that showed me that the reality of the situation is much more complex than what I had in my head. Very interesting discussion. But from there, we chatted about politics and the state of the world and such, and then decided to head out together for a beer!

We walked around town for a hot second before finding a nice patio nearby to sit outside, grab a brew, and enjoy the day! We had some great conversation with a bunch of laughs and all that, and I got to have some good fun getting to know such great people. They were jerks and wouldn't let me pay for my beers, but were super friendly and invited me to swing by their place in Edinburgh at the tail end of my trip! What a deal!

Once we finished up our drinks, we exchanged contact information to stay in touch, they had to head off to some dinner plans, and I was off to head back to the hotel before the night. Secret Time (secret because I feel self conscious talking about anything related to the romantic side of my life) - I had the plan to meet up with a gal I met through Bumble that night. But she ghosted me and I had an open plan for dinner and drinks. Kinda bummed, I had a nice, slow, relaxed walk back to the hotel as I figured out what I wanted to do that night.

The next two things I had lined up had to happen regardless, so first I snagged a quick nap - always a win. Then after that was my fantasy football draft! Aaron Rodgers baby, let's go. Also lucked out with that massive lunch earlier, as those leftovers ended up being a damn good and incredible dinner.

With the draft wrapped up and dinner squared away, I had myself an open slate to enjoy the beautiful night in town. From the hotel I headed back out on the town and went down to the first place that looked like they had whiskey. Well, that's really everywhere here in Scotland, but after finding a place with a comfy, low-key vibe, I dove in.

Walked in, consulted with the friendly bartender a bit, and ended up with a new whiskey (Bunnahabhain, cool name, and more to come) and a recommended beer from the gal to go with it. Luckily enough, there was an open table out on the sidewalk, so I got to take my elixirs out to the fresh air and enjoy the beautiful town as the sun went down on a wonderful summer night.

While enjoying my whiskey and beer (why is this not more of a thing!?!), I got to catch up on some notes from the trip and really dive into some wonderful people watching. At some point, a friendly fellow came along and had a cute little lab in tow! Apparently Scots are a little more friendly when it comes to dogs and I got to pet the cute little puppy while chatting for a bit with the guys at the table. Nice folks and what a cute little furball :-)

A successful, fun, enjoyable, and beautiful day in Glasgow. In a good place mentally after a relaxing night, I was off to the hotel to hit the sack.

Day 7 - From Glasgow to the Wide World of Scotland

Unfortunately my next plans for the trip had me leaving Glasgow. Definitely a bummer, as Glasgow is a beautiful town to explore and enjoy, and has way more to explore and enjoy than what I was able to see. But the show must go on!

First things first was breakfast at The Brunch Club. It was just a short walk away from the hotel, and I snagged myself some pretty good Eggs Benny with too little hollandaise and some damn good bacon. Deeeeeelicious. Good food, a warm cup of coffee, and a grey and calm mood to start the day. Relaxation to a T.

As I got up to leave, I popped over and said hi to another puppy that was out that morning! In chatting with its owner, I learned that Pitbulls (and other "fighting" dog breeds) are illegal in Scotland. Seriously?! The gal that brought him with from Texas said she registered the puppy as some kind of Stafford Terrier mix or something to get away with it. Love it. No sense to restrict such a loveable dog from such a lovely country!

Breakfast in the bag and it was time to hit the road. But first, I had one more stop in the gorgeous city before heading to the Highlands. That stop - St. Munro, an incredibly beautiful piece of street art.

Seriously, what an incredible piece. Gigantic, super detailed, a touching story in relaxed colors, I was really happy about this pit stop as I took some time to get some pictures and take it in. Weird contrast of a busy street next to such a quiet and calm mural, but a wonderful thing to take in.

As I said, I definitely could have spent more time exploring around Glasgow, but with all the things I wanted to do, it was time to move on. And first stop was to start the second of the three big trip goals - Whiskey Drinkin'! Off I drove up to Glengoyne distillery. Either Google loves to take me through the most backroad routes, or there are just so few main roads the back roads are the only way. Could be both, but I weaved my way through the countryside.

I'm not sure how Glengoyne showed up on my list of distilleries, but I had it marked on my map and rolled up ready for the first distillery tour of the trip! I showed up early so I walked up to the waterfall behind the distillery to kill some time, then chatted with Owen, our guide, for a bit before things got rolling.

The tour got started, and it was a pretty eclectic mix of folks. Owen was clear pictures weren't allowed. But... you know...

I think this was my first ever distillery tour, so it was all really quite interesting and informative. Here's what I learned about Glengoyne:

• Glengoyne is a Highland Single Malt Whiskey
• Highland - the region it's distilled in (the other regions are Islay, Speyside, Lowland, Islands, and Campbeltown)
• Single Malt - all the whiskey comes from a single malt. Compare this to a Blended which marries (blends) multiple whiskeys to achieve a certain taste profile
• Whiskey - yes, there are specifics here. It must be aged for at least 3 years and be above 40% alcohol to be able to call itself a Scottish Whiskey
• Glengoyne is 100% renewable energy powered - hell yeah!
• Their Daff/Draff (the result after draining the liquid wort) is no longer used for animal feed, but rather as fuel for biogas energy generation - hell yeah!
• The only step of the distillation process that isn't done onsite at Glengoyne is the malting of the barley
• Glengoyne is part of a small group of distilleries that still use wooden washbacks
• Washbacks are where the liquid wort ends up after passing through a cooler, where it's combined with yeast to start the alcohol-making process
• The wood for wooden washbacks comes for the Great State of Oregon!!! Oregon Pine is the desired species of wood used for these, because the branches are all at the top of the tree. As Washbacks are usually a good 14-20' tall, and it holds nothing but a giant volume of water, water-tightness is key. With all the branches at the top of the tree, that means the main trunk of an Oregon Pine is knot-less, which helps keep everything nice and well sealed up. Go PNW!!!
• A full-size wooden washback can cost around $60,000. Dayum.

• Another unique bit about Glengoyne - they're considered a slow distiller
• This means that they perform the second of two distillations at a much slower rate
• Rather than processing the spirit through a single still at a given rate (i.e. 1 still at 10L/min), they use two smaller stills for the second distillation at a slower rate (i.e. 2 stills at 5L/min each)

The tour was pretty cool, and a great first tour for me to get a better grasp on the whole distillation process and all that goes into it. From the Stills, we first stopped in the showy warehouse to see some really old barrels aging with a nice setup showing how different types of wood can affect the maturation process through the years. Pretty cool visual representation. After that, we walked back up the property to the tasting house to give a couple drams a try.

Here I played my responsible card, and although I was looking forward to a taste, I still had some driving ahead of me for the day. Rather than trying them there, I got the little to-go bottles and listened as Owen gave the tasting shpiel. As a little gift (to start things off), I stopped by the gift shop and snagged a little bottle of the 18-year, as it was highly reviewed, and then headed back to Rupert to continue on.

From Glengoyne I was poised to head up to Loch Lomond and go hike Ben Lomond, my first Munro of the trip. But as I was plugging things in, google maps presented me with a nearby attraction I hadn't heard of, and in the interest of adventure, I pointed that direction to go check it out.

Needless to say, I'm super glad I did! I rolled up, parked, and walked across a field to stumble up Devil's Pulpit (interesting based on name alone), essentially this total anomaly of a canyon right in the middle of a bunch of farm fields. Thick tree cover really obscured the views for most of the way, but I got to the canyon, was awestruck, then set about to walk around it.

The canyon ended up being not very long, as I first turned right and followed the cleft in the ground. Eventually I got to the road, crossed over the bridge to the other side, and wandered down the hill to essentially find the start, where the river dives down from a little dip in the field to become a pretty decent sized chasm. As I came up from getting some shots of the entrance, I was able to point a group of ladies exploring as well down to the mouth so they didn't miss out on that cool start.

From the entry point, I headed down the far side towards the end point. Weaving in and around trees, finding a bunch of spots to creep up and get a view down into the crevace. Really a pretty incredible bit of nature with a completely random 40-50' cut down to the bottom from the top. Along the way to the end, there was a spot with steep jab that had some stairs heading down to the floor. Of course I went down it. Felt like being in a giant bowl of rock.

Again, this was not a long canyon. It only took me all of about 10 minutes to walk from the inlet to the outlet. Wild bit of geology in a tight spot! But after coming up from the depths, I headed towards the end and got to see how the thing just morphed back into a very unsuspecting farm field. Pretty cool.

Loitered around the outlet for a bit and was really in awe of the big cavern I was in, and then how another 50' further down the water I would be standing in a semi-normal farm field. Wicked.

I got a few pictures, then slowly clambered my way back up the bank and did the slow wander along the cliffs back to the start. What a way cool stop and such an unexpected treat!

Back at the car, now I pointed my wheels in the direction of Ben Lomond. At that point, I was getting hungry and had to opt for finding somewhere to grub up along the way. That job would be done by The Clachan Inn, licensed in 1734.

As I rolled through town, I saw there was some eateries and pulled up to park. I got lucky as hell, because as I parked, a cop walked over and asked what I was doing and why I was illegally parking. Well this guy was super friendly and pointed me to some free parking on the side street, and then threw a feisty grin on his face as he prepped tickets for the entire street of illegally parked cars.

Before I could pull away, the cop asked me where my car was registered. It definitely stuck out from the crowd there. I told him it was from Germany, and his response was that they probably wouldn't even be able to send the ticket to me anyways due to it being a foreign registration. Hmmm... That was good to know. But I moved Rupert anyways to prevent getting into such a bind.

Walking into the Inn I could tell news of the parking tickets had already made it to the bar. News sure travels fast in a small town... Walked in and snagged a spot at the bar, as the restaurant looked to be pretty full. After asking for his recommendation, the bartender poured me a nice amber from Belhaven to go with the burger that eventually came out.

While sitting around, I got to catch up on the BBC news reel on the TV, and then briefly chatted with the two gents at the bar. The older dude of the two (say upper 70s or so) had apparently been to all 50 US states already, that's pretty impressive! Not all too surprisingly, Hawaii (specifically Kauai) was his favorite. As a bit of a bummer, I overheard one of the older bartenders (older gal, coulda been the owner or something) asked him about his wife and she’s going through some serious medical issues... Hope they both are doing ok.

The other dude was middle age-ish and gave me a few tips for my trip through Scotland. First was about the North Coast 500 and a story of when he did it. Then he told me about a piping family memorial on the Isle of Skye. But then, after the older guy left, he shifted all the way down the bar away from me and that put an end to any chatter. Kinda weird.

It was a good but messy burger, but I got cleaned up and on my way. Good to have some sustenance in me. On the way back to the car, I stopped in at the grocery store for some snacks and breakfast the next day, then was off for a hike! Finally the first chance to start the third of the three big trip goals - Hikin'!

Rolled up and parked, and didn't have enough of the right change to pay for parking. Not wanting to have to dip, I left a note explaining my circumstance to any potential parking officer, and hoped for the best. Off and up we go!

The start was all kinds of warm and humid through the brush getting up out of the valley. Eventually the trail got us up out of that and soon after above the tree line to get some good views of Loch Lomond and the cloud cover I was headed for. But the views were great while I was in that sweet spot!

As I got out of the tree line so quickly, I noticed something I'd notice throughout the country, I had to wonder - why is the tree line so low in Scotland? Weather, tough climate, a bunch of other things, but that really stood out to me.

I kept slowly creeping up and enjoying the sights. The high grasslands were really quite pretty, with the wind slowly breezing over the tops of the blades of grass. Peaceful, calm, and the grey skies added to that.

But, eventually the daylight got swallowed up by the dense clouds. Once I was in, there wasn't much in terms of scenery to enjoy. The increased "gloominess" added to the mystique of the hike, but being one who enjoys the hell out of some good views, I was a bit SOL on that front. Despite all that, it was still a gorgeous and increasingly strenuous push up to the top as the thickness of the clouds varied and it was a quiet and calm afternoon for a stroll up a mountain.

A few sheep to guide the way, and a pretty steep last bit were the highlights headed towards the top. Eventually though, in a surprisingly anti-climatic fashion, I made it to the top! You'd never know except for the cairn, but I'd officially started my Munro List!

Munro #1 - Ben Lomond

• Height - 974 m / 3196 ft (182nd)
• The southernmost of all Munros

In looking for some specs on Ben Lomond, I did some googling, and eventually got me to this page on Munros from Scotland. I've got a Scottish Craft Lager next to me while typing out right now, and the banner picture is the top of Ben Alligan (coming up). Not drunk or out of whack in any way, but almost came to tears getting another look at that view (you'll see what I mean later). Damn, Scotland is fucking gorgeous...

Well, since there wasn't much for views to enjoy, I didn't spend too much time at the top. Loitered around long enough to eat a banana. I hoped for a hot second for a break in the clouds, but didn't get my hopes up all that high and soon enough continued my loop to the downward trek. Right at the top were a few grouse (no idea if they were, but that name feels right) that let me get a bit close to say hi.

I'm sure I've shared this opinion with some of you, but I would much rather climb up a mountain than have to hike down one. Unfortunately, my bad knees were acting up, but despite the annoyance I zoned out for a good portion of the descent through the clouds until they disappeared and opened back up to the lake, the valley, and the beautiful sights.

As I would come to know in all aspects of hiking, biking, and nature in general in Scotland, sheep are guaranteed to be close by. Unfortunately, all of them are pretty skiddish, but there was a gaggle of them as I came down out of the clouds. I continued the pretty comprehensive zone-out as I randomly mentally gave myself a refresher on geometry. My legs kept me moving down through the high grasslands with the beautiful reds and rusty colors, through to the treeline with the increase in greens and browns, and finally back down to the parking lot. I'd completed the beautiful loop up and then down Ben Lomond!

Getting back to Rupert, I got lucky and didn't have any issues with a parking ticket! Either no one came by, or my sweet persuasive note did it's job. I'll assume the latter.

After taking off my hiking boots (oh YEAH! That was the first excursion with the new boots, and they killed it!!!), I took my time kinda cooling down and getting back down from the mountain. I wasn't really motivated to do anything or go anywhere, so I lazily unwound from the hike.

Rather than packing up and jumping back on the road, I grabbed my snack-pack dinner and headed down by the water to take it all in. The calm waters, a pretty good little 3rd grader dinner, and a calm night was a beautiful way to relax, enjoy the evening, and take it all in... until the midgees set in. Mosquitos in Alaska were one thing, but dear fucking god midgees are a pesterance beyond belief. Thankfully I'd finished most of my dinner before they set in. But after finishing my food, they crescendo'd to a pure annoyance that I could only stand for so long.

Now I was ready to continue on. It was late in the day though, so at that point I was purely on the hunt for a quiet place to pull over and sleep. The first spot I found wasn't quite as quiet or secluded as I hoped, but I backtracked and found an adequate spot for the evening. With that, good night!

Day 8 - The Scramble to Islay

That morning I woke up to a lovely and friendly email from Derek, reminding me that island life might be pretty quiet and just plain closed down on Sundays. Great reminder, and prescient considering it was then Saturday and I was planning on getting to Islay (pronounced EYE-luh) that day. Derek, you're such a lifesaver!

Unfortunately, that sent me into a bit of a tail spin. As I pointed out above, I'm not a traveller that does a lot of firm planning in advance. As soon as I put two and two together, I got worried and checked every distillery on the island to see what my options were for tours over the next coupla days. Working through each one, I got a bit bummed and a good bit upset with the inkling that my goal of enjoying the wonderful world of Islay Whiskey was likely in jeopardy.

Not to let the downer infect me too long, I got active and hit the road in search of a good spot to eat my breakfast. The drive took me up the eastern side of Loch Lomond and I stopped off at a beachy spot to take it all in, with Ben Lomond across the water and trying to peek through the clouds

This was a nice time to slow down, calm down, eat my PB&J sammich with a banana, and take in the scenery. Nothing's perfect, shit happens, and I had to refocus myself to ride the wave and deal with things with a level head - not something I'm always that good at.

I jumped back on the road and headed out towards the ferry town with Shantaram playing and some beautiful scenery. The start of the drive out to the peninsula had me head up and over a hill to get out to that valley, but I stopped once along the way to take in a WWI Memorial for the local townsfolks. A beautiful spot with a pressing reminder of the impact such conflict and strife can bring.

Continuing on, I rolled into Arrochar and needed to stop off to hit the loo. It was at that point where I realized that Islay is an island. An island that doesn't have a bridge going onto it. Oh Fuck. I need to book a ferry.

Just as luck would have it, all the ferries for the day out of Kennacraig were booked out. GOdfuckingdamnitwhatthehell. This had me really flipping out. I wanted to stick to my plan and get to Islay that day, but the only other potential was through the ferry out of Oban. Thankfully, I did have some positive luck, and there was space on the ferry out of Oban that afternoon. Booked. I needed a deep breath and paused to take in the sight at the end of the bay at Arrochar.

Finally getting my apples in a row, I had transportation squared away, and with that in mind I had to flip a bitch and get to Oban to actually catch that transportation. Jumped back in the car and backtracked to the highway that would get me there. My mind was still in a jumble trying to reconcile the change in plans and the other potential impacts on the itinerary I'd penciled out in my mind. So much so, after making a bit of headway, I had to pull off and take a little break and try to slow myself down.

A telling coincidence, no?

A bit more driving, then another stop, I was still a bit frazzled. I ended up having to cancel one of the whiskey tours I'd booked, and was trying to figure out how long I was going to stay on the island once I got there. The initial plan was for Saturday, Sunday, and then continue onwards on Monday. But since all the distilleries had a complete smorgasbord of openings and availability, I was trying to play puzzle master in my mind to try and make it all work out in the timeline I initially planned. The various closures and limitations put a big of a squeeze on that plan.

While trying to take a deep breath, I got a message from the place I canceled to see if I just wanted to reschedule for Tuesday. I wasn't planning on staying til Tuesday, so that kinda shut that out of my mind. For a bit.

After some initial deliberation I kicked my stubborn mind out of the way and went against the original plan, deciding to stay on the island til Tuesday. It's amazing how my stubbornness can inhibt enjoyment, flexibility, and sanity. It's not always a bad quality, but here it showed it's evil sides. But, I finally decided to opt for a more relaxed pace, taking it slow and easy, and making sure I didn’t rush myself. This helped my mental state, and had the added benefit of being able to fit in more whiskey experiences. But honestly, the biggest pull was forcing myself to take it slower and enjoy things at a more relaxed pace. I’m on vacation for peat’s sake.

Decision made and peace of mind on it's way, cue the entrance of a delightfully inquisitive little bird, stage left. I had my windows down as I was parked there, and all of a sudden the little guy plopped onto the window sill. To be honest, he shocked me a good bit the first time he showed up because he was really quite close.

Not wanting to scare him off, I stuck out my finger to see if he'd trust me enough to use it as a perch. That never happened, but after he flew off from the window sill he came back to the side mirror and slowly worked his way back. It was a good game of cat and mouse as I tried to minimize my movements and sound to shuffle around and get my camera and switch lenses.

The little guy came in and out of frame, but provided me a confirmation that taking it easy and enjoying the ride was the right mentality I needed to calm down, take it slow, and enjoy all that comes. His presence was relaxing, and he hung around long enough to help me get my head back on straight. Quite the little companion.

Re-energized and in a better mindset, I got back to work. I put in a call to a campsite on Islay to have a place to set up shop, got my ferry off the island on Tuesday booked, and got in a bit more scheming/planning for my whiskey extravaganza. Things were really looking up and coming together, all thanks to that delightful little birdy.

From there, it was back on the road to Oban. On the way I got a bit hungry, and knew I needed to get some food for the ferry, so when I saw a sign for a smokehouse I set a tractor beam and headed that way.

Good thing they had a sign up, because it was a good bit off the highway, but in a pretty little spot. I walked in and it was a nice little restaurant/cafe/store, and I was both feeling hungry and like taking advantage of the local fare. I browsed a bit on some of the goodies, then ended up with a great little menu for dinner, and a nice little toastie with ham and smoked cheddar (aka grilled cheese sammich) for lunch. Money stop.

Back on the road, I had a bit of a deadline for the tour, so I kept my eye on the clock. Getting into town was a really cool transformation from fairly desolate nature to a pretty hopping harbor and tourist destination. My first feeling was that this little harbor town reminded me a TON of Bergen, Norway. Beautiful little spot on the water.

I luckily enough found a parking spot right next to the distillery and had a bit of time to kill. Didn't want to go too far, but wandered down to the water to get my first taste of the touristy vibe on the main street. After a bit of a taste of the harbor sea breeze, it was time to head in for the tasting.

Back in the distillery, my group was led upstairs by Jim, the lively salesman of a Glaswegian. The group was all Americans, but we all got in, got our whiskey drams, and were in for a nice little tour through the tastes.

Not gonna lie, I kinda get bummed out in international places being surrounded by fellow Americans. On the one hand, it's great to actually have Americans get out, get abroad, and see somewhere other than the US (still depressing that less than half of the US population has a passport...). On the other hand though, being in an international environment, I'm more of a fan engaging with international mindsets of different backgrounds and cultures and ideas, not Mr. and Mrs. Smith from Florida who are experiencing their first trip to somewhere other than America...

On the whole, the experience was a little less personal than the tour at Glengoyne. Despite that, here are some more facts I learned alongside the delicious tastings:

• In Scotland, in order for a whiskey to be called a whiskey, it must:
1. ...be aged at least for three (3) years
2. ...be at least 40% ABV
• The Angel's Share (the amount of whiskey lost to evaporation during maturation) is an actual taxable quantity
• The four (per Jim, I thought it was 5, but some sources say 6) whiskey regions of Scotland, and what each region tends to taste like
• Oban is considered to be one of the six superlative whiskies of Scotland

Oban was definitely a different whiskey compared to what I normally drink. A little lighter and less flavorful than the others. Good, but not quite up my alley. The tasting experience was a nice little break and a good chance to try a new distillery! And I got a free tasting glass to go with it. Dope.

After Jim wrapped up and we were ushered out, I pondered around the tasting room to get a few pictures of the signage and cool memorabilia from the distillery. There were a good few pictures of Oban way back in the day, some really old bottles of whiskey, and a few more cool items on display. Always good to get an insight into the history of a place.

I ended up not getting a bottle or anything to take with (other than the free tasting glass), and from the distillery headed out for a quick walk around the promenade in the scattered sunlight. Knowing I was going to be getting into a bit more nature the rest of the trip, I sought out and bought some anti-midgee spray from one of the outdoor stores on the strip. But from there, went to get a little more prep in before heading out to the isolated island of Islay.

Thinking I could go just park in line for the ferry then bum around and get stuff done, I headed to the ferry dock, but got turned around by the gatekeeper saying I was way too early. Oh well. Headed over to Lidl then to stock up on some grub for the next days. With some food and ice in hand, I packed my little cooler tight, and ended up gifting the rest of the ice to some folks in a campervan in the parking lot. Nice to see the pleasantly-surprised smile on their faces. :-)

I still had a good bit of time to kill before I could go get in line for the ferry, so I figured I'd put the time to use. Found a place nearby on the outside of town to park (for free), and headed in with my camera and walking shoes to go explore. The town is at the bottom of a bay, and the bay is a bit of a bowl. Well up on the hill directly behind the town was some kind of archway/coliseum-type place. So that's where I headed first.

Oban isn't a very big town, and once you get away from the main street on the water, things calm down quite a bit. I worked my way through the back streets and up through the quiet and quaint neighborhood on the hill. Weaving through the many switchbacks and curvy streets, I eventually rolled up to the point of interest.

The now grey, cloudy skies put a bit of a muted ambience in the air as I rolled up. The structure definitely stood out, and I was pretty curious to figure out what it was. The point of the whole thing was not written anywhere, but I got the vibe that it might have been a 'why the fuck not?' sort of construction, as there was an homage to what appeared to be a pretty eclectic guy on the entry arch. Confusion still present, I walked in, admired the pretty impressive stonework and random cylinder on a hill, and enjoyed the great views overlooking the town. I love me a good boat-full harbor town.

I think I mentioned this before, but Oban really reminded me of Bergen, Norway. A small-ish town, lots of marine activity (Bergen had a lot more with the oil boats, really cool stuff), a quaint feel to it, some touristy vibes, and just a cool overall feel. Both cities are on my list of places to revisit (ideally with a partner, friends, or just other people) to really take it all in.

After taking in the town from above, I continued my walk back down the hill and back to the main drag. Mid-afternoon, and tons of people were still mulling and wandering about. The line-up time for the ferry was quickly approaching, so I didn't have a ton of time, but I meandered through and got more of a taste of the town, and it further cemented my interest in coming back to enjoy it over some more time.

Soon enough I was back to the car and ready to head over. By that time, I was allowed to go line-up for the ferry, so that's what I did! Easy enough time of it getting over there and getting parked. There was still some time to kill, so I went and got officially checked-in, then wandered around this side of the harbor and enjoyed the mood as the water chariot arrived at the dock.

I hope you're all ok with just a shit-ton of pictures. As the old adage goes, a picture is worth 1000 words. So I'll count each image toward my word count for grading purposes.

You know, I love me a good ferry trip. Driving a car onto a boat and getting transported to (not-so) far off lands. It's a delight. And this trip was no different. With Rupert and my trusty bike we drove right into the floating behemoth and got lined up in the hull. I grabbed my camera and a few things and headed up to the deck as the boat finished getting loaded up and we started wrapping up and headed out to sea!

I love being able to see where my method of travel is going, and walking around on deck on a ferry definitely fits that bill. It was still a bit of a grey/moody day, but that fits the ambience of life on/near the water. The harbor was gorgeous and there were some pretty intense homes in the bay.

What a beautiful part of the world. No gigantic mountains like the Fjords of Norway, but the route through the water took us through some gorgeous open channels of small, fairly barren islands and landscapes on either side. Rustic colors with greens and greys and browns mixed in, it was not vibrant like a rainforest, but the muted beauty really made the ride gorgeous. I traipsed along the deck wandering from spot to spot to check the view as we motored along the water.

Landscape-wise, what an interesting and beautiful place. In a way it reminded me of Norway just being back out on the cold waters of Northern Europe with islands dotted all over the place. But the landscape on those islands was so unique - barren yet colorful. Filled with deep greens and burnt reds, the small bits of vegetation visible (little to no tree cover) still provided a gorgeous spectacle, regardless of which island you were looking at.

At some point I got a bit hungry. Remembering my little trove of goodies I got for that purpose I headed to the car to go grab them. Then not. Turns out, they lock the car deck during the trip so you can't go down there freely. (In hindsight that makes sense, but with my sustenance out of reach, I was a good bit peeved).

Not to be hindered, I went and found someone on the boat to plead my case. The technician that I first talked to didn't want to make a decision, so he went and found some sort of superior. As I'm some public plebian, they didn't trust me alone. Fine with me, as long as I got my goods. Explaining my situation to the superior, he guided me down the boat, unlocked the doors, and I ran to Rupert to scrounge up my goodies before heading back up to the cabin and thanking the helpers along the way!

Time. To. Feast. And Feast I did. As I said, I stopped off at the smokehouse on the way to Oban to have some goodies ready to go. Lined up for my delicious dinner was some smoked salmon, farmhouse cheese, a chili jam, and all of that to go with a local dark ale. Omnomnomnom. I have a feeling a good number of people in the gallley were pretty jealous.

After the delicous beer and scrumptious grub, I cleaned up and headed back out to the deck. Around that time we were arriving at our first stop, a mid-way point to Islay that had us dock for a brief second on a tiny island (Colonsay) that looked like it had maximum 50 buildings on it total (but after googling it, looks like an incredibly quiet, relaxing, and low-key place to stay).

As we were approaching the dock at Colonsay, and seeing the few houses near the water, I had a nice trip idea in mind. I would love to have some reason to spend a lot of time there. Maybe a big project where I just needed to focus, a romantic secluded getaway, or just neeeding a break from the world where no one could find me. Find a house somewhere quiet on the island, post up with enough food and drink for the week or two or three, and just be there, in the moment, inaccessible to the world. That sounds so cool.

We slowly pulled in and I monitored the departures from the boat, the traffic jam at the one intersection on land, and then as the few cars and tractors made their way onto the boat. It wasn't a long stop, but enough time to watch some more of the quaint looking island and let that idea ruminate a little more in my head. But once the garbage truck was on, we were off!

Leaving Colonsay was when we got our first sight of Islay, namely the Northeastern tip. I'd looked at that corner of the island on the map a bit, as that was a potential hike spot for me, and I was able to make out the lighthouse, inactive, but perched on the corner. Then, turning slightly to the left, the two big peaks of Jura showed face as well.

Night was descending upon us out on the water, as the daylight slowly faded and it was getting darker and darker as the blue of the water started to blend towards they grey-black of the sky. We motored on south down the channel, and as we approached the dock, we passed the many distilleries on the coast - Bunnahabhain, Ardnahoe, and Caol Ila.

For some reason, we ended up getting nearly to the port and then doubling back. I'm assuming because they thought there was a ship in the dock (only one big dock for the small island at that port), but there was no vessel there. No idea what was going on.

After the three four hour tour aboard the giant ferry, and right at the full onset of night, we steamed into port at Port Askaig. I hung out on the deck as long as I could before the big call to head down to the cars. But, tied at the dock, ramps down, it was off to Islay!

It wasn't too long before I was boots-on-the-ground of one of Scotland's most renowned Whiskey Meccas. Hot diggity damn, I made it!

As it was now night though, there wasn't much to do other than head to my campsite and get settled in. It was a tight, fairly windy road out from the port to get to the main bay. At the junction (thank god for google maps...), I zagged right and after cruising through a few small towns, I'd made it out to the campsite. Not your standard campsite, but moreso a community center with a giant grassy knoll. Rolled in, set up my handy-dandy tent, almost stepped on a bunny heading to the bathroom, but after getting a little caught up on some notes, I knocked off after an adventurous and mobile day.

Day 9 - Whiskey, Wilderness, and Solitude

Waking up in my trusty tent, I got a decent amount of sleep, but opted to roll around for a little while before moving and grooving. With my first day on the small (actually quite big) island, I took some time to enjoy my simple breakfast, and then relished the opportunity for a nice, warm shower to get my day started. Despite the lucky absence of rain, the morning started out fairly true to the sterotypical idea of Scotland with grey skies, despite the sun's attempts at peeking through.

I moseyed about for a bit, really enjoying that fresh, sweat-free, and clean feeling post-shower. It's amazing what not having one in a few days makes you feel like. But I couldn't mope about for too long before jumping into the car and making the trek all the way down to the southern coast of the island. I stopped off in Port Ellen real quick to get some snacks and fail at trying to get some ice for the cooler for the day, but from there, I headed off to my first tour on Islay, all intent on channeling my inner Ron Swanson.

Truth be told, I was extremely lucky to get a slot for anything at Lagavulin. As I was trying to book, they looked completely sold out for the next month or two. But, as I kept trying the various options, one of the cask-only tastings opened up, luckily enough on my first morning on the island! Hot damn!!!

I rolled up a tad early, and walked in to get checked in then perused around the shop. Soon enough, we were waltzed to the back to a really comfy lounge that felt like a smoking lounge to dive into the Lagavulin world.

Richard would be our taste guide for the morning. Again, a total salesman, but a local guy from Islay! He gave a rundown of how he left the island for a while to work in Glasgow, but ended up finding his way back home and landing a job at Lagavulin.

We got in, got situated, and slowly got to dive into our five selected tastes for the day. Through the whiskeys, I learned that the island of Islay hosts a Jazz Festival every year. Each distillery has their day where they host music and a big fest, and each distillery then comes up with a special whiskey for each year's fest. Definitely will have to come back for that, and the plus side - it's in May!!!

Here's what I learned through Richard during the Lagavulin tasting:

• Islay is home to enough peat (really dense dirt used for drying the malt) for about the next 100,000 years (not sure how true this is, but the essence is there’s a shit ton of peat on Islay, enough to keep the whiskey going for a good while)
• Legally, distilleries are required to have their own water source and barley source in order to establish distinction from other distilleries (again, no verification, but seems legit)
• Very few distilleries still do their own malting on site. For those that don’t, the giant ugly building in Port Ellen does it instead!
• Because of this centralization of the malting process, there is in fact a Barley Boat. A boat, purpose built and specifically operated to transport barley from wherever the malting is done to the various distilleries on Islay. That's why most/all of the distilleries are right on the water and have a pretty industrial dock on their waterfront.

Our tasting included the following drams:

• 2017 Jazz Fest Cask (12 yr maturation)
• 12 Year Cask Strength
• 2021 Jazz Fest Cask (13 yr maturation)
• Distillery Exclusive
• Rejuvenated Cask (Mill in the Hollow, La 'Vulin)

For all those whiskey-drinkers out there Richard taught us a cool trick. If you've got a fairly smokey whiskey, take a little swig and keep it in your mouth, but position it in the bowl of your tongue. Then, kinda grit your teeth and take a sharp breath in. During that quick inhale, the air passes over the surface of the whiskey and turns your mouth into a chimney. It's awesome.

It was a nice little tasting session. Smokey whiskeys, a lively taste guide, some friendly folks along for the ride, and a great place to enjoy some great drink. After an hour and a half or so, it was time to leave. I learned that I'm a slow dram drinker, and I kinda liked it that way. No use whipping through all the tastes - gotta slow down and enjoy it. And the extra benefit of that, I got to take the leftovers of each of the drams I had to go! Even got a schnazzy little branded baby-bottle case to fill them up. Not bad.

Walking out back to the shop, I stopped and enjoyed the pictures of life and work from the many years in their history. Out in the shop, we learned we got a little discount from the tasting, so I reevaluated my enjoyment from the nice session, took into account what they had, and was able to score a bottle of my favorite taste from the session! A 12-year cask strength. Deeeelicious.

A good taste of whiskey on the tongue, the leftovers of my drams packaged up, and a nice little bottle to take home with me, I had a very successful and enjoyable visit to the renowned Lagavulin distillery! For the next part of the day, I was off to find myself an adventure and explore the southeast tip of the island.

Knowing I'd be coming out of a whiskey tasting, I had the inkling I would not be drunk, but likely not completely sober. That in mind, I deftly planned my afternoon adventure to include minimal driving, and that resulted in me planning to head to the end of the road (what would turn out to be a great game plan throughout the trip.)

Back in Rupert and on the way out, I only made it a couple hundred meters past the distillery before pulling off for a fun mini-adventure. With the help of Google map's attractions in view, I discovered there was a castle (ruin) just in the same harbor as Lagavulin! Rolled up, parked, and got to wandering about.

At the street there was some kind of HQ container, and as I walked the grassy path to the castle, I stumbled upon some kind of archaeological dig team. How cool! Didn't want to bug their work, so I continued on my way.

As I would learn, the Dunyvaig Castle ruins, although they looked extremely old and weathered, were not all that extremely old. But having been left to weather a long while ago, they were pretty scenic on the water being left to Mother Nature's handiwork. I wandered over and explored what I could while climbing around the ruins, peeking into the various nooks and crannies, and enjoying the view of the cove. Also was really visually hooked onto two row boats a ways off - great color mixture with deep browns and soothing greens. That really caught my eye.

Pretty cool ruins to walk around and explore, but there was unfortunately no concrete information behind it. But I did my little bit of spelunking, and then slowly made my way back to the car. Once I got back up to the little HQ station, I poked my head in and found a few people mulling about, so I inquired what the dig was.

Turns out it was an archaeological dig team from the University of Reading! They were at work excavating the castle to explore its history and find out more about its story. How cool! This was their third dig season, and as the lady told me, they found a crest during their first dig season that's now on display at the Museum of Islay Life! Put that on the mental list to check out while I was in town.

Again, a pretty cool spot to wander around. And again, I was really infatuated with those two boats on the shore. Beautiful colors and a cool composition.

Now it was off to the end of the road! Well, kinda. I headed that direction, but maintaining my spirit of, what was it Zack... structured flexibility (?)... I pulled off at another little interesting spot - the Kildalton Cross.

As I learned from the sign, it is one of the oldest and most complete early christian crosses in Scotland. Not a religious guy, but something 1,300 years old, pretty damn cool stuff. Especially considering it's survived on an island in Scotland that's not exactly known for tropical and stable weather. Another cool thing about the stop was the old weathered church, and the very telling warning on the gate - sheep are everywhere, and they're relentless.

Really, I got a pretty good kick out of that sign. But, still laughing, I linked back up with Rupert, and this time I was off towards the end of the road! In scheming my little adventure out, I looked on the map and saw that there appeared to be a hiking trail leading from the end of the road. Perfect, and to top it off, MacArthur's Head Lighthouse was at the end of the trail! The plan was set.

I maneuvered out towards the end of the road on the SE corner of the island, but a gate wouldn't let me get all the way out there. No worries. I parked and started my hike towards the hike through a big old sheep field and past what looked like someone's home, at the least someone's farm buildings.

Well, the 'trail' stemming from the farmhouse was an unbeknownst sign of things to come. There wasn't a really defined trail leaving the house, so I had to keep my eye on the map as I went. Had to backtrack to get on the correct side of the fence, made my way to a gate, got through that, and followed the faintly visible trail.

Again, as per my map (multiple, no less) there was a trail recognized by a dashed line on the map. I wasn't going crazy, but as I slowly distanced myself from the farmhouse, the presence of any form of a trail slowly faded away. Only sporadically seeing spurts of a trodden path, or sometimes a former dirt road, in front of me had me a bit confused. While trying to figure out what faint scent of a trail I should follow, I got scared out of my pants by a really close-by rustle in the foliage. Turns out a bunch of cows were hiding from me and decided to surprise me. Spooked me a good bit.

I don't know how much worry was warranted there, but rather than take the semblance of a trail that was there right through the group of cows, I went off trail to get around them and not spook them more than they spooked me. They weren't interested in being close, so before long all of them kinda wandered off and left me to my own devices.

At this point, and from there on out, the trail, even when there was a slightly noticeable trail, turned into a pretty bona fide bushwhack. Not nearly as overgrown as the time me, Zach, and Ryan explored along the Mt. Jefferson lava flow, but this was a right-old bushwhack. Got the feeling the trail hadn't seen any human activity in a good 5-10 years, and for the double track, no one with a tractor or buggy had been through in as long either.

No matter, I was at least at the start committed to the adventure. I wandered my way through the marshy ground and up and over a couple small ridges. After getting to another ridge, I gained a pretty good overview of the landscape out in front of me. The bay down below, and a ridge at the end of that bay was where the trail headed. Then, up and over that far ridge was the lighthouse.

At that point, I was kinda over the lack of a really defined trail. That, paired with the amount of bushwacking needed, and my introduction into the fact that hiking in Scotland feels like every step is a step through a marsh (ground's wet, real wet), my mood was a little less than up-beat.

Being able to see the trail out in front of me, it looked like a far way considering the state of the 'trail'. I whipped out my phone, checked the distance on maps.me, and it came out longer than I anticipated. Despite my hemming and hawwing, I made the gut call and continued on. Hooah. Turns out that I went faster than anticipated, which helped.

Making my way down the overlook ridge and over a couple more and through some tiny streams and a bunch of huge bushes, I eventually made my way down to the beach. Through that trek, I took the time to stop and admire just how crazy the landscape was. Huge, desolate, barren, yet extremely immense. Wide open valleys and ridges, and all of it covered with a beautiful mix of muted colors - purple bushes with their flowers mixed with the yellows and greens of the grass paired with the greys of the rocks. A truly gorgeous color palette.

The going got a little easier once the 'trail' dropped down into the bay. It was a pretty rocky beach, but gorgeous nonetheless. Along the first stretch of beach, I put in a mental bookmark of a place I wanted to stop and take in the view on the way back.

Back at the overlook ridge I got my first glimpse of it, but as the trail motored along I eventually came upon an abandoned house, or maybe a former wilderness shelter. Whatever it was, it was a mix of old stone buildings, some looked like they could still be in use, and others definitely not so. Either way, the buildings made for wonderful additions to the landscapes and added some character that really matched the nature around. A desolate landscape with an abandoned building. Very picturesque.

After scooting on by the little outcrop of buildings, I hit another stretch of sandy beach, and then came the cliff ridge. I paused for a while, not really wanting to dive back into the brush, but got over that in a jiffy and pushed my way up.

It wasn't a ton of up, maybe a couple hundred feet total, but the bushwhacking was out in good force. Unfortunately on this stretch, the quantity of thorns and stickerbushes really increased. Good thing I'm a stubborn piece of shit... The trail kept going, and had a good number of false summits to keep me guessing. But, as trails do, it continued, and eventually I came over the last ridge before the lighthouse!

Compared to some that I have done, this was not that difficult of a hike. But for some reason, my mopey mindset was still hanging around. So much so, that I almost just snapped a few pics and turned right around. Thankfully, the sensible and adventurous side of me still had enough sway, and is what turned this hike into what would become a truly unforgettable experience.

I continued a bit further up the ridge until I was up on the hill directly above the lighthouse. There, I dropped my pack, grabbed my camera, and wandered down to check out the old white tower. The tower itself was situated in a cool spot, at the crest of a ridge on a cliff above the water. Getting down there, it was all fenced in, and I walked around one side to find a dead end and no entry.

Doubling back, I went around the other side and ended up climbing up the tall gate to waltz into the overgrown foliage in the little compound. The reason everything was overgrown made sense what I got down to the lighthouse itself. Of course, all the doors were well locked, but looking in the windows I could see some big battery banks, which obviously were paired up with the solar panels up above. The lighthouse had apparently been automated years back.

I continued wandering around the lighthouse compound for a bit. It was an enjoyable and quiet spot with a cool little building to supplement the cool spot. Once I was done wandering around the little compound, I hopped the gate back out of the compound and scrambled my way up the hill back to my bags.

With my sensible and adventurous side about me, I did my usual thing in beautiful places. Found a comfy spot and popped a squat. The grass was tall and flowing, my backpack was (and almost always is) a perfect little backrest, and I just sat there taking it in.

Before, I mentioned that this would be come an unforgettable experience, and this spot, this place was exactly why. Sitting there, I became completely engulfed and enthralled in the moment. On the one hand, it was my location:

• ...in a foreign country...
• ...on a sparsely populated island...
• ...at the end of the road...
• ...a good 2-hour hike in...
• ...on a hillside overlooking the ocean...

...realizing I was the only one around. Not just nearby, but really alone. Sitting there, I realized I was at least 3-4 hours from the nearest person, and no one on earth knew where I was. That completely astounded me, in an amazing way, and increased just how incredibly special this moment was.

There was something incredibly freeing and peaceful about that realization. Even as the big ferry put-put-putted on by, there were people within my field of vision, but I was completely, utterly, and thoroughly alone.

That realization implanted in my mind, it put me at peace.

Then, on the other hand, the amazing colors, the calm wind, and the quiet. I'll never be able to adequately describe that moment there and the calm and beautiful nature that surrounded me. I was:

• ...up on a hill...
• ...enjoying the light breeze...
• ...watching the grass weave, wave, and roll...
• ...a good 100' or so up from the water...
• ...overlooking the channel between Islay and Jura...
• ...with the big peaks on Jura in view...

...and just letting nature envelope me. It was unbelievably beautiful and gorgeous and so relaxing. I was at peace and thoroughly engulfed by being so far away from everything. Just an absolutely beautiful moment.

I could have, and would have liked to, just sit there and take it all in for a few hours. I did for a good while, but not before long my situation of being away from the world kinda got into me. I was still a good, long-ish hike to get out of there, and the day was slowly creeping to an end. Although that bug in my head was kinda right, I hung around a bit longer to enjoy the view. But eventually, it was time to head out. And unfortunately so.

Leaving that gorgeous and unforgettable spot (I hope to come back there some day...), I bushwhacked my way back along that cliff and ridge, this time pushing up a little higher on the hill, not wanting to take any chances of sliding down or anything like that. But soon enough I'd traversed the hill and returned down to the beach.

The sand on that first beach was extremely white, something I didn't notice on the way up. From the first beach, I wandered through the grass and to the longer beach and out back next to the group of buildings. Slowly continuing along, I headed back to that spot I mentally bookmarked early, and took a load off just as it started to drizzle.

The sensible and adventurous mindset was still in gear, so I threw on my rain pants, set my backpack up again as a chair, and turned the beach and some grass to a wonderful adirondack chair. Time to relax, and mentally slow myself down with another deep breath of take-it-easy.

I was still hours away from the nearest human being, and no one on the world had a clue where I was. Honestly, again, there's really something (at least for me) freeing about that. Being in such a beautiful place drastically added to the mystique.

The rain was just drops at first, but slowly started to pick up. No way I was gonna let rain ruin my lounge. As they say, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad preparation. With my rain pants, rain jacket, sturdy hiking boots, and a comfy spot, I was rain-proofed and kept sitting there. Thinking about things, and continuing to enjoy this incredible slice of nature - remote and relaxing.

That 'keep-er-movin' bug slowly crept back into my mind. Although I was incredibly comfy where I was at, I knew if the rain kept increasing, I'd slowly get less and less comfy. So I took a few more long deep breaths to take it all in, before packing up and getting back on the trail.

The whacking continued, but I started trucking on back. Good thing I had rain gear, because the water was everywhere - I would've been soaked. I got back up to the overlook ridge, and rather than taking the curvy route up another hill to get back, I cut a bit of a bee-line over the pasture.

Cutting through the field, all of a sudden I nearly shit my pants. Whacking through a brush I all of a sudden hear a complete shriek right next to me. Well, for some reason a random pheasant decided to wait to make itself known only when I was less than a stride length away. Holy bejesus that freaked me out.

The trek back through the field became a little more confusing than I had expected. First I ran into a fence and hopped up and over it, then figured out I needed to be back on the other side of the fence, and this time it had (what I thought was) an electric line at the top. But I was careful to jump up and over it and get back on the other side.

Then, as I got closer to the farmhouse, before getting back to the field, I had to re-navigate myself past the cows. All in all, successfully navigated myself back to the field, back past the farmhouse, and eventually got back to the parking lot.

By the time I made it back to Rupert, I was pretty well wet. Not soaked (god I love good rain gear), but it was wet out. But with the car unlocked I de-geared and jumped in to warm back up. Now back at my home base, I had no rush to get anywhere, so I sat there with the heat on, my audiobook rolling, and a delicious double chocolate cookie munch on.

I fucking love cookies. Soft, chewy, ideally warm and melty, cookies. My sweet tooth over recent years has cemented a clear preference for baked goods. Cookies, brownies, muffins, that shit always hits the spot.

Warmed up and comfy in the car, I then started the slow trek back to the north side of the island. Heading through Port Ellen, I stopped off to pick up some grub for breakfast. Then, heading out of town, I got a grainy picture of the giant ugly malt building leaving town.

Night time was slowly starting to creep in, and I was getting hungry. I continued the trek north, but then as I got to Bowmore, I stopped in to find some dinner. After doing a little research and coming up a good bit empty, I wandered over to the Indian resturant and jumped in.

The host guy was a bit cagey if they had room, but after waiting for a bit they cleared one of the tables and let this solo dude sit to eat. The food ended up being ok, but the chill and filling dinner hit the spot.

UK roads, at least roads that aren't the main motorway, are absolute shit. Super bumpy and rutty, full of puddles and bumps, fuck. Terrible quality regardless of where or what. I think my tire light on the drive back came on because of this unfortunate fact.

Dinner was done, and I made my way back to Rupert in the rainy streets of Bowmore. I didn't have a crazy busy day, but it was fairly active and awesome, and I was pooped. From there, I pointed Rupert back to the campsite and traversed the familiar but rutty roads to get there.

Being on my own, I'm really good at getting into my own head, and that evening the topic of my stay-or-go decision in Germany was lingering on my mind. I was a good few days into my trip, but up until that point, the decision hadn't occupied much of my mental space.

After my trip home and talking to a good number of people about it, trying to squeeze out every bit of advice, feedback, and information that could help me make the best decision, I was leaning towards extending, but was still not convinced.

I was on vacation though, and I didn't want to waste my time thinking about difficult decisions. So when I got back to the campsite, I cleaned up, laid around for a bit, but then soon hit the sack.

Day 10 - Bunna-what and Islay Life

I had a much earlier start than I was expecting, but after rolling around for a hot second, I was good to go. First thing I did (as with pretty much any morning) was check my phone, and there was a message from my boss asking me for an update on my decision to share with HR. Well, here goes...

I suck at deliberation, and after having commiserated on this decision for so incredibly long, I kinda knew I had to finally make up my mind then and there. Making decisions is not one of my fortes, and contemplating big decisions on my own isn't either, which is why I hadn't thought much about the decision on the trip to that point.

Despite all of that, I had the gut feeling I had to make up my mind. After waking up, I gave my boss a call and gave him my choice. Since I was already leaning with extending my contract, I pulled the trigger and told him I'd sign on for another two years (likely only just one, but we'll see how that plays out). That was not an easy decision, and I'm still not convinced it’s the right decision. But it’s the decision I’ve made, and now need to stand by it and make the most out of what comes from it.

Decision made and done chatting with my boss, I went to go eat my breakfast. Since it was foggy and a tad rainy, I tried to see if I could eat my breakfast inside the cafe there in the community center. Well, that was unfortunately shot down without a second guess, so I was relegated to go eat at the car and bum around my campsite to start the day.

Soon enough though, I was off to the races to head over to my tasting at Bunnahabhain. It was an easy drive, and I had plenty of time to take it slow and get there. The route had me head back towards Port Askaig, and then jog left down a one-lane country road to head up towards the northeast corner of the island.

Not a mile or so off the highway, I was on the road but saw a big truck coming towards me. As is present in most one-lane roads in Scotland, there are little pull-outs so that the two directions of traffic can navigate around each other. After I came around the corner I remembered there was a pull-out just a bit back, so to get out of the truck's way I backed up to let him pass.

Truck gone, I was off to continue on. Not. Kept pressing the gas pedal, but nothing was going. What the hell. Turns out I did NOT back into the pull-out, but instead just backed into the ditch. Fuck me.

I did my best to try and push myself out, but being a front-wheel drive, and being high pointed right under the front axle, I wasn't getting a lick of traction. Paniced for time, I called the distillery to see if they might be able to help. They had nothing of use, but the guy on the phone told me to head back down the road towards the main highway and ask the folks at the house/farm/B&B and talk to a guy named Wilf to see if he could help pull me out.

Not wanting to miss my tasting slot (by too much time), I ran and jogged over to see what I could find. I knocked on the doors, and walked around the yard, but didn't see a spec of life anywhere. That got me worried. Eventually I walked to the side of the house that was signed for "Enquirers" and brashly just opened up the door to the Mr. and Mrs. as they were packing and heading for the ferry. Damn I felt like a total dick, but I was in a good bit of a pickle.

There, I explained my predicament to the Mrs. to start, and then Wilf, or Donald as he is really called, came in and I explained again. They were on a schedule to the ferry, but he told me to start walking back to Rupert and he'd come see if he could help. So off I went.

On the walk, I kept looking back to see if anyone was coming, but didn't see anything. At that point, I was worried I'd be left high and dry, and that had me worried. I arrived back to Rupert and as soon as I got there he rolled up with his big 'ole tractor. Hot diggity damn! Bing bang boom, I wrapped the tow rope around the front axle and Rupert came rolling right back to the road easy as pie.

What a super nice gentleman. Despite being on a schedule, Donald was friendly and generous enough to lend a hand to a stranger in need, and I was extremely grateful! I gave him a good few quid for his troubles, thanked him profusely, and he was off to the ferry, and I was on my way to Bunnahabhain for some whiskey. As he left though, he told me to swing back by Persabus (his B&B) they next time I was on the island to grab a drink with him. Absolutely will do!!!

It wasn't far to get down to Bunnahabhain, but I rolled in clearly a good few minutes late for the tasting. Thankfully, Colin at the gift shop was the guy who helped me over the phone, and he was super friendly as I rolled in. We had a good laugh over my situation, and then he walked me into the maturation warehouse for the tasting. Already liking the visit, and things just went up from there.

In short, this was easily the coolest experience thus far (and eventually of the whole trip). The tasting was an all cask-strength tasting, and was deep in their maturation Warehouse No. 9. Cool and a bit of a musty ambience, the setup was just a bunch of church pews in front of a few barrels. Low key, relaxed, and quite awesome.

Once I got there, Rodney was already through the first dram with the rest of the folks that showed up on time, but I got in and he squared me away without missing a beat. He seemed like a really relaxed type of sales guy, and did a great job leading us through the tasting.

This was easily the coolest whiskey experience thus far (and the whole trip). The tasting was in such a cool, honest, bare-bones, completely unpretentious or salesy spot, Rodney wasn't a saleseman but shared great insight with his own opinion, and some delicious whiskies to dive into. Here's what we got to try and a few things we learned:

• Manzanita Cask - 54.2%, vintage 2008
• Pedro Ximenez Noe - 51.2%, vintage 2004
• Mystery Cask (for real) - 45.5%, vintage unknown
• Moine Pedro Ximenez - 52.8%, vintage 2004, 7yr cask finish
• Average Yearly Angel's Share - 1.5%
• A Dunnage Warehouse (what we were in) used to be the most common place to mature whiskey

Again, this was a really cool experience. We slowly worked our way through the four tastings, and then once we were done, we were walked back to the gift shop/tasting bar. I slowly strolled through the facility, trying to take in a little slower the old buildings that have been cranking out whiskey since 1881.

Once we got back to the shop, I did a good job of hanging around trying to figure out what I wanted to take home with me. Found out if we wanted to try anything to just let Colin (the super guy that helped me at the start) or Rodney know. Doooope.

While scoping, I got the insider scoop to try the 18-year and then a different one, so I took those out to the balcony (where we had to drink them, Covid rules). While out there, I struck up a conversation with the fun group in our tasting. James and his friend and both their wives were on a little week-getaway. A really fun, lively, talkative, and cool bunch, was glad I got to chat with them.

Two really cool things came out of that chat. One, found out they were on a big anniversary trip. Cool thing about that was, their honeymoon was spent on the distillery in one of their cabins. First, didn't know they had cabins there to stay in, but how dope. Second, what a cool place to retreat to on such a beautiful island!

Second, we started talking a bit about my trip and my plans and such. Once I said I was getting into some hiking and such, they spit out Beinn Alligin, immediately. They had some pretty great things to say about the hike - in a great, fairly desolate spot; great peak; difficult/challenging hike, tons of good things. After listening to a bit of it, I was super intrigued, so whipped out my map and X marked the spot. They also had some great things to say about Inverness, the Falkirk Whelel, and the Kelpies, and had some really great tips!

Nice chatting with them, and I wished them all well on their first trip without their kids in a good long while, as they had a whole box of goodies to take with. Kinda funny, as the guys bought probably about $1000 in whiskey, but got pissed at their wives over a few blankets that cost maybe $50. Good times.

Back in the shop, I was in the mood to get myself a good bottle to remember the time. I was a huge fan of the last dram from the tasting, the Moine PX, and luckily enough, that was on the shelf. Cool thing about the special cask whiskeys, they were bottled by the staff. Lo and behold, I found me a bottle that Colin Stroud had poured!!! That pretty much sold it. He was super friendly and helpful when I got stuck in the ditch, and no better way to remember the great experience than with the person that started it all off!

Again, great experience, and now with a little something to remember it by, I headed back to the car. I grabbed my camera to go snag some better pictures of the place, but my camera wouldn't turn on! Fuck. No worries though, just some über dead batteries - we're all good.

Next up though, I felt quite a bit aimless. I was thinking about hiking up to the lighthouse on the Northeast corner of the island, but opted against that with the amount of rain. No solid plan in place, I kinda motored on to find something to do, first stopping for some pictures above the distillery and on the road out.

Once I was out to the main road, I was still unsure of what to do, so I pulled off to a lookout in the bay across from the town of Bowmore. It was early afternoon at that point, so I whipped out my camp chair, some snacks, and took some time to reflect on the big decision I'd made that morning.

The smoked mussels from that smokehouse outside of Oban tasted delicious, and the pretzel goldfish from Deutschland were just kinda meh. But it was a great spot to slow down and think about what the next couple years have in store for me on a grey and breezy day. It was definitely a decision that I had mentally torn myself over for a long while. But being able to sit there in a relaxing moment, it was a nice way to bring it all together. Kinda put me in the mood for a nap.

But rather than a nap, I jumped back in the car and headed the short drive to the Museum of Islay Life to get a little more history on the mystical island of whiskey and nature. I got in, had a nice chat with the sweet ladies inside, then enjoyed taking a look at a ton of artifacts and pictures of the long history of life on Islay.

Tons of cool stuff to look at and learn about in there, and I'll just cover the highlights. Like how population on the island clearly peaked back in the 1840s.

Maybe my Mom secretly grew up or has connections to Islay, because they had essentially the same sewing machine table as her!

Maybe we do have connections to the island...

Some cool info and background on the usage of peat in the whiskey business, and usage for home heating. Nuts to see that essentially the earth and dirt can be used for firewood.

Of course, whiskey has played a big part of the island's history, so a bunch of information on that.

The US has a connection to Islay via WWII (and immigration and a few other things too), through a couple of tragic ships that sank just off the southwestern shore in frigid temperatures (more on that to come). Adding to that, interesting to see how the Island played a role in WWI and WWII.

And, of course, the crest that was found at the archaeological dig! Much smaller than I anticipated, but they had a bit of info on all the information they've gathered about that castle.

It was a cool insight into Islay at the museum, and the stop through was quite worth it. Back at Rupert I jumped in and headed back to the campsite. Still a little leftover aimlessness was present, so I bummed around and sat in the car and read for a while as the rain came down.

Because of the rain, I wasn't too motivated to leave from my driver's chair reading seat. Not wanting to move, and not sure what to do, it was nap time. And not gonna lie, turned out to be a pretty damn good car nap. I got about an hour or so of sleep and it felt great. Didn't know I needed it that bad.

Rested and now with some motivation, I woke up and started motoring on down to Porthaven at the far west end of the island. I had scoped out a place to go for dinner, and started a slow drive over there with a couple spots to stop for pictures along the way to say hi to some inquisitive sheep (some of the millions in Scotland...).

Once I got into town I found a place to park and headed towards the bar. I ended up parking right in front of an old lady's doorstep as she was sitting there getting some fresh air. I asked her if I should move my car to give her her view back, but she was super friendly and we had a nice quick chat. The bar looked pretty sure to be closed, so in the hopes that I just showed up early, I grabbed my camera and went for a walkabout.

Porthaven is a gorgeous little harbor town. It was sheltered behind two larger islands a couple hundred yards off the beach, and had a very sheltered, small alcove, perfect for a nice and calm harbor. I walked from the car over to the little alcove and saw a few people on a nice evening stroll, and two old ladies down in the water doing some water aerobics. Lots to look at and enjoy to start.

I strolled around the tiny cove, wandered past the quaint homes and was really enjoying the delightful little town. On the other side of the cove I was enjoying all the wonderful things around me on my slow, enjoyable, and relaxed stroll. The lighthouse out on the island, a bunch of birds, some gardens, and the feel and atmosphere of the sea all added to the beautiful mix.

On the far side of town I came onto a bit of a nature walk through some gardens, and enjoyed the green garden with the blue water and grey skies to accompany my walk. Along the walk they had a few signs to provide some context to the area. On one of them, there was some info that the lighthouse out there was designed by a family of folks who designed most of the lighthouses in Scotland (Robert Stevenson and family). Pretty sweet business to keep the family involved and provide a subtle but lasting impact on your country. Kept strolling along and plopped down on a bench for a good while. Not gonna lie, I think I might've been able to see the coast of Ireland.

Looping on back to the other part of town, I got some more good views on the harbor, but then came face to face with a startled doe in someones garden. I'm not sure who was more shocked, me or the doe, but she wasn't scared enough to jump and we had a nice little chat before I moved on.

Arriving back to the center part of town next to the tiny cove, I found a nice bench and plopped down to enjoy the view and atmosphere. It was a great spot overlooking the harbor. At some point, a couple bike tourists rolled into town and I chatted with the two Glaswegians for a bit as they tried to figure out their plan for the night with the hunch that the bar was actually closed. They seemed like two nice fellows, and after some nice jibber-jabber with them, they pedaled on to look for a place to camp.

I've talked about this a lot, but I LOVE me a well-placed bench. A comfy place to sit and enjoy a beautiful spot with a gorgeous view. There's just something about it and I love when I stumble upon one.

Continuing on my walk from the wonderful little bench, I headed back through town on the upper road and circled back to the car with another big flock of birds hanging around. Unfortunately, the bar was officially closed, and I got a bit bummed. Oh well, couldn't do anything about that.

Despite the bummer, I wandered past the bar and out to a field to find another spot to go sit by the water for a while. There were a few cows hanging out nearby, so I snapped some picks of the shaggy bovines before heading to the car and heading out.

Back at the campsite, I headed into the community center for a backup plan for dinner. They were booked out on tables inside, so I had to snag something to go. No worries, got myself a wrap and a beer and ate out on the patio in the light mist.

Had some time to think about some things while eating, and then as I got back to Rupert and got things a bit reorganized. Some notes that I was thinking about regarding Islay:

• All/most buildings are painted white with the trim being the accent color, which is predominantly black
• There are likely more sheep than people here
• You know how the jeep wave is a thing? Well they've got that here, but everyone is in on it. I kinda like it
• It didn’t matter how many times I drove a stretch, every road seemed like a new route every time

I ended up not staying awake too long, but got some reading in, and then got comfy before heading down for bed.

Day 11 - Wrapping Up on Islay

I woke up to the tent next to me have a nice, loud, roaring fireside chat at the delightful hour of 6am. What the fuck. Not too happy about that as I rolled around for a good while and eventually had to just get up.

Took my opportunity to get another shower in, got cleaned up, and headed back to the car to get things ready to go. Kinda annoying, but had to pack up the tent with a soaked rainfly, so I kept the rainfly out and let it dry on the back seat as everything got thrown in the car, ready for the adventure to continue.

Leaving camp, I headed around the bay to Bowmore and stopped into the Co-Op (my most frequent grocery stop, as they were everywhere and had decent hours) and picked up some groceries for the next day or so, along with some breakfast. Continuing my criss-crossing of the island, I then headed down to the Southwest corner of the island to the American Memorial I had marked on the map.

Getting to the turn-off from the main highway, I had a good 15-20 minute drive along a pretty tight and windy single-file road. It was windy, the road was rutty, but it was a beautiful little drive out to a remote part of the island. I ended up stopping a few times to enjoy the ride, and it was worth it, before finally rolling into the parking lot for the memorial.

Once I parked at the memorial's parking lot, I made and ate some breakfast. I was initially thinking this was just gonna be a stroll on a nice nature walk, but at the last minute decided on throwing on the hiking boots. Professional decision right there.

The hike started out with a dirt road that curved down and then back up a little dip. Once it got back up the dip and around the corner, BAM, cliffs. Just a preview to start, but they kept growing as I got closer and closer to the water.

Once I got past the random house on the trail, I rolled up to a gigantic field overlooking an incredible view of cliffs all to the east. A breathtakingly gorgeous spot, with tons of highland cattle, sheep, and just beautiful views. Honestly blew me away, the view and everything.

Seriously, it was such a gorgeous view. I came into this little stop looking forward to learning about the US-Islay connection, but was dumbfounded by the incredible views along the cliffs and down the coast that was here. True to form, I found a bench to take a load off and take it all in. Fog was rolling in over the peaks, the cliffs were such a variation of depth and elevation, and the waves just kept adding a beautiful repetition of nature's call. Awesome views and moments.

Got up from that bench and headed over to another vantage point to continue the enjoyment. Not gonna lie, I was having a tough time walking and not risking injury. It was hard trying to keep my eyes on all of the natural beauty without losing where I was going and inadvertently falling off a cliff. Thankfully I was able to manage it.

The walk continued along the cliff edge and then back around an edge before the walk up to the American Memorial. The cliffs in both directions remained visible the whole way, and at some point the cliffs opened up to a different view right in front of the memorial. Pretty nuts to see the stone tower built right on the edge of a pretty sheer cliff right down to the water. I crept briefly close to the edge for some incredible views, and survived.

There was something at the bottom of the cliff that kept making a weird noise. The sound was coming from down near the water. I thought it was a seal or something, but no matter how long I scanned the rocks and water down there, I couldn't find a damn thing. Whatever was crying out, it was doing a great job of hiding too.

I finally made my way over to the memorial and was really impressed with the subtle nature of the monument, but became more and more impressed at the bravery and selflessness of the people of Islay from the events the monument signifies.

During WWI, both the Tuscania (Sept. 1918) and Otranto (Oct. 1918) troop transport ships sank just off the coast of where the monument stood. Cold weather in treacherous waters surrounded by rocks and cliffs, the sinking of both ships led to huge loss of life, with only a small number of troops surviving from either wreck. In both cases though, the people of Islay exhibited incredible bravery and selflessness to save as many people as possible. Their incredible deed was remembered and commemorated there; incredible stories to learn about.

Standing there, near the edge of the cliff, I couldn't imagine having a giant ship going down in sight of the coast and having hundreds trying to escape the sinking doom, only to discover that the rockiness of the coast wasn't going to give you much of a chance at survival. Scary situation.

While standing on the cliffs to the west, I was able to look up and see over towards Porthaven, where I was wandering around the night before. I wasn't able to make anything out over there, but the silhouette was present.

I took my time reading the signs at the monument and then wandering the cliff edge to take in the many views. Beautiful. I wandered down to another spot on the cliff, did a little quasi-rock climbing, and then started heading out. It was a marshy area, and the boardwalk getting through it was even sunk in parts.

Wasn't too long til I'd circled back to the parking lot and whipping off the hiking boots. What a gorgeous little hike. I came into it thinking it'd be just cool memorial tower, but the sheer nature and beautiful views surrounding it blew my mind. Really glad I headed down there, but honestly was bummed I didn't have more time to enjoy it even more. Highly recommended stop on Islay.

I was a little bit tight on time, because I had a tasting slot reserved at Bowmore for right around midday. But, with a wonderful little morning hike and nature fun, I jumped in the car and headed back towards town. Quite a bit of activity on the way out though, seeing some bunnies, a deer, more pheasants or grouse, and a hawk with its prey, on the drive out of the lighthouse.

Rolling into the town of Bowmore, I found a place to park, then walked down to the harbor. Snacked on a croissant and an apple to kill some time and take in the quiet town for a little bit. From there I headed over to the Bowmore Distillery.

They'd implemented some pretty strict regulations due to Covid, and once I got to the gate, me and the other folks on the tasting had to be escorted into the property. Not long after that, our tasting guide, Lynn, came and got us and walked us out to the back where we'd be doing our tasting. This one was a little different than the others, the theme - Whiskey and Chocolate. :-)

Bowmore 12-yr has been my go-to whiskey of late, so I was pretty excited to go to the place where it's created. Lynn was super friendly, and the British couple that was in the tasting as well were pretty interesting. Kinda got annoying, but I felt like Lynn was just pandering to the British couple the whole time. Probably not intentional, I'm of the quiet and non-attention-hoggy nature, so that almost always happens.

Getting into the room, it was quite the impressive setup that was laid out. Cool stuff, and the chocolates looked pretty enticing. First up was not a whiskey, but rather the liquid that comes out of the stills before it gets matured into what we know as whiskey. Holy hell that shit was strong. But Lynn showed us a cool trick to put a little bit of that liquid in your hands like a disinfectant. Then, when you rub your hands together, this incredible and intense smell comes off that smells just like the malting process. Way cool!

From there we then dove into the prescribed whiskey tastes. The first was a good whiskey on its own. But as this was a whiskey-chocolate pairing thing, it was paired with the white chocolate. I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate, and this one kinda destroyed the whiskey. The dram tasted good beforehand, but really weird and bland afterwards. Not ideal.

The other whiskeys paired a little better with their chocolates. The highlights were, from the chocolates the dark (of course!), and the whiskeys the 18-yr Oloroso cask. Both really good stuff. Once we finished the designated three tastings though, Lynn got friendly and opened up the bar behind her for us to try some other stuff. I got a dram of the David Simson 20yr, and that one was delicious. Lynn said that one was her favorite, and I can see why.

With the tasting all wrapped up, Lynn led us out of the tasting room and up to the gift shop. I perused around a bit, and unfortunately the David Simson bottle was way too expensive for me. From the gift shop I wandered upstairs to see a bunch of memorabilia and history about the distillery itself, including a bottle blended specifically for the Queen during her visit in 1980. I also got to represent and stuck two pins in the map they had on the wall.

By that time, the beautiful day had opened up and the sun was shining. Taking advantage of that, I was able to get a sip of their vault edition and enjoy it out on the balcony. The dram was ok, but the view out onto the bay was gorgeous with the sun fully out.

It was interesting hearing Lynn talk about some people that come in and expect to walk out with whatever they want. There are some bottles on display that aren't for sale - they're too important or memorable to the distillery and are just not for sale. But some folks with boatloads of cash **cough cough russian billionaires cough cough** just walk in, say "I want that, that, that, that", and they have to say No. That's not an option. Crazy to think some people just have so much cash they can do whatever they want.

All-in-all, I ended up not getting a bottle at Bowmore. I was fully expecting to, as they were my go-to coming into the trip, but not being fully convinced by any of the whiskeys I could afford, no reason to go broke. It was a pretty good experience with some good chocolates and a few good tastes, but from there I thanked Lynn for her time and headed back out to town.

I didn't really have a plan, but decided on walking around a bit and snapping a few pics of town. First was back down to the harbor to enjoy the view now in the sunlight, able to see a little more and having the warm colors pop with the blue skies.

Once again (an unfortunately common feeling during the trip, maybe just something I'm not good at handling mentally...) I felt a little aimless and unmotivated. I was also hungry though, so ended up heading to a coffee shop to snag some java and a shrimp sandwich. Snagged those and headed back down to the water. The sandwich was literally just some shrimp salad on bread, but it honestly tasted fantastic. Gonna have to try that myself sometime.

That little bit of sustenance went a long way. Continuing on, I made a bit of an extended loop around town. It led me back behind the distillery, and then past a bunch of homes, and elementary school, and just the normal life in town. I always like getting away from the main drag and getting a more real vibe of places I'm at.

My loop eventually got me back to Rupert, and I jumped in and continued on. First was a gas fill-up at the small town gas station. Interesting/unique setup, with the pump right on the curb. Couldn't pump myself, but had to wait on the street in line and let the guy pump for me. Small town character. Always interesting.

Filled up and ready to go. I started making my way out towards my last tour at Ardnahoe, right near the ferry. I still had some time to enjoy before the tour, so I decided to stop at another gas station along the way and get my tire pressure checked and filled up.

The gas station was right next to a little clubhouse and out on the green pristine lawn were some lawn bowlers! I got my tires all squared away, then parked and walked over to watch them play.

Interesting to watch. Reminded me a ton of Boule that I've been playing here with some friends in Germany. But a little more 'refined' and posh, I guess you could say.

Watched a good bit of the game closest to me, and then eventually started chatting with the guys playing. Turns out it's a lot like Boule, with a few subtle differences. We chatted a bit, I got to watch the end of the game, and then I jumped back into the car on the way towards the next tour.

Ardnahoe is the newest distillery on the island, and they're still young enough to where they don't have any whiskey of their own matured and bottled yet. The legal requirement is three years of maturation, but most (all) distilleries wait a lot longer, depending on what they're going for.

The facility was super new and in a cool location, but this experience was really showy and rushed. The guy gathered us all up, said his shpiel, then kinda walked us through the whole facility in a pretty quick manner. You could tell there was a lot of effort, work, and planning put into the new facility, and it was super clean and well thought-out, but there was a good bit of spirit and experience missing. As I was walking through, I kinda regretted my move, in that I had the chance to go to Kilchoman, and wished I would have. Oh well.

They did have some unique aspects to the whole place though. All of their washbacks were made out of wood (and seemingly brand-spanking new), the tubes from the still to the Worm Tubs are some of the longest around, and they've got one helluva view from the still room. We went through the full facility, then got ushered into a tasting room.

The tastings were a mix of options from distilleries that the Ardnahoe owners also own. Some were pretty good, but I had my tastes, walked around the shop for a minute, and then jumped in the car to head down to the ferry.

It was a short drive from Ardnahoe down to the port. Once I got there, I jumped in line (thankfully the correct one!) for the ferry. But since I had a ton of time til we left, I grabbed my camera and some snacks and headed down to the park near the boats. Found a nice little table, and set up for some dinner and enjoyed the hell out of the sunlight that was still hanging around.

As I was sitting there I learned something important - grocery store corned beef is not palatable.

The views were beautiful on the water. The group of peaks across the channel on the island of Jura were a bit covered in clouds, but the mixture of colors (dark blue water, light blue sky, white clouds, grey mountain, red and rusty grass) really all popped. With that and the light bit of activity in the harbor with some of the fisherfolk coming and going, it was a great place to sit, eat, relax, and wait til the big steel behemoth came to come pick us up.

Locked and loaded, me, Rupert, and my bike were ushered onto the big ole boat ready to head over to Kennacraig. Learning from the last ride, I snagged up all my stuff (snacks, camera, book), and headed up to the deck to take in the port as we departed. It wasn't long after that and we were underway. It was a bummer to be leaving Islay, as it was a delightful, gorgeous, and extremely scenic island, and with so much more to do than I initially thought. I have a feeling I'll be returning there at some point.

What a treat. A beautiful day full of sunlight, blue skies, and great nature out on the water to take in. Early on, it was funny being out on the deck and hearing a few car alarms go off from the vibrations of the boat. But outside of those distractions, it was nothing but time to walk around the deck and take in the island of Islay and Jura as we squeezed through the channel between the two of them.

I spent the whale's majority of time on the boat out on the deck as we cruised between the islands. The sun was out, it was gorgeous, how could I not? One big highlight was being able to see my beautiful relaxing spot above the MacArthur Head Lighthouse that I'd so enjoyed a couple days prior. In addition to that, the sunset was absolutely gorgeous as we turned the bend from the open water towards Kinnacraig. Here's a bunch of pictures:

We docked at Kennacraig just as the last bit of light was gracing the sky. My plan for the next day, after reading the weather forecast, was a big day of hiking. Unfortunately, that plan was a good ways away in Fort William. Rather than calling an early night, I decided to knock out the drive at night. Shantaram was getting to a few good spots in the book, and once I passed the slow cars from the ferry output, it was green lights and clear pavement.

Scotland, away from the motorways, is all single lane (each direction) or single lane (total) highways. With traffic, that gets mighty frustrating. But, when you've got clear roads? That place is an absolute driver's paradise. Curvy, windy, engaging, dynamic. All excellent characteristics of a great drive, and damn it's an amazing place for a drive and a roadtrip!

Gettting out front I had a good clip going and was in the zone. I cruised past a ton of little towns that looked like great places to roll through. Stubborn me stuck to my plan, but I bookmarked that stretch of drive along the inlets and channels as another place to come back to.

It was a good couple hours before I rolled up at the top of the Glencoe Valley and pulled off to find a spot to camp. Rather than just some country road I pulled off on, google told me this was the road that they used to film parts of Skyfall, so it must be pretty gorgeous.

I pulled off and started heading up the valley, and it was a pretty popular road. Campers, vans, and vehicles at all of the turnouts. It took me a while, but I found one that was open and waiting for me, and pulled off to get situated for the night.

Once I got Rupert ready for bed, I stayed outside for a good while. Why? The Milky Way. I got things ready just in time to see the entirety of the stars bright and dazzling above me! It was clear, and the whole canvas up above was dotted with stars. What a beautiful sight!!!

I sprawled out on the hood, just taking it all in and enjoying the incredible nature that is the night sky. It's not too often that I do, but every time I encounter a crystal-clear night sky, it blows my fucking mind at just how many stars I can see (even with my terrible eyesight), and knowing there are infinitely more out there that I can't see. MINDBLOWING.

Unfortunately, a swath of clouds started to slowly confiscate the sky. Bit of a bummer, but it was awesome to have some time to watch the Milky Way. With the majority of the sky covered up though, I bundled up, jumped in my sleeping bag, and knocked off for the night.

Day 12 - Ben Nevis

Waking up to the sun is always a pleasure. Doing so in a gorgeous place is even better! As I'd rolled in under the cover of darkness the night before, getting up and out of the car I got my first glimpse of the valley - what a beaut.

I lazily got Rupert re-shuffled, then took some time to check out the little valley that was right next to me and take in the valley all around me. Such a clean u-shape up and down the valley with green grass covering it all, it's amazing how nature can be so fluid

Makes sense why this valley was part of a movie. Honestly, it probably could have been any valley in the area, but the drive out was incredible. I didn't James Bond it and fly down, but enjoyed the cruise down the fluid valley and taking it all in. Stopping a couple of times for some pictures, it was a delightful drive with the sun still working its way up and the clouds and mist that came with the early morning. As I said, any valley around there could be in a movie.

Once I got back out to the highway, I turned left to head towards Glencoe and Fort William, and the damn valley just popped!!! Blue skies, green/rusty grass, and the road started out a bit flat but eventually dove down into the ever-tightening valley. What a gorgeous spot.

I cruised down the increasingly windy road. The perfect glacial U of the valley got ever steeper and a good number of jagged peaks popped up on either side. I stopped off at a lookout and saw a couple guys headed out looking like they were about to rock-climb their way up one of them. Not gonna lie, was a little jealous, and contemplated for a half-second of just finding a wicked peak in the valley here to go climb. But, stubborn me stuck to the orignal plan - Ben Nevis.

I motored from the viewpoint further down the hill and eventually it flattened out to sea level at the town of Glencoe. I was still starting in the day, so I had to find a place to do the business, and figured pairing that with a coffeeshop would be the best way to go. Stopped at the public toilets (they were closed), across the street to a cafe (not open to the public), and got fed up. Headed over to the Co-Op to load up on groceries, and then was lucky to find a functional coffeeshop. Got me some java, freshened up, and then was off to go climb to the highest point in the UK!

The drive up from Glencoe, across the inlet, and then following the water towards the town of Fort William was beautiful. Thankfully the weather forecast from the night before was holding true to a T, and the beautiful sunshine and blue skies were hanging around with no signs of leaving.

There was a little bit of traffic into town, but being on the left side of the road, in a left-hand drive car, I was able to roll slowly down the road and enjoy the view. I was luckily enough all squared away on food and water, so I headed straight for the trailhead to start the big hike up. The lot was full, but was able to find a spot to squeeze in and park, then threw on my hiking boots, and off I went!

Similar to the other hikes from the trip, the start of the trail was muggy as all get out. Tons of brush and not a ton of trees paired with the fresh morning and warm sunlight, I got sweaty real quick. The trail scooted along the valley for a bit before cutting over and starting the increasingly steep route up the mountain. Once we got out of the brush and ferns and such, the mugginess dropped a good bit, but the sun kept everything warm with great views over the valley.

The trail went along the valley up the first big hill, and then cut in along a steep valley. At the top of that little arm was a nice little plateau with a beautiful little mountain lake. I broke off the path to go sit down by the lake for a bit and enjoy the freshness in the beautiful air. I didn't sit around for all that long, before rejoining the trail and starting the even steeper last half to the top.

The greenery hung around for a little while after the plateau on the way up before starting to fade away and eventually just becoming a landscape of rock. The trail just zigged and zagged its way up the mountain. I'm not sure if it can be attributed to stubbornness or perseverance (the ever-permanent question with me...), but I kept on chugging along.

Soon enough, the landscape became a total rock garden. The steepness also started to peter off a bit, but not before a few false summits and an increase in traffic on the way up. Even though the color palette muted down with just the presence of rocks, the blue skies (slightly clouded up) were keeping things bright.

Keeping on keepin on, I kept my legs churning. It became pretty visible where the top was once the big huddles of people standing around came in sight. No joke, the whole hike reminded me a ton of the climb up Mt. Fuji in Japan. Tons of people, often times traffic jams on the trail, and just a nature walk with too many people around.

Arriving at the peak, the presence of half the UK was pretty evident. Case in point was the line of people waiting to take a picture next to the elevation marker/cairn. Being the highest point in the UK, the photographic evidence has a bit more weight to it, but I wanted none of that line shit. I took a picture of all the folks standing around, walked through the various rock shelters present at the top, and continued past the masses of people to go find a place to take it all in. But, I'd officially climbed the highest point in the UK!

Munro #2 - Ben Nevis

• Height - 1344 m / 4411 ft (1st)
• The highest Munro of them all (in the UK)

Pushing on a little bit past the cairn and the shelter and the people and such, things got a lot quieter and calmer. I bounced around the rocks for a bit looking for a good spot and eventually stumbled upon a great rock lounge chair and popped down for a break with a great view looking towards Fort William.

Ready for another view to take in, I got up and wandered further down towards the other side of the mountain. Found myself another wonderful rock chair really out of range from the other hikers and took some time to process and enjoy the beautiful views looking out on a huge swath of the Scottish Highlands. A bonus from that spot, I was able to scope out the rest of the trail I was headed down.

Nothing like a good spot to sit and have a gigantic spread of nature for your eyes to feast on. I was at the top of Ben Nevis, and my plan was to continue down the backside and traverse the ridge over to another Munro nearby before taking the valley down and heading out. That traverse was right out in front of me, and as I was sitting there relaxing, I could see a couple people taking the trail out ahead of me.

After a nice, long, relaxing break, I got back on my feet and started the descent off of Ben Nevis. It was rocky and steep, but I made short work of it. Crazy always just how much faster one can descend vs. ascend. A little bit of scrambling later and I'd made it down to the ridgeline ready to take the up and down over to the next Munro.

With a relaxing pace I jumped rock to rock and scrambled up and down the trail following the ridge. Soon enough, I'd reached my third Munro! Another great vantage point of the multiple valleys it intersected. I took my time hanging around here too, enjoying the view with clear skies while Ben Nevis had clouded over for a bit. Also got to scope out the next bit of trail I would eventually hit up down the valley to my right. Looked like a good spot, and boy was I in for a treat.

Munro #3 - Cárn Mór Dearg

• Height - 1220 m / 4004 ft (9th)

I had the top of Cárn Mór Dearg all to myself for a good long while and really enjoyed the absolute solitude up top. I'll repeat it til the cows come home, but having an incredible view out in nature all to myself is my quintessential cup of tea. I honestly don't know of much better than that, and I took some delicious deep breaths of that magical mountain air.

Once the first group of other hikers joined me at the top, I figured that was a good time to continue on. Giving them the top to themselves, I continued my trek and started my downhill journey. The ridge coming down from the top was the split between two beautiful valleys, and I got to watch them all the way down before getting to the saddle. There, I took a look back at the two peaks I'd accomplished before continuing the trek down.

Continuing from the saddle on down, I entered into an absolutely beautiful valley. I'd been able to see it from above as I cruised from Ben Nevis on down, but being in it, present, it added a whole extra level of detail and enjoyment. I didn't make it too far down from the saddle before pulling off the trail and finding a delightfully comfy patch of grass to take it all in.

Enthralled by the view with a beautiful U-shape along the valley down towards a small mountain with layers of bigger ones behind it. At some point I took advantage of the comfy spot and let my effort from the day take over - Nap time! I knocked off for a good little while under the cloudy sunlight in that gorgeous valley.

I definitely took my time enjoying that view and that moment. Another situation where I felt like I was hours away from the next person out in the middle of a beautiful landscape. Such a peaceful situation with nothing but nature.

After an hour or so, I figured I should probably get a move on since I didn't have a tent or any of my camping stuff with me. Bummer I didn't because that would've been a perfect place to camp out. But, up and at 'em, I continued on down the valley. It was kinda slow going, but a nice slow, in a way. The view slowly evolved with the drop in elevation, but the trail was spotty at best as it kinda came in and out of view tracking the river and waterfall headed down.

The valley was in a bit of a tiered setup, and I slowly wandered down the top bowl to the middle and then down to the plateau with the curvy river. It was a beautiful little quasi-alpine glass plain. Peaceful, colorful, quiet. As I was enjoying it and the views, I noticed a dude that was hiking like lightning coming up on me. There went the notion of being all alone, but he was still a ways out.

At the end of that plain/plateau, the trail dropped down over the hill and slowly made its way down to the actual valley floor. The trail was full of rocky waterfalls and more great views of the incredible piles of rock. One thing so awesome about mountain valleys is the ability to put giant mountains and rocks and such into perspective, in view. A giant mountain can seem so immense when you're on it, but from across the valley, it's still so big, but has the feeling of being much more approachable when you're able to make out the massive contours, shapes, peaks, ridges, and everything in between.

The last descent into the valley went by quickly and beautifully. But, it's always a bummer to lose the elevation and subsequently the view and perspective on such giant forms of nature. Before I dropped all the way though, I was able to get one last look on the three peaks (two Munros and the one in between) I'd accomplished during the day. Now on the valley floor, it was time to make my way back to Rupert.

When the trail dropped down into the valley it joined up with the main trail on the way out. It weaved along for a bit before opening up to a pretty big amphitheater with a gigantic waterfall off to the left. There was a group of backpackers over there getting their picture taken, but I continued on looking forward to a short trek down to the car as the sun was getting close to the horizon.

Once I crossed the awesome three-cable 'bridge' over the river, I decided to take a look at the map. Well, short trek was out of the question, as I found out I still had 11km to get back to the start. Holy fuck I miscalculated that one. Goddamnit

I was running out of water, food, and energy, but still had a long ways to go. The map had me take the way less trodden route over that bridge then up and over a big hill and I was getting eaten alive by the damn flying spider things the whole time. I was not happy about it, and my mood was souring fast.

I stubbornly trodded along, dreading the hours it would take me to get to the car. The trail eventually opened up for a bit to some muggy ferns, then closed down to a forest as it shadowed the river heading down the valley. I kept a good clip, but had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

At some point a bridge popped up to cross the river and it led right to the road. I decided to try my luck and see if I could save my night and my legs by hitchhiking. A car passed as soon as I got out there and breezed right on by. Damn, bummer to start, but I started walking/jogging down the road hoping it'd at least be an easier route, and still holding out hope someone would come along and give me a ride.

Got passed by a big van, no dice. But then the sedan that came afterwards pulled up and gave me a lift! Anna the hiking guide and her two friends were unbelievably generous and gave me a lift. Turns out, they were part of the group of gals that were taking pictures below the big waterfall and that almost followed me across the tri-wire bridge. They were out on a guided backpacking trip, and had just finished up their trek.

Nothing but friendliness and generosity by those lovely ladies! It was a delightful ride with all of them as we headed down the mountain before the two gals were dropped off at their car to start. Then Anna and I continued the conversation the rest of the way. Turns out she's a bona fide hiking guide, and I asked her how she got into that (as that would potentially be a job right up my alley). Well, I don't have teaching experience, nor am I known for great patience, but maybe that might be something for me?

No joke, Anna saved my life (or at least 2 hours and 5 miles of hiking)! I would've been toast if I had to make that whole way down on my own, and she was super friendly and gracious in helping me get back to the car. Once I was there, I was super stoked to take my boots off and wind down from the great day of hiking.

After de-booting and hitting up the restroom, I went down to the river and tried to take as concealed of a redneck shower as I could. I was feeling gross with all the sweat from the day on me, and being able to wash off at least some of it in the river definitely helped put me at ease.

Rupert and I were then ready to roll out, so that's what we did. As the universe would have it, there were a couple folks looking for a ride from the trailhead back to town. Paying it forward, I had them hop in and we were headed to Fort William.

They were a super friendly couple from Ireland, so we got to chatting about travelling and Ireland and such. They provided the sage advice to have or bring a car when travelling around Ireland. Note taken.

We rolled into town and I let them off near the town's main drag, and then I went to go find a place to park. I was on the hunt for some grub, so I found a public parking lot then headed to the main street to find a bar for some pizza and beer after the long hike. First place - no dice. Second place - no dice. Fucking hell. I didn't want to spend the whole night just looking for a place to potentially get some food. Not ideal.

During our conversation about Ireland, the friendly couple gave me the tip of an Indian restaurant in town, so I decided to head over there. Went for some pizza with a little twist and snagged me the Chicken Tikka Marsala pizza, then walked down to the Co-Op for some snacks and a delicious beer and headed back out to Rupert.

With dinner in hand, I went and headed down to a big parking lot on the edge of town but right on the water. Backed up to the railing, whipped out my camp chair, pizza box on my lap and cold beer in the cupholder. I had myself a feast overlooking the bay at night. Relaxing, delicious, and peaceful watching some people fish, some boats coming and going, and listening to the light activity of the city behind me. A relaxing and nice little spot to grub up.

That dinner really helped me after the long hike. Fed, rested, and relaxed, I then jumped in the car and headed back up the road from the trailhead, found a place to park, and called it a night.

Day 13 - Fort William Bike Park and the Highlands

It was up and at 'em with a beautiful misty start to the morning. After getting up, I reshuffled Rupert and then reorganized my bags a bit. It's always a great surprise after waking up in a beautiful place when you arrive somewhere in the dark. I took in the great spot I'd parked, and then headed back into town.

Before I headed off to one of the first reasons I was wanting to travel to Scotland, I needed some grub and groceries. First was the grub. After googling around for a bit, I settled on JJ's Cafe. The place was empty, but the folks were nice and friendly, and I decided on taking my first dive into the true British Breakfast.

Well, turns out I'm not a huge fan of a british breakfast. I had that hunch going into it, but had to give it a try. Here's my breakdown (as an ignorant and unlearned customer of the british breakfast):

• Baked beans for breakfast. Tried em, but hell no. Who the hell thought of that and said, "oh yeah, that'll be a great way to go". Nah.
• The Black Pudding turned out to be some kind of hockey puck type thing. It was actually ok.
• Something was different about the sausage, it tasted a little funky
• The ham was salty as hell, but it was ham so it was ok
• There was some kind of meaty bread loaf thing, turned out ok

Overall, I wasn't too satisfied with the breakfast. But, again, I'm glad I tried it and was able to confirm my hunch. I smashed the bread and the coffee, then wrapped up the rest of what was palatable and then was off.

Next on the list was Aldi for groceries. I cruised through for some stuff, and picked out a good looking stout and porter that I was looking forward to later on in the day. Got up to checkout, and learned another heartache. Not only does Scotland not allow alcohol sales after 10pm, but they don't allow them BEFORE 10am either. Seriously. Who came up with a shitty rule like that...

Stocked up on grub and groceries, it was now time to start the main attraction for the day and head over to the Fort William Bike Park! COMMENCE MAX STOKEAGE!!!

Rolled up and was totally ready to go. Well, almost ready to go. They wouldn't sell lift passes until the lift opened up, which was confusing to me. But I still had some time til that and was able to fill up my water bottles, get suited and geared up, and soon enough I had a pass in my pocket and I was ready to go!!!

It started drizzling a bit before getting things started, but that was nothing I couldn't enjoy! Once in line, I got loaded up with the weird way to hang the bikes on the gondola, and was headed towards the top. The parking lot was nice and clear, but getting up to the top, the clouds and fog were still hanging around. But, the ride up was gorgeous, and I got a nice little preview of sections of the world cup trail.

For the first run I opted for Top Chief, a black run. The top part was chocked full of nothing but rocks and wooden planks, and unfortunately a good bit of uphill. But once the trail actually started going down it got pretty good. At the bottom 2/3rds of the hill it stopped and jogged over to the Witch's Goat. This was an awesome little trail full of tight berms weaving in, out, and around a bunch of trees in the forest. That was a fun little rollercoaster that popped me out at the parking lot.

Back in line and time to hit some big shit! WORLD CUP DOWNHILL!!! I got all kinds of stoked on the gondola ride up. Once at the top, I pedaled over to the starting hut and made sure to get a picture of my trusty ride at the starting gate. There were a couple hikers hanging out in the hut and they both gave me a little cheer as I pedaled out from the gate and hit the trail!

Holy. Shit. What a trail! Such an incredible mix of a little of everything. There were some ridiculously rocky and technical bits, some pretty big jumps (hit a couple but there was no way I was hitting the river gap), and some wicked sections of speed and fun. I later learned that pros can zip down that in around 4 minutes. HOLY SHIT! It took me about 11 including a crash and a couple breaks to catch my breath. Damn the pros can absolutely rip!

Once I cruised down to the bottom, I could already tell I was a little beat, after just two runs. Maybe the giant hike the day before wasn't the best preparation. But here we are and there was no chance I was backing out!

I circled back around to the lift line, and stopped to take off my helmet, put on my mask, and whip out my lift card. While doing so, a really energetic and friendly lift worker came over and struck up a nice conversation. He asked me how the trails were running, a little about my sweet bike, where I was from, and was just all kinds of fun and super friendly. Loved the positivity and good vibes!

For my next run, I decided to give the brand new blue line a try. It was supposed to be really flowy and bermy and fun, but it absolutely did not live up to that vibe. Not sure where that impression came from, because the trail was not built for flow. Either the berms were too low, they were too tight and not gradual turns, or I wasn't comfortable laying into them. But that and a lot of pedaling do not add up to a flowy trail and I couldn't find a groove.

Back down to that one forest road, I again scooted over to Witch's Goat and had another great little run through there. Bummed there wasn't a mid-way dropoff on the lift so I could just head straight to that fun little trail!

After getting back down to the parking lot, it was time for a nice little lunch break. I whipped out my camp chair and chowed on my soggy wrap and a banana as I got through another chapter of my book. Quite the relaxing, laid-back, and really enjoyable midday break.

From there I was back up for another World Cup run. I crashed in the same spot (doable stuff, but couldn't get that combo down) but made it down with another big smile on my face. Back at the car, I was trying to get my tires pumped with my little hand pump (not sure why I brought the wrong floor pump for a three week trip...) and I ended up chatting with a couple guys from NW Britain who were riding as well. They, as me, don't have anything nearly this good near home, so it's a total treat to be able to get out and ride this kinda stuff.

While chatting, they said they were headed to go ride around Glencoe for the rest of the weekend, then another Scot nearby recommended that Laggan Wolftrax was a great place to ride. Threw Glencoe on my list for next time, but added Laggan to the list of places later on in the trip and was pumped!

The rain had started to come down a little harder and more consistently, but I headed back up to the top for another lap on Top Chief. The first section is almost exclusively planks, and I am NOT a fan of the combo of wood and rain. Sketches me out a shitton. I finally got through the planks and felt like I was living a math problem by nailing the rocky section with some good lines. Then, Witchs Goat to get back down to the parking lot. Short but what a sweet little bermy trail through the trees.

Rolled up back to the car for a quick breather, and ended up extending it a bit. Got into conversation with the two dudes once again, and whipped out my camp chair to go sit and chat with them for a bit.

Chris and Damien were on their annual voyage to the Fort William area, and were up for the long weekend to get shreddy. We had a nice little time sitting around chatting, and took the time to ask a few questions. Good (I guess...) to hear that Covid is essentially in the same state of things where they're from as with the rest of the world, and they're doing well getting through it. Also took the chance to ask a really ignorant foreigner question - what's the difference between a quid and a pound? Turns out there isn't one, and they're not sure where the hell quid came from. But here we are.

At some point we were ready for a ride, but I politely split off, as I was very sure they were wayyyy better riders than me. But, after coming out of the loo, they pulled up right next to me in the lift line and up we went to the top.

On the ride up we had some more good conversation as I was toying with doing another lap on the World Cup trail. They opted for Top Chief, and I ended up following them down for this run and then do another World Cup run after.

Top Chief was unbelievably foggy, and started to get a good bit wet with all the rain that had been coming down. This made the top section really sketch with the long wooden planks. Got through that despite visibility being around 20-30' - it was all kinds of dense. Then onto the rocky section, which despite the rain, was super grippy, which was unheard of but super awesome and fun.

We worked through the wood section, then the slight uphill, then the rocky downhill, and at this point I realized I was poooooped. My legs were a good bit tired, but my hands and arms were limp-fishing and ready to be done. We got down to it then crushed Witch's Goat again, and then rolled into the parking lot.

Witch's Goat might've honestly been my favorite, but all of the trails were pretty great. Except for the blue one. Above all though, it was absolutely AWESOME to rip and roar down another World Cup Downhill trail! Those things are absolutely insane!

After such an incredible day of riding at an incredible place, I was pooped. Back at the car, it was time to slowly peel off all the wet and dirty gear and spread it out through the car in the hopes that some of it would dry. While packing down, Chris and Damien even let me use their sweet hand-held portable pressure washer to clean up my trusty steed. Two things there - I forgot to explicitly thank them for letting me use that and feel bad about forgetting that, and I hope Dewalt makes something like that.

I slowly got everything off and arranged in the car knowing my mode of transport and mobile hotel room would soon smell like a high school locker room. Then, before they jetted off, I said adios to Chris and Damien. Fun to connect with such friendly folk on a fun outing like this.

All wrapped up and changed, I headed into the café for a cap and snack. Got a bit bummed that they too didn't have any drip coffee. As in Germany, it's not a thing in Scotland either. But, I snagged my coffee and scone and headed out to enjoy it on the (covered) patio.

My plan was to jump on some wifi and do a little scoping out for the trip, but the network didn't reach out to the patio. No reason to be bummed, but more a reason to lay back and relax. There was a little flock of really skiddish birds searching for crumbs out on the ground, and all of them kept a wary eye on me. But I just sat there, sipping on my coffee (pretty good) and munching on my scone (better with butter than jam). It was an enjoyable moment as I sat there, drinking and eating, and watching the trees and chairlift do their thing.

When I eventually finished up my snack and was ready to move, I snuck back inside with a little bit of coffee left to leech their wifi and do some research and planning. After scoping out my next moves I looked at the weather forecast and immediately in the moment got a little bummed, felt a little unlucky, and got a slight bit pouty. Regardless of what I was looking to do over the next couple of days, the weather was supposed to be annoying at best.

Despite that, I had to remind myself - that's Scotland. I grew up in similar weather, and I knew and prepared for weather that would be sub-par and could change on a dime. I set that base understanding in my mind, but still was a bit down that the next couple days could be wet and grey. Oh well. That's life.

Still a bit bummed, I jumped in the car and left the parking lot, and as a first step forced myself to go get some groceries. Here I put into practice something I have and still do always need to work on - just take that first step to get things rolling.

Heading back into town I returned to the Aldi, only to find out they didn't have a bakery. From there, I headed over to the swanky-ass M&S Trader Joe's-type place next door. I grabbed my bananas and then found out their bakery was all empty. What's it take to get a couple rolls around this place?! No use paying premium when what I wanted wasn't even available.

Around this time I noticed that the second crash on the World Cup trail irked my knee a good bit. Damn. But from there I googled and found a Co-Op nearby and headed over there. Again, stoked to have stumbled upon Co-Op, reliable, extended opening hours, and a decent enough selection to fill my stomach.

I got there, and they didn't have any English Muffins. WHAT!?! I'm a stone's throw away from England and for christ's sake they don't have English muffins!?! Sarcasm aside, I found enough stuff to get by for the next day or so and then cashed out.

That familiar feel of aimlessness showed face again, and I was unsure of what to do. I slowly wheedled out the decision to slowly make my way towards the Isle of Skye, but opted for the non-highway route to start. As I cruised to the other side of town to start things off, I happened to cruise by something called Neptune's staircase. In the spirit of taking advantage of the adventure as it comes up, I pulled off to check it out.

Once I parked, I first chowed down on my sandwich, then started my walkabout. In a cool stroke of luck, I'd stumbled opun the extensive systems of locks as part of a channel to connect the East and West coasts of Scotland! Turns out, the valley that goes from Fort William across to Inverness is a really drastic, clear-cut valley known as the Great Glen Way. It's essentially a natural straight line from East to West with a few lakes along the way. This unique bit of nature was caused by a fault-like collision between two prehistoric continents way the hell back when.

If we go back a couple hundred years to the 1800s, Scotland said they needed a canal to connect the two coasts. And by golly that's exactly what they got! As part of that, Neptune's staircase is the set of locks on the far west side of the valley, and consists of a series of 7 locks along the canal to output at the sea inlet in Fort William.

Starting my walk, I first went towards the outlet at Fort William and got to take a look at a sweet old swing bridge, two in fact. I (weirdly enough) had no idea such a thing existed, but the train and car bridge were both swing bridges, and I had a good time learning and looking at these two cool engineering structures. Just like a door, rather than swinging or tilting up to open the bridge, these just rotate and swing open on a pivot to open up the canal. Pretty cool stuff.

From the outlet, I then walked up the length of the locks and got some pictures. During the walk, I was still in awe of the swing bridges, but slowly changed my focus to the locks as the walk went on.

At the top of the 7 locks, I crossed over and walked up and down the dock to check out the cool boats just hanging out. No target in sight, I walked along the many boats, took an easy stroll, and then slowly turned around to head back the other way. Crusing down, I was back at the car and continued back on the road. Pretty cool spot and a great place for a nice little stop.

On the road again. I continued down the non-highway road and enjoyed the quiet, fun, and curvy winding road through the glen. It was a peaceful drive as I worked my way down, and then crossed back over the channel at another swing bridge further down the way. Shortly therafter down the road, I stumbled upon a memorial commemorating the commandos that lost their lives in WWII and later.

To start, what an incredible setting for a memorial. The spot was chosen, as the area nearby was/is used as a training area for the UK special commandos. The clouds were hanging around the mountains on both sides, and I walked to the memorial garden and the statue taking in the location and the commemoration. A beautiful memorial with gorgeous landscapes.

The onward journey had me back on the main highway, but graced to not have anyone out front. Hot damn Scottish highways are fun to drive, and this one was in great condition to boot! With clear roads, I just kinda got in the zone and was really enjoying it.

Snapping out of it and enjoying the view, I opted to stop off at a lookout on Loch Lochy (with my rudimentary understanding of a little bit of the local language, Loch Lochy loosely translates to Lake Lakey. I love it when four-year-olds get to name things, regardless of culture). At the stopoff, there were a couple cool info signs about how the Great Glen was formed, and of course, some great views up and down the lake.

Back on the road, I continued up to Invergarry and from there took a left headed towards Isle of Skye. Unfortunately, the grey, cloudy mood and weather of the day had been holding on tight, and because of that the clouds and fog were covering up the mountains. Bummer I couldn't see the full view of the landscape while driving, but nothing I could do about that.

Soon after the turn off I found myself driving through an immense valley. The sun was going down, and with the grey cloudy skies, things got pretty dark pretty quick. I knew that I wanted to see this valley in daylight, so I knew I had to find a place to pull off and camp for the night.

I was able to find a long road cutting across the valley just after a big lake and found myself a nice, cozy little spot to camp out. Even in the low light, I could tell I was in a beautiful area, and was already looking forward to daylight in the morning in the beautiful desolation.

Once I got things reorganized and got my sleeping bag ready to go for bed, I grabbed my chair and whipped out my Bowmore 18yr dram to sit and take in the dusky nighttime view. At some point I looked around and saw two deer coming fairly close by on the hill. I sat and watched them do their thing as I did mine. It was a beautiful night despite the dreariness. But at some point, as with all nights, I turned in and headed to bed.

Day 14 - Camasunary and Mountainous Alien Landscapes

As per usual, up and at 'em and a little early. Decided to skip breakfast for the time being, and woke up to another cloudy and fairly gloomy mood on the beautiful landscape. Despite that, I got things squared away, took a few looks around to enjoy the massive valley, and then hit the road.

I had no timeline and no clear destination for the day, so I headed out to the road, pointed myself in the direction of Skye, and took it slow and enjoyed the road. Along the way, I took a few stops to enjoy the sights, and then an even longer one once I got to this really cool looking castle on the water. I parked at a little community center and walked back across the bridge to get some good views of it. That must've been quite the incredible spot back in its heyday!

From the Eilean Dogan Castle stop, I slowly rambled on and soon enough had made it to the Isle of Skye! I crossed the bridge onto the island, and learned that the bridge onto it is younger than me, by 5 years! Can't imagine how much easier and more flexible life must have become for the people on the island once they could come and go without the need for a ferry.

Unfortunately and a little weirdly, although I'd arrived on arguably one of the most gorgeous locations in Scotland, I was yet again a little aimless and unsure of what I wanted to do. This time, I think it was mostly weather dependent. I knew rain was forecast for at least parts of the day, and I didn't want to get poured on. Because of that, I wasn't super ecstatic about any one option.

As my first-step, I headed to a nearby gas station to top-up on gas and try to think of a plan. While getting gas and some snacks at the little market I was contemplating a plan. As it'd worked for me before, having led to a good adventure, I decided to drive out to the end of the road on the first highway offshoot. Elgol, here we come.

The drive ended up being pretty slow but beautiful. It was a single lane road for most of the way, and there were a number of spots with sheep and cattle that required a slower pace and some drawn out stops to let the relaxed animals take their time. As I said though, an absolutely gorgeous drive heading out to the end of the road.

Getting out to Elgol I stopped off to use the loo real quick before exploring around. While there I spotted this insanely huge Arocs 6x6 Monster Rig Motorhome. I'd seen this thing while I was on Islay and didn't get a picture, and didn't get a good one here, but damn that thing is a behemoth!

I'd first parked at the overlook above the harbor, but then drove down to the harbor. Holy crap those were some steep roadways! I would not want to be stuck down at the harbor during a snow storm, cause even that giant 6x6 wouldn't be getting out of there. Thankfully we still had summer weather. Down at the bay and harbor, I got a view of the incredible mountains just across the water.

The longer I looked at them, the more and more that I wanted to go explore them. So I checked my map, zoomed in and around to see what kind of route I could put together, and eventually pieced together what I thought would be a good loop. No time to waste, it was back in the car and off to go for a hike!

Thankfully Rupert had the power to make it back up and out of the harbor, and soon enough I was parked at the trailhead. Ended up having to park out further than what I thought (again), because the road wasn't a road, but a hiking trail, which added about 2 miles each way to get to/from the loop I'd scoped out. Either way, I laced up my boots and was ready for some nature.

The first part of the hike to get to the main part of the hike was kinda meh. But along the way I caught up to a friendly group of folks (assuming a Mom, Dad, and Daughter) and had a nice chat with them. Somehow during the conversation mountain biking came up. Out of the blue, they mentioned an insane video of a crazy biker riding in some insane landscapes here on the Isle of Skye. Well, they meant either The Ridge (the bay that he rowed into and the beach he landed at, that's right where I hiked!!!) or The Slabs (SAME HERE!!!!!) where Danny MacAskill does some INSANE riding down some absolutely insane rocks. Cool little topic.

They were a really nice bunch of folks, and I got really jealous of the fact that they had a tasting at Talisker later that day. After a good while hiking along with them, I continued on and made it up to the ridge. Oh wow. What a beautiful bay!

I took some time at the top to take in the lay of the land and then motored on down the hill to enter Amphitheater #1. This was the actual entry to the hike as the trail dropped down from the ridge and slowly zig-zagged its way down onto the plain on the bay.

What do I mean with amphitheater here talking about mountains? Well think of it as any area in the mountains where you're kinda surrounded by peaks, ridges, walls, etc. Essentially anywhere where I feel like I'm in a bowl or valley, don't have a view in one or more directions, and I'm up in the mountains cruising around. As a bit of a clarification, here's what I would clarify as the various Amphitheater's I'd go through on the hike.

I took my time cruising down the trail and was already in awe of the incredible nature I had in front of me, but was really looking forward to the rest of the trek for the day. Once I made it down to the plain I continued on over across it.

Along the way I came across another random hut/shelter/old hotel/whoknowswhat that provided another great subject to put with the beautiful landscape. Continuing on, I walked by a cute older couple sitting in a different shelter sharing a little snack. Hopefully I'll have someone to do something like that with someday...

After crossing the plain, I had to cross a river to continue on the trail. I had no interest in taking off my boots, so fording the river for the most direct route was out of the question. I was holding out hope for a bridge, but that never happened either. Because of that, I had to backtrack up the river to find a spot with enough rocks to jump on to cross. Thankfully, success!

My coordination is always a huge surpise to me. In daily life, sometimes I have trouble standing up or walking without tripping over myself or looking like a total klutz. But out in nature, I could be jumping from small rock to rock, or walking over slick roots, or something precarious like that and am somehow good at staying on my feet. I'm not sure if it's all my hiking boots (because they are fucking stellar), but I have a feeling there's something more to it. Either way, it's a weird dichotomy, don't ya think?

Once across the river and on the other side, the trail took me out along the peninsula. It gained a little bit of elevation to gain a view over the sea, and along the way I got to watch some lazy seals lounging around on the rocks. They were all kinds of relaxed and one of them only begrudgingly turned my way to see who was causing all the ruckus.

With the neature out, and the town of Elgol in sight (see the last picture in the next group), I continued along the rocky peninsula in an enjoyable manner, taking in the beautiful views.

As I rounded the tip, a few kayakers further out on the water came into view. Then, a little further around, I'd slowly rolled into Amphitheater #2, with the two Lochs and an incredible bay with a bunch of little islands. To take this beautiful spot in, I found a spot to sit for a bit and waved to the kayakers and boaters (damn tourist boats) before making my way to the Bad Step.

On a couple of websites I'd read leading up to the trip (and somehow forgot about before figuring out about this hike), the Bad Step was supposedly a pretty intense rock wall that you have to kinda squeeze around to keep hiking. I was looking forward to seeing what it was, and was interested to see how I'd manage with my backpack and all. Once I got there though, it wasn't all that crazy. A little sketchy, and likely a little precarious in the wet and rain, but not all that bad as I was hitting it. I enjoy a little bit of scrambling around, and made it past without a hitch.

Just a short ways down from the Bad Step I made it down to the beach. A few of the kayakers were just returning to their boats and I said hi as they came down to the beach and I climbed up it.

From there, it was a short hike up a little rock to dive into Amphitheater #3. What a beautiful and unique spot. Varyingly rocky landscapes, a lake just inside of the ocean bay, and just views on views on views. I climbed up the little hill and found a rock slab that I turned into a lounge chair. Getting comfy, I took some time to lay back and admire the incredible and intense rock structures all around.

THOSE SLABS UP THERE (and around that corner) ARE WHAT DANNY RODE DOWN!!! :-D

You know, rocks can sure sometimes be comfy. I was really enjoying that spot and taking in the views. Enjoying the moment and nature's comfiness, I knocked off for a little cat nap. Always a delight. After waking up, I continued to look around and be astounded by the views, and even got a peek on the trail I'd be taking coming out of that bowl. Rested and with my next trail in sight, I was back up and at 'em and on my way.

THAT'S THE ONE!!! :-D

One thing I noted from coming out of this bowl was the high amount of precariously placed rocks. Ones that looked like they were being held in place by a mere toothpick and were liable to come crashing down at any point in time. Most of them could easily weigh somewhere between 2 and 20 tons, and holy shit that'd be scary to be under one of them. Nature is fucking nuts.

The trail curved around the lake and then headed up the hill and into Amphitheater #4. It was a smaller bowl above #3, but the waterfall/river coming down and all the precarious rocks made it pretty interesting. The cherry on top - the view looking back through Amphitheaters #2 & #3. What a sweet spot. The trail essentially became a choose-your-own-adventure for a good portion of it, which is honestly the case more often than not whereever I went in Scotland. A more annoying aspect of that is that most of them are just bogs, and this was no exception.

Cruising through the trail up the bowl of Amphitheater #4 was beautiful, but I kept a pretty good clip going. I was feeling pretty good, but with the insane bogginess of that spot the midgees and jumping spiders were all over me and I was NOT a fan. The alpine lake was beautiful, the insane perched boulders were beautiful signs of the uniqueness of nature, and the views all around were (as with EVERYWHERE here!!!) just incredible.

Not before too long I'd made it up to the ridge of Amphitheater #4 and hopped up onto the ridge, and damn. Another incredible bowl looking in both directions along the giant valley, down Amphitheater #5 to the left and then #6 to the right. I stopped for a hot second along the ridge, and then slowly worked my way down and to the left to really get into Amphitheater #5. Once I got to the false summit, I found myself another great spot to take it in and damn, what a view.

From the spot, I was able to see down the super long valley with an absolutely impeccable carved U down the whole valley. I LOVE views like that, just seeing the sheer size of what nature can put together, and how incredibly it flows together. The fact that volumes of solid rock can look so gracefully shaped is something only nature can master. The long, gradual line from the top of the peak on the right to slope ever so smoothly down to the valley floor.

It was yet another one of the many great little perches I was able to enjoy, this one above the valley taking in the many cool aspects. While lounging, I whipped out my pretzel goldfish and chowed on them while admiring the view. I got up after a quick break, but ended up finding another rocky lounge a short way down the trail and popped off for yet another catnap. God I love naps.

Rested and ready, I continued on down the trail and slowly wandered my way down the gradually flattening slope headed to the valley floor. The colors were still grey in the sky, but the continuation of the burnt amber grasslands was a beautiful colour palette to enjoy.

In the picture above you can make out where the trail was taking me out the valley, and then the jag back right in the opposite direction back to where I was headed. Well, rather than that extra mile-ish, I cut across the valley floor and wandered through the grass to save a little distance and time. Standing in the middle of the valley, surrounded by grass, looking up to the peaks and rocks all around me, I was in a true sanctuary.

After leaping my way over the river, I trudged slightly up the hill to make it to the trail. Well worth the energy to take the shortcut and save the pointless out and back.

Heading slowly along the side of the valley, the trail took me out the back of Amphitheater #5 and slowly drew me into Amphitheater #6. Unfortunately, also around that time, the light breeze died down. What's that mean? The goddamn midgees and jumping spiders started swarming. Holy shit are they annoying. I tried not to stop, but had to reapply my bug spray at some point. No matter how much I put on though, they were not deterred.

Because of them, I kept a pretty good clip as I hugged the left side of the valley and curved around right into the heart of Amphitheater #6. The small lake in #5 flowed down to the bigger lake in #6, and the the rock walls all around were continuing to tower over me.

Towards the back of Amphitheater #6, rather than heading out directly to the old house in Ampthiteather #1, I decided to slowly scale up the left side of the valley and regain the elevation to the trail out to the car over a longer, straighter line. I had a good walk along the lake, and when the cutoff came, started my trek gradually up the side/back of the valley

The trail was pretty clear at the start, but once I got up to the the saddle, the damn thing disappeared. I tried to keep with it, but it was all a total goose chase. Thankfully, I had a good map with me and stayed closely to the line. It wouldn't have mattered though, because I could see the main trail the whole way and eventually made my way to it, and subsequently back to the start of Amphitheater 1. What. A. Loop!

-------- time for a quick breakdown --------

The Alien Landscapes of Camasunary

Once I joined up with the main trail, I had officially finished the loop around the Alien Landscapes of Camasunary.

As I progressed through this incredible hike, I was constantly under the impression that I was walking through an alien landscape. Each part of the hike was so unique, natural, neat, and different, it was a visual wonderland the whole way around. Let me see if I can break down the incredible characteristics and alienness of it for you.

Amphitheater:

• #1 - Visual Example - Vast ocean bay leading to a vast grassy plain. Giant rocky mountain in the back, with a weird bulbous rock in the back. Not all too alien, but fairly desolate and muted.
• #2 - Visual Example - Maybe the most alien of them all. Tall mountains on both sides coming into the bay, and tons of little bare rock islands of various shapes and sizes at the base of the bay. Brown rocks all over the place with green grass and lichen popping through above the deep blue water.
• #3 - Visual Example - Fairly similar to #2. Sheer mountains of rock, huge cliffs and slabs of them, but all funnelling into a very narrow but long valley. Bottom of the valley has a lake to go with it.
• #4 - Visual Example - A higher alpine bowl, with the appearance of a smooth blanket of grass covering everything, but with gigantic, precariously placed boulders everywhere that could disturb the peace on a moment's notice.
• #5 - Visual Example - A gigantic U-shaped, likely glacially cut and refined, valley. Expansive, long, broad, and so damn butter smooth with fluid lines a car designer would kill for.
• #6 - Visual Example - More huge valley walls of rock, with waterfalls sprinkled along and a couple lakes before a ridgewall leading back into Amphitheater #1.

Ok, maybe they weren't all that different, but the slight subtle changes between them really kept my gaze fixed on everything it saw. Incredible, beautiful, desolate, raw, colorful, powerful landscape. Just an absolutely insanely powerful hike. What an incredible find.

-------- aaaaaand back to the story --------

Once I got back to the junction, I was on the finishing stretch of the hike and ready to slowly make my way back to the car. Shortly after that junction, I chatted with some hikers from Wales and their gorgeous dog. They were surprsied to see me, and happy to see that there was someone else on the trail.

We hung together for a bit and I had a big 'ole smile on my face in the presence of their cute little furball. But the itch to finally take my boots off was growing, so I said adios and got my normal speed in gear up the hill and over the ridge, ready to tackle the last couple miles back to Rupert.

Despite however ready I was to be back at the car, I still had a ways to go. And after such a long hike, full of elevation, excitement, and incredible nature, I was on my last drops of energy. I kept on trudging, but the tank was running on fumes and started to barely slog my way forward.

As luck would have it, those folks caught back up to me and gave me the boost to keep on going. We chatted as we walked back out and that was a huge help to keep my mind active and help those feet keep a'moving. They shared a few tips from Skye, and soon enough we made it to the parking lot. They bid me adieu and were off, and I got to wind down from an absolutely unbelievable and incredible hike.

I took my time getting my boots and gear off from the hike and got changed into some less dirty clothes. As always, that felt really nice. As I was getting done with all that, I started to turn my mind to my next steps. Namely, finding a place to sleep.

At first thought, I thought about camping right around there. Would've been easy and require little movement. But after giving it a second thought, I made the executive decision to head back out towards the highway and go one valley back. On the drive out, I remember that being an incredibly vast valley, and knew it had to be pretty in the slowly waning evening.

I was not wrong.

I rounded the bend and was again in awe of the open, vast, and prominent landscapes. As I headed toward the mouth of the valley and the bay, I could see the clear line of where the rain started and stopped. It was funny watching a few people doing whatever stupid shit influencers do outside of their campervans get wet and rained on as I drove by.

Not wanting to be in the rain myself, I pushed on down the other side of the bay to get out of the rain shadow. Once I found a good place to pull off, I got Rupert all situated, made some food, and then hit the sack. I was poooooped.

Day 15 - Wandering Around Isle of Skye

I slept like shit. It was windy as hell all night, and I was worried about my bike up on the roof having to brave the elements the whole time. Adding to that, it was rainy as hell too, so in my groggy sleepiness I had to play with the windows to balance not filling the car up with water, but still trying to get some fresh air in during the night. Bwuh.

After the little sleep that I did get, I woke up, got dressed and resituated, and then got a move on. First step was back towards town to find a restroom. That took me back to the gas station from the day before to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and fill up my water bottles. Gotta love a highly productive public facility like that.

I was feeling a bit lazy, so rather than making a peanut butter and bagel sammich, I took advantage of the Co-Op and snagged myself something to eat. Garbage thrown out, food all situated, and feeling slightly rejuvenated, I was back on the road on the grey, quiet, and serene morning.

Leaving town and getting into the landscapes of Skye, I took a couple of scenic stops to take in the incredible landscapes. Driving through a place like that is always interesting. By driving, you have the intent of trying to go or get to somewhere. But with landscapes like that, it's impossible to ignore the landscapes. Therefore, stops have to happen, and they are well worth it.

After the first couple, I turned the corner into another incredible valley, and at the back of it was a huge waterfall. The drive up to it was massive and desolate, and once I made my way to the back, it was time for another break at the Eas a Bhradain waterfall overlooking the whole valley.

The falls were super soggy (it's a waterfall, I get it...), but likely because of the rain that came in the night before. And likely another aspect of the previous rainfall, the water coming off the falls was incredibly brown and rusty. Wasn't sure if that was just run off from the valley, or maybe something to do with the composition of the rock, i.e. tons of iron, or something like that.

I enjoyed the thunderous raucous from a couple of vantage points, and managed to stay dry doing that. Then, wandering back out to the road, I was able to find a couple great vantage points of the giant valley that opened up from the falls, including a couple big fish farms nestled out there on the water.

Jumping back on the road, I then motored up the hill and the road swerved out of that gigantic valley. Around the bend came the town of Sligachan. Still not having a concrete idea of what I wanted to do, I saw some kind of monument, and pulled off to go check it out.

It ended up being a monument dedicated to a couple Scottish mountaineers. And, the monument was at the end of the massive, long valley that I looked down from the viewpoint on the day before from Amphitheater #5 (see the last picture in the next group). The trailhead that would've taken me right back to that spot was right at the monument, but I decided for a less hiking-intensive day, and headed back to the car after enjoying the lay of the land.

Once I was back at Rupert, I had a decision to make - where to next? Looking on the map, I saw a point for a waterfall called the Fairy Pools on the map, and since I was a little aimless at that point, that sealed the deal. Off we go!

On the drive over and dropping into another valley, the Fairy Pools were signed out pretty early on. I opted not for the upper parking lot, and driving down towards the actual parking lot I got a glimpse of how many people were there. Not wanting to be around people, and having seen (albeit briefly) the series of falls from the road, I ended up just driving on past. Waterfalls are pretty and all, but I wasn't in the mood for people. From there, it was out to the end of the road.

This time, at the end of the road, the only thing there was a campground and a parking lot. No town or anything, just peace, quiet, and a few camper vans. I rolled up, parked, and thought for a half second of what to do. But an answer came into my mind fairly quickly. Camp chair in hand, I headed out to the beach.

Having a camp chair along for any adventure is an absolute must. I found a spot out on the beach, set up the chair and snugged it into the sand pretty good, and plopped down to take in the world for a while. My book, my camera, a relaxed mentality, and a little bit of neature. I was all set.

Quite the relaxing spot I'd found there, and some good neature bits in action as well. Seems that there was a bit of an off-axis wave pattern out in the water, or at least some kind of non-linear aspect to it. Dancing around the waves were a couple flocks of birds, who were extremely agile and fluid in the air. It was mesmerizing watching them curve and wind around on a dime. A couple times a couple of the birds went at each other and dove into an incredible little dog fight trying to catch each other. Really cool and visually exciting stuff.

With the agile birds were a few others that weren't so agile or active, but foraging around the surf to see what they could find. All of this with the calm, grey clouds overhead and light ocean breeze helped put me at ease. I was enjoying the quietness and calm on my chair. A few couples of people cruised along the beach in and out of view, but the majority of the time, I was by myself and enjoying the moment. Truly enjoying the moment.

I slowly got to the point where I was ready to continue on the day's adventure and packed up the chair and headed back to Rupert. On the drive back out of the valley, I nixed the fairy pools again and continued on motoring along.

There were a couple more beautiful spots on the drive, and when I got back out to the main drive, the view overlooking that bay was really gorgeous. I stopped, grabbed some pictures of the water and the whereabouts, and while looking at the map, realized that Talisker Distillery was close by. That was a clear sign that I had to make my way over!

After parking and rolling up to the entrance, I had a strong feeling the tours were booked out but asked anyways. As expected, no dice, but I chatted with the guy at the gate for a while. He was super friendly and chatty, and I ended up getting some good recommendations from him. Although I wasn't able to go in for a tasting or a tour, I saw there was a bar on the patio next to the distillery, so I planned a great backup option.

I ran back up to the car, grabbed something warm and something to read, and headed to that little outdoor bar. Thankfully, there was still a table under the canopy (still worried we were in for some rain for the day), so I snagged it and settled into a comfy spot out of the rain.

Absolutely money decision. Taking the recommendations from the guy at the gate, I took a look at the tasting menu and did my best to figure out what I wanted to try. First time giving Talisker a go, but ended up with a nice mixture. While waiting for my flight to arrive, I whipped out my book and got to town. Although I don't read much, that was such a lovely setting, book in hand and out in the fresh air.

Soon enough, my drams came and I got to work. I can't remember all the ones I got, but they were all perfect for the day. To add to the deliciousness of the whiskey, the guy randomly walked out and plopped down a little white box. Turned out, some of the chocolates they had were going to 'expire', so he was offloading a bunch of free chocolate! Whaddup!!!

Really, again, such a delightful and relaxing moment. No rush, some good whiskies to taste, warm on a cold and drizzly day, and free chocolates to boot. Out of the tastes I got, the Talisker 18-yr went perfectly with the mood, and I knew I had to take that home with me. But, rather than ordering straight at the bar, I paid up and thanked the folks on the patio (and got some more chocolate), and opted to go check out the gift shop.

There was a good bit of a line waiting to get in, so I threw on my mask and waited. Despite having to wait, I was in a good mood, because the whiskey I'd just tasted was delicious, and the smell that was wafting around was incredible. Being right next to the water, some great concotion of sea water and malt was mixed and was an absolute pleasure to enjoy on some deep inhales.

Soon enough I'd squeaked into the shop and perused around. Since I was so enthralled with the 18-yr, that was a pretty straightforward decision. Snagged that one (and that's one of the first I've opened since returning, damn it's good) and went to pay. The cashier was super bubbly and nice, and let me take a picture of the awesome wall of boxes behind the counter. From there, I bid them adieu and was off.

Before continuing on my drive, I went back to the car and dropped things off and grabbed my camera for a little walkabout. The distillery (which isn't actually in the township of Talisker) is right on the edge of a large bay, overlooking some cool hills across the water. The rain had started up a little stronger and turned things into a pretty wet and gloomy mood. But I walked down a ways, got some pictures of some lonely moored boats, and saw a little bit of neature in the process. From there, it was back to the car and back on the road.

I slowly maneuvered my way back to the main-ish highway and then turned left heading towards Dunvegan. I stopped a couple of times in the rain to take in the views, but slowly progressed forward. By that time I was getting pretty hungry. Scoping around, I spotted a seafood food truck in town, and was immediately put in the mood.

As luck would have it, it was closed. So much so, it didn't even look like it ever existed. Goddamnit. Not wanting to go into another empty search for another place to eat, I was a bit torn. But, since the weather had kinda cleared up for a hot second, I took the chance to audible and opt for driving out to the end of the road again. Looked like there was a lighthouse, so I figured it could be something cool.

Once again, the end of the road is the start of a great experience! Yes, Neist Point had a lighthouse out there, but there was also a ton more. The drive out really started things off as it opened up to some huge cliffs on the water. That got me really excited. Thankfully, I found a place to park, smashed a bagel down my throat while taking in the first views, and was then on the move and on the hunt for tranquility and beautiful sights.

Starting out was hard, because the views from the get-go were absolutely incredible! I first headed out away from the road, and found myself a spot in the cow pasture to sit and overlook the cliffs and the water and the great landscape. Thankfully I got to enjoy it for a little while before some douchebag with a drone came and ruined it.

I HATE drones in nature. It completely kills any chance at letting nature be nature. Honestly, it's just like those asshats who bring speakers on a hike. Get fucked with you and your noisy, crappy bullshit. Sure, for drones, it's probably fun for the one person behind the controls. But that shitty whiny noise and little pest up in the air ruins it for everyone within a quarter mile.

Why does this bug me so much? For me, when I’m in nature or around something nature, I want it to be just that - nature. With as little or no human influence or trace whatsoever. That’s what I strive for whenever I find a spot to post up and take it all in. Nothing but natural sights, natural sounds, and natural things to sense in every way. So when people start throwing drones and music and god knows what else around, it kills it for me and pisses me off (probably more than it should, but here we are...).

From that now-defiled spot, I got up and motored on. Thankfully, the views never let me down. I wandered over to the trail that headed down to the lighthouse, and the great things just kept coming. As I'd approached the trail, I realized the lighthouse was out on a peninsula with a giant rock tower on it and so many great spots to wander around to.

Getting down the hill, I peeled off to the right to get a look over the small cliff to the water. The rocky edges were super jagged and sharp, and left no hope for boats needing to come ashore in that area. But, thankfully, I wasn't stranded at sea, but on land and taking in the great natural structures.

Next up was to summit that rocky sharks fin out on the peninsula. Didn't take me all too long, and when I got to the top, I even had it to myself for a little while. From that perch, the views were great in all directions - back on the cliff shoreline, down on the lighthouse, up the other coast, all around. I hung out and enjoyed that for a bit, then made my way down and out to the peninsula.

Following the trail, I eventually veered left to head out to this crane that I spotted from up above. The trail was a b-line straight to it from the lighthouse itself. Getting there, there was a whole setup with the crane and a dock below on the water. From what I gathered, this was the resupply point for the lighthouse, and there was likely a rail between the crane and the lighthouse to roll supplies on over rather than carrying them.

Either way, the crane had been out of commission for a long time. Being on the sea, the water and weather had slowly started eating the steel, and the layers of rust were flaking from almost all surfaces. Most notably though were the gears that were just crumbling away.

I did a good bit poking around the crane, but from there I wandered off trail further out on the peninsula to find some solitude. Out on the rocks a bit back from the water, I settled into a comfy spot and took in the wonderful views and activity.

The wind was blowing a wonderfully fresh swath of air around, and the smell was delicious. A ways off the water, I slowly focused in on a bunch of birds that were repeatedly dive-bombing the water. No idea if they were catching anything, but the rapid swoop into the water was cool to watch. Then, closer by, the kelp on the water was providing a peaceful and calm ebb and flow with the waves. All of that just contributing to the peaceful and gorgeous scene. It was a really relaxing spot to take in.

From there, it was back to the trail and over to the lighthouse. I rolled up and the gate was closed. But not letting that stop me, I wandered around the fence to get a little glimpse of the buildings and from the views nearby.

As I was coming from the backside of the building to the front, a fantastic stroke of luck came my way - the sun decided to shine! I knew that was a rarity, so I wandered back past the lighthouse to somewhere with a good vantage point of the cliffs across the water. I was enthralled by the one waterfall coming over the cliff, and waited it out til the sunlight hit the cliffside. What a great change a little warm sunlight can make!

Nothing like relaxing and waiting for the clouds to do their thing. The mood was bright with the new light, and it just made the scenery pop that much more. What a beautiful sight. The sunlight slowly worked its way across the cliffs over on the other side, and I sat and took in the new view of the sights as the warm light hit. Then, just as quickly as it showed up, the sun was gone and the grey skies had re-settled in.

You know, it's really hard being in such a beautiful place like that. Everywhere you turn is a beautiful sight, and that makes walking hard. I'd much rather look at the sights and nature than where I'm walking.

With the sun gone, it was time to slowly make my way back up the hill. Emphasis on the slowly, because I didn't want to leave the beautiful views I was able to take in along the way. I worked my way up the steep trail, and eventually back to the car. But before I could drive off, I sat on the side of the road to take in a few more deep breaths and long stares of another wonderful end-of-the-road find.

The end of the road, always bringing adventure and beauty with it. Motoring on from Neist Point, there were some more great views on the drive back into town. I headed back toward Dunvegan, this time knowing I needed some food. Right on the roadside was a place called The Old School (likely because it was the old school building), which earlier in the day had some pretty pristine old-timer cars hanging out front. They were gone now, but I stopped to see what my chances of getting some grub were.

All the spots inside were booked out, but there was space on the patio. I put in my order and then headed outside with my beer and water. Unfortunately, the only open spot was out of the cover of the tent, but I made it work. Some midgees decided to be assholes and attack, and a light drizzle came with it, but I was bundled up and was finding it to be a nice and relaxing spot.

After a bit of people watching and sipping on my delicious red, food was up. Holy shit was it delicious!!! Scallops with chorizo over cous-cous, paired with a blue cheese salad. Holy fucking yumminess! I was in total hog heaven with the food and the beer and savored absolutely every single bit with spurts of my food happy dance to go with it. Nomnomnomnomnom.

It's amazing what a difference a good, full, delicious meal can make! I was in a good spot mentally, physically, and fully fulfilled with a delicious meal. Back on the road I was headed towards a recommendation I'd received earlier in the trip - a memorial cairn for a renowned piping clan.

From the highway I veered off and drove down to the end of the road, where the Clan MacCleod Memorail Cairn was. But, at the start of the trail, there were no parking signs everywhere. That kinda threw me for a loop. With dusk coming up quicker than I wanted, I was a good bit tired, and didn't want to leave the car where it was clearly not supposed to be. Unfortunately, the no parking signs were everywhere, so I ended up vetoing that excursion and pointed back to the highway and in the direction of Portree.

Rolling into town my one goal was to find a Co-Op. The one in town was out of parking and I didn't want to pay, so I doubled back to the one just out of town. They were open, so I stocked up on some grub for the next day or so, and then motored back through town in the direction of Storr to find myself a spot to camp.

Finding a place to park and sleep is a lot harder when it's dark out. Your visibility is only as good as your headlights, and since I usually was doing this once it was dark, all the other campervans and travelers had first pick of the good spots. I always found a spot, but it usually required some hunting.

Similar to most nights, I was back and forth between a few spots, but settled on one just a ways out from the parking lot. I debated with just staying parked there in the morning and walking over to the trailhead, but got Rupert re-shuffled and hit the sack.

Day 16 - Old Man of Storr and Quiraing

After another not-so-great night's sleep, I was up and at em fairly early to try and beat the tourist rush to Storr. I got pack and organized, and rather than walking over from my spot and saving a few pounds, I drove over to the trailhead. I figured I can penny pinch elsewhere, especially realizing that my parking fee is a baseline contribution from me to help support and enjoy the nature that I love so much!

It was still rainy and cloudy up at the top when I rolled up. Rather than heading right out, I ended up making some breakfast in the car to pass the time, hoping the weather would clear up a bit. Being efficient, I also went rogue and shaved down in the bathroom - damn I was overdue for that. Squared away with food and hygiene, I laced up and started heading up the hill.

It was all uphill to get to the main attractions. The clouds were slowly starting to roll away, and the rain slowly dying down, the weather was clear (but cloudy), and the mountains were just a potpourri of trails and a free for all! My intentions of beating the crowds worked like a charm. And as soon as I was up the hill and amidst the towering columns of rock and huge cliffs, I had a maze of trails essentially all to myself to explore.

I think the most prominent/popular/recognizable aspect of this area is the Old Man of Storr. It's the main gigantic singular column of rock that sticks out like a sore thumb. But behind and around Storr are a bunch of other tall columns, outcrops, cliffs, and rocks. And all through those other features and pillars and such are trails zigging, zagging, and winding their way in, around, and between everything.

Thankfully, by the time I was wandering around the little rock playground, the rain had died down and the clouds were gone. Super lucky to be able to see everything! With the clear visibility, I wandered around and took trails as they came. No clear target in mind other than exploring the rocky garden at my footsteps.

At some point I meandered myself into Coire Faoin, a big amphitheater off to the side from the Old Man of Storr and stemming straight down from the peak of Storr. This was an absoultely incredible amphitheater stemming down from the highest peak above down to a low valley heading out towards the open range. I found a spot to sit and had a great view all around. But what I enjoyed most was watching the wind slowly dance and twirl around on the tips of the grass all around. What a lovely sound and display.

I took my time taking in all of what that amphiteater had on display. A really quiet, peaceful spot. From there, I got up though and zig-zagged my way back towards the Old Man, and did so just in time as a couple hikers were headed my way. Nature break in solitude timed up just perfectly.

Headed back toward that direction, I scrambled up a few of the rocky columns and got some more great views of the rocky area in the mountains, and some views out over the water towards the Highlands. What an incredible region. After scrambling back down from one, I headed over and romped around the base of the Old Man of Storr.

Continuing on towards the northern end of the nature area, that took me out of the gigantic rock playground just in time to recognize that things were slowly starting to fill up with tourists and people. Not bad timing then, getting out of the best spot before a rush of hikers joined.

At the north end of the area, I jumped on a trail over a fence and found a perch overlooking another incredible amphitheater - Coire Scamadal. Sitting there overlooking the ridge-/cliffline heading north, out over the fields of the lowland butting up to the water, and then out over the water to the rest of the highlands, the smell and feel of the fresh air there was absolutely invigorating.

From that spot, I saw on the map that there was a hiking trail (which I could see parts of) that followed that ridgeline heading north that would eventually get you to Quiraing. My plan was to head to Quiraing after Storr, so this trail was extreeeeemely tempting to jump on and just trek for the day. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough food or water on me to make the 12-miler out a reality, so I nixed that plan for then, but have it on the list of to-dos for the next time I'm there.

On that little peak, I shuffled around a couple of times after getting some really good air over Coire Scamadal. The perch afforded good views in all directions, so I took some time to take in all the views of incredible rocks, pillars, valleys, water, and mountains galore. What a gorgeous spot to take in the highlands.

After soaking in the area from up top, I jumped back on the trail and slowly hiked my way back down. Going from being right next to the giant columns of rocks to a little further away changed the perspective on that aspect of nature, as well as opening up views to other areas along the ridge. But, after meandering between some small ponds and along the trail, I'd made my way back to Rupert.

Old Man of Storr ended up being a much different experience than I anticipated, but one full of exploring and beautiful sights. All throughout, too, I was blown away by the incredible fresh, cold, clear mountain air all around me. Being just up above the water, paired with the bare rock, it was a wonderful spot to take in and hike around.

Storr was an absoultely incredible exploration in nature, and my second target for the day, Quiraing, was supposed to be just as good. After pulling off my boots and getting cleaned up for a hot second, I jumped in the car and headed along the coast north up the island towards target #2. As per usual, I had to stop a couple times along the way for some great sights, but slowly and surely made my way.

Approaching Quiraing, the road jogged left and then switchbacked its way up a pretty steep cliffside. I drove up to the parking lot, but was feeling more hungry than excited for another hike. Calling an audible, I just kept on driving, and wove my way through the high "alpine" grasslands as they weaved down to the other side of the island and I eventually rolled into the little town of Uig.

The main goal was to get something to eat, but my stop here turned into a delightful little pause in the day. I pulled up and parked in the one parking lot in town (not exactly a bustling metropolis), and got myself oriented.

First up was some shopping. To start, there was a ceramic shop in town. There had been a few along the way that I'd just kinda brushed off and drove on by. But at some point over the previous days, I'd remembered that I'd broken my favorite mug over the summer, and was still feeling a little empty because of that. I was on the hunt for a new favorite mug. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything too appealing in that shop (design- or form-wise). I thanked the nice lady inside, and continued my shopping trip.

Wandering back towards the parking lot, I headed towards the Isle of Skye Brewery. I had the impression that I'd be walking into a delightful brewery with some pub food and delicious local brews, just like I'd experience at Three Creeks with my buddy Ryan. Well, quick to disappoint, it was just a gift shop - no drinking or food for sale on the premises. That was quite a bummer (but seemed to be consistent with all 'brewery' locations I'd been to thus far). Not to get down, I put together a little sampler pack of some actual craft beer to take home with me and have a little taste of Scotland back in Germany.

Since food didn't happen in a brewery setting, I had to find somewhere else. Just next door was a little cafe and I headed in. No indoor seating, and the patio was full, I put in my order, waited around, and then snagged my chili and meat pastries and headed out to find a place to eat.

With no intention of remaining thirsty, I quickly ran back to the brewery shop, snagged a cold beer, and headed out to the harbor to find a spot. Luckily enough, there was a restaurant right on the port that was closed down, but the patio was open and I posted up on a bench as the sun decided to come and go with some blue skies above.

Drink - a dark, black beer. Food - chili over chips. Weather - sunshine and blue skies. Location - right next to the water. A total recipe for success and enjoyment. And that's exactly what it was. The chili over fries were fucking delicious, and the dark beer to go with it just added to it. I slowly worked my way through that feast, and had my book to go with it, as well as a few postcards to finish up. All while watching the bits of activity taking place over the harbor.

Water always contributes to a low-key vibe. I love that.

After I finished up my delicious meal, I sat around and rounded out my postcards. That took me a minute, and then I switched to my book. Once I got a bit tired of that, I packed my spread up and headed out. On the way back to the car, I found out that the Queen (way back in 1902) came through Uig. Must've been quite the trip way back when.

With all my stuff back in the car, I was on the hunt for a mailbox. As luck would have it, right next to the parking lot was the ferry terminal and right next to that was a mailbox. Hot damn. Little did I know my postcards were now in royal charge...

I'd filled up with some great grub and a delicious beer, but wasn't quite ready to head out. To enjoy the town a little more, I wandered over to the port and got some time to walk along the pier. At that time, the big ferry between Uig and the Isle of Harris rolled in (that's also on the list for next time, Harris seems to be an awesome island, and recommended from Derek and Susan!). I meandered around, enjoyed the calmnness of the tiny harbor town, and then slowly made my way back for Rupert, ready for another hike.

Back up the hill and through the wide valley grasslands, I'd returned to the parking lot, and it was still pretty full. Parking along the road, I got out, strapped my boots back on, and soon enough was off and ready for another nature walk. Since I'd shuffled things around, I had the whole afternoon and evening to explore this little spot, and I was damn glad about that!

The main attraction of this hike were yet further unique, drastic, and impressive rock pillars and structures in and around another cliff line. But, to get to that took traversing along the valley, which opened up some incredible views north and south along the coast. You know, the Isle of Skye definitely lives up to the hype.

Narrowing in from the overall incredible area, I got closer to the first big feature of the Quiraing and was distracted by the beautiful cliffs and rocks I was hiking along. Big rocks, a couple big waterfalls, and continuing great views along the whole area. Seriously, this place is gorgeous.

I made my way along the trail, albeit at a slow, enjoyable pace to take in the surroundings, and the first feature I came upon was The Fortress. This giant buttress of rock looks just like an ancient castle ruin, but is pure rock. It's perched at the foot of an outcropping, essentially what would be a primo spot for a fortress. I didn't do any scrambling up it, but it was quite the prominent rock structure and a unique feature.

Right next to The Fortress was The Needle. Another incredible column of rock, not sure how its spire has remained intact for so long in a spot I can only imagine is harsh and arctic come winter time. But it's held strong, and what a spot.

At those two features, the trail curved around to follow the ridge, and took me into a bit of a sheltered/out-of-the-way area. The cliff towered over me to the left, and the trail came in and out of a few bowls as it worked its way north. There were big rock structures that popped up seemingly from every direction. As the trail wound its way along the valley, those structures came in and out of view, and added to the mystique of the walk.

I meandered my way down the foot of the cliff, and at the end of the valley, the trail worked its way up to the top of the ridge. Once I was up top, I continued a little further north and found myself yet another spectacular spot to sit, take a load off, and take it all in. Overlooking the water, the ridges, the rocks, it was a great spot for a little water, a snack, and some time to just inhale that beautiful fresh island air.

Rested and refreshed, I was ready to continue on. From my little break, the trail climbed up the hill to get to the top of the cliff edge that I'd just tracked from the base. Now, at a higher elevation above the rocks, cliffs, and water, the scenery just continued to pop. And y'all know me when it comes to viewpoints. Being able to look out over incredible tracts of land and natural vistas is my JAM!

After continuing up the hill, the trail eventually evened out a bit and skirted along the cliff's edge for a good while. The last really cool and crazy feature along the trail that came up was The Pedastal. Somehow, below the cliff's edge, a gigantic plateau developed. It's amidst other spires of rock, and I don't know how steep the trail must be to get onto it, but it's a gigantic flattened plain on a rock tower. Pretty cool. Not to leave it empty, there were a couple sheep perusing around on it, and damn, sheep are absolutely everywhere here. Even the most hard-to-reach places.

The trail slowly crested to the highest part of the cliff, and the open views out over the island and the water continued to be incredible. Starting the descent, the views down toward the south opened back up with the massive cliffs and crazy rock formations. Just like every other hike in the country, there were also a few sheep along the way munching on the delicious greens and minding their own business. I motored along, enjoyed the scenery, and slowly loped my way down the hill.

Onward and downward. The trail slowly traced all the way back along the cliff and veered right. The grassland up on the top of the cliff was super boggy, but with my hiking boots it was no problem trudging through and working my way back down. The view towards the south kept me in check and forced me to stop a few times to take it all in, with giant ridges of cliffs the whole way down the range. An absolutely beautiful view.

Soon enough, I'd made it back down to the flatland, and shortly thereafter, back out to the car. What an incredible hike. Nothing all too long or strenuous, but was filled with more unbelievabe views with ridiculous rock structures and incredible sights over the whole of the Scottish Highlands and Isles. Once back at Rupert, I jumped out of my hiking boots and cooled down for a sec, but went back over to the trailhead to enjoy the valley a little bit more.

What an incredible hiking day. Two amazing spots, and all within a stone's throw of each other. But after some good hiking and climbing around the rocks and stuff, I was a good bit pooped. Back at the car, I hit the road south. With my plan for the trip, next stops were no longer on Skye, so I started to migrate south and begin thinking about what was up next. From Quiraing, I veered down the steep hill to rejoin the highway, and sauntered on south, but not without a few stops to take one last look on the spots I'd adventured around for the day.

A good bit tired, I was slowly on the hunt for a good place to camp. Knowing I was making my way off the island, I pointed Rupert south and started motoring along. Soon enough I was out through the town of Portree and back on a quiet, but new to me, road. The day on the whole had been pretty clear, and thankfully that'd help up to the evening as well.

As I kept driving along, the peaks of the south part of the island opened up and covered the horizon. What a beautiful sight. I hadn't been able to see them on my hike two days prior, or my driving around the day before, so getting the chance to see them as I was heading out was such a treat.

I stopped a couple of times, because how can you not? But slowly I motored south, and got back round to the little village of Sligachan. Since I still had a little daylight about, I figured it'd be good to find a spot to camp earlier rather than later. Found a pull-out with a number of other campers, but figured it'd work. After being parked there for just a little bit, opted to gtfo of there and find a place a little more isolated.

Just a short drive out of town and up the hill, I found another pull-out, this one with just another one or two cars, which suited me much better. Took my time to get Rupert resituated and ready for bed. Once that was all squared away, I took the time to enjoy the last rays of sunshine as they hit the island. What a damn beautiful place.

With the sun down, I jumped into bed. Cozied up in my sleeping bag I got some reading done, but it wasn't long until I knocked off for the night.

Day 17 - Beinn Alligin

Getting up for the day, the skies were still relatively clear. Not blue, but the peaks were still saying hi to start the day. Gotta like that. I slept pretty meh, but was up with the sun and at 'em pretty early, as per usual. After getting resituated, I was back out on the road and headed towards Torridon. Still had to make it off the Isle of Skye though, which I did at a slow and enjoyable pace.

Clear skies and a road to travel on means frequent stops. The southern peaks of Skye were still saying hi, so I had to keep saying hi back! It was a slow drive, but I slowly stopped, drove, stopped, and drove, all the way until I was headed back over the Skye Bridge and back to the mainland.

Back on uncharted roads, I was ready to enjoy the new territory as it came. As luck would have it, that new territory didn't disappoint, and neither did the road. Despite just a two lane road, I didn't face any traffic or rarely anyone else on the road, so it was green lights and smooth sailing.

With Torridon in my sights, I backtracked the highway I took to get up here for a short step, and then veered to the left to continue on the adventure to the rest of the Highlands. With the early start, I was off and running. The road bent and swerved its way through the various valleys and was a true pleasure to drive.

After the highway split, the road jogged over a hill to dive into Loch Carron. There was a beautiful little pull-off, so I stopped to enjoy the view. Little did I know, but I had a new friend waiting for me there too.

Back on the road, I headed through Strathcarron, and then took a left to continue on towards Torridon. The road remained a delight to drive, and I took it all at a relaxed pace. Cutting away from the water it was back up and over another peninsula to cross over to the next Loch. It was another single lane road, so despite the morning, a little more traffic came on. No worries though, I was in no clear rush, and patiently (surprising! I know) pulled over when any one came ahead oncoming.

Shieldaig was the next big town coming up, which popped me right into Loch Torridon. Looking for another spot to take in this new valley and loch, I found a place to pull off and take everything in. It was still pretty early, but I was relaxed and down for a longer stop. So I whipped out the camp chair and book, and got to read and enjoy the great mountain across the way that I was looking to summit.

Always nice to force myself to slow down and enjoy the day. That little reading stop with the great views definitely helped. But as mid-morning slowly approached, I could tell I was getting hungry. And if I was gonna go on a decent hike for the day, I had to find something of substance to wolf down and enjoy.

Continuing down the road, it worked its way down to the root of the bay, and then I took the road back down the other side to get to the little town of Torridon. Stopped off at the community center at the highway junction to dump a little garbage, then headed to town. Luckily enough, there was what looked to be a nice cafe, so I headed there with breakfast on my mind.

Stupidly, after I parked, I walked into the community center thinking it was a cafe. The ladies were super nice and pointed me right next door. I walked another door over, was greeted by some lovely ladies in the cafe, and then headed outside to find a nice little table on the patio.

For some reason, I was a bit waffly if I was going to actually go on the hike. There was really nothing saying no, but somehow my mind wasn't all in on it. But still working through those feelings, I posted up on the patio and figured out what I wanted to eat. After submitting my order, I just sat back and enjoyed the morning.

Then all of a sudden an extreme roar was approaching, and I had no idea what it was. No more than a couple seconds later, a UK Air Force F-14 screamed into the valley from behind, popping out of the valley, crossing over the water, and then dropping right into another valley across the way. Then, in rapid succession, the second, third, and fourth jet followed immediately after, splitting themselve between two different valleys (see below).

HOLY SHIT HOW COOL WAS THAT!!! I've always been a fan of airplanes, and honestly almost joined the air force to become a fighter pilot. I'm kinda glad I didn't (that's a whole other conversation), but damn I love me a good, loud, roaring, fast airplane. And to have them fly by so close, so unannounced, and so fast, bwuh. THAT was something wicked.

That excitement hung around for a good bit, sharing in it with the rest of the folks on the patio and the waitress. But then, soon enough, my breakfast arrived, and hot dayum was I in for a treat. A smoked salmon, spinach, goat cheese, and potato frittata with a cup of coffee and beautiful morning and DAYUM was it delicious.

Nothing like a delicious breakfast (no matter how late in the day it comes) to get you fed and ready for some fun. Seriously, it was fantastic. With that delicious bit of energy slowly gracing my tongue, I got more and more ready for a good 'ole walk in the mountains.

I took my time polishing off that fritata, but as with all good meals, at some point there was nothing left on the plate. Motivated, energized, and ready to go, I paid my bill, headed to the loo, and then was off to the trailhead!

Already being on a bit of a side road, the trailhead was further along and up the hill. It got tight and twisty, but thankfully no one was coming downhill towards me. The road weaved its way up the hill, through the forest, and eventually popped me off at the parking lot. Unfortunately, the lot was full, so I had to flip around and do a bit of a janky park job up on a berm. But once I got parked, I threw on my trusty boots, took a quick look at the trail map, and then was off to the mountain!

The start of the trail started slowly up the valley for a bit, then once it lined up with the first peak, it took a left and started going up. Just like most all of the other nature I'd experienced throughout the trip, there wasn't any/much tree cover, which allowed for some incredible open views up the big valley, toward the peaks, out towards the loch, and all around. I worked my way up the initial ascent, climbed up and over the fence, and then eventually made it to the first quasi-plateau, aka just a mini foot of the mountain.

The plateau was really nice, but unfortunately short-lived. That initial section was at a good incline, but as the trail dove into a bit of a bowl at the peak of the first mountain, things got even steeper.

Just as I always do, as the trail gets steep, I just stuck it in a low gear and chugged along. It was definitely a strenuous trail, but an enjoyable one too. There was a little creek that mirrored the trail and tons of little waterfalls all over the place. It was slow going, but pretty for sure. And again, the higher I got, the better the views out over the incredible landscape got.

The slow slog gradually took me higher. At the last stretch it looked like there was a ton of trailwork going on (not at that moment) to get the trail rebuilt with some rock slabs for stairs. I stair-stepped my way up what was there, continued across the gradually decreasing slope, and then had officially made it to the top of Tom na Gruagaich!

Munro #4 - Tom na Gruagaich

• Height - 922 m / 3025 ft (268th)

I feel like you know the drill from here. I get to a peak, I find a spot to lounge out, and stop for a good break to take in the scenery. This peak was no different in that respect, but the views up here definitely were. The sun wasn't exactly out, but the cloud level was high up, opening the world of the Scottish Highlands to my nature viewing pleasure. Not just back towards the mainland, but also out back to where I'd been hiking around the day before (see first pic, vague, but that's Quiraing).

I took a nice little pause at that peak, but the big fish was still yet to come. Got enough time in for a good, relaxing break, and then motored on to Beinn Alligin. The trail brought me down off that peak, and then stayed along the peak of the ridgeline/saddle between the two peaks. All the while with the islands and water out to the left, and beautiful mountain valley(s) to the right. Seriously, how is this place so damn gorgeous!?

Right before reaching the peak, there was this gigantic cleft right through the mountain. I'd be interested to learn how the hell that feature came to be, but it was like someone just scooped their finger through a thick layer of cake frosting. Right through it, the view down to this curvy, windy river popped, and I stopped to take in the views.

A hop, skip, and a jump further up the hill, and I'd made it! Thanks to the incredible suggestion from James and his buddies at Bunnahabhain, I was led to this incredible spot. Once I got to the top, I did the usual and found myself a comfy spot to enjoy. And oh my goodness, what wonders I had there to enjoy.

Munro #5 - Beinn Alligin

• Height - 986 m / 3235 ft (163rd)

At the top, I really hunkered down, in a comfy way. Threw on another layer or two of clothes, whipped out some deeeelicious snacks, and had my camera at the ready as I perched and took in literally all of the Scottish Highlands. As I said, it was a pretty clear day, and everything popped.

No joke, I think I sat there for a little over an hour. I was absolutely captivated and enthralled with the immense beauty and vast size of the Scottish Highlands. Seriously, I felt like I could see half the country up there. The wind was calm, the sun was coming in and out of view all throughout the peaks in view, I had a surprisingly comfy spot on the rocks, and I was just content to take it all in. I didn't want to move, and just kept letting the beauty of the Highlands come to me.

I'm kinda surprised I had that much time on the peak all to myself, but goddamn I enjoyed it. Eventually though, some other hikers joined me at the top. In the interest of giving others what I so greatly appreciate in nature, I packed up and continued on. Thankfully, there was a trail stemming straight from that peak on down, so I could turn my trek into a big 'ole loop.

The trail dropped down pretty quick from the peak. But again, just like everywhere else, and damn I love it, the views all around stayed with. The first descent led to a small saddle, and then back up again to a small peak. No Munro, but it does have a dope name - Horns of Alligin. Not sure where horns came in, but that whole ridgeline was pretty rocky and jagged, which made for some fun and interactive hiking and scrambling.

I took another break on the Horns and enjoyed the continual incredible view. The sun was still breaking in parts of the Highlands and over the water, and the world was just feeling so peaceful, still, and serene. Another great spot to take in the world.

The descent from the Horns was pretty gradual, then flattend out to a little mini-plateau. But from that mini-plateau down to the valley, it became essentially a vertical wall, or just a really steep ladder. I was REALLY happy my loop was going clockwise, because I would NOT have enjoyed the climb up that wall.

But, as I was headed down that ladder, a fellow hiker was coming towards me uphill. Not just any hiker, this dude was rocking it in a kilt and sandals. What a badass. We chatted for a hot second, and he was all kinds of nice and bubbly, but after the quick chat break, he was back to chuggling along uphill and I continued on down. Not long after our interaction, I'd made it down the steep part of the hill and was right in the middle of the giant valley bowl.

Once the trail joined up with the flatter part of the valley, it wound its way slowly to the center, crossed the main river, and joined up with the main trail. That main trail connected back up to the parking lot towards Rupert, but the other direction was a nature walk through the gigantic valley I'd been looking at the whole hike. That would've been nice to stroll along that and take in the beautiful glacial bowl, but if I did I would've had to hitchhike back to Rupert, and wasn't quite in the mood for that.

The main trail back to the parking lot was relaxingly flat. That, paired with a river and constant waterfalls every few hundred feet, it was a really enjoyable hike. Unfortunately, that relaxation was destroyed by the fact that the midgees discovered I was back off the mountain and decided to fully attack.

That unfortunately led me to hurry through the trail and stop off very infrequently to prevent a full mauling by the little mites. I did my best to still enjoy the trek, and interacted a bit with a few Polish hikers who I'd ran into further up the mountain, but every time I stopped or slowed down for more than a few seconds, I could feel the damn things attack. Despite that, I took the time to enjoy the massive cleft in Beinn Alligin from down in the valley, the high alpine bowl that I hiked up to get to Tom na Gruagaich, the incredible moutains all around me up and down the valley, and the beautiuful little waterfalls all throughout the trail.

As I got closer to the trailhead, I started scoping around if there was a place I could camp. Towards the end the trail got pretty wooded and lightly forested, but I had hoped I could find a spot. Breaking off from the trail I wandered around to a couple potential spots, but as with all the ground I'd encountered on my hikes, the ground was pretty wet and boggy. Not wanting to sleep in a swamp, I packed it in and made it all the way out to the car.

What an unbelievable hike. There were downsides (midgees), but honestly, this was such an incredible spectacle and adventure. Strenuous inclines requiring good effort and perseverance. Great weather (aka no rain) and clear skies. High variation of the type of hiking, from stairs to scrambling and all in between. And the Piece de Resistance, the incredible views in such an incredible part of the world. I was absolutely in awe of the mountains, near and far. Absolutely beautiful.

Throughout the hike, I had T.I.’s Goodlife stuck in my head. After getting past the good beat and melody, it made me confront the truth. Damn, I've really got a pretty damn good life. I bitch and complain about so much, but I’ve got an incredible life, filled with amazing opportunities, and I am blessed beyond belief.

As with any hike, it was nice to get back to the car and whip off my hiking boots. I took my time cooling down from the hike, and started to think about where I was headed next (sleep, but where was the question). While getting squared away, I noticed something on the windshield, and for a half a heartbeat thought I somehow got a parking ticket. Those worries were quickly quelled, as the kindness of a stranger came through to warn me about a fiesty rock.

After getting my boots off and everything put away, and after a nice little snack (I think it was either a cookie or M&Ms. You know, healthy stuff...), I jumped back on the road on the hunt for a place to camp. At first I backtracked down the road and made my way back to the little village of Torridon. After stopping off for a second at the community toilet, and realizing I'd be back in the morning, I came up with the idea of finding a beautiful spot overlooking the loch and with a view back on Beinn Alligin and the big hike from the day.

With a semblance of a plan/idea in place, I motored back a little further yet from the way I came in search of a parking spot with a view. After weaving back up the hill a bit I found one, but wasn't a huge fan of it, as Rupert was on a bit of a slope and I didn't want to be rolling into the side all night.

Unsatisfied but not giving up, I continued on down the road. I took a longer pass, and spotted a few different potential spots, before doubling back and landing on a pretty decent one for the night. Flat, clear, and with a great view on the area.

I got parked and situatied, then realized I probably shouldn't push off dinner. With my little camp stove up and ready, I whipped out my book as the water cooked, and eventually got to dive into some delicious grub. You know, some people give the freeze-dried backpacker food bags some gruff, but I think they're pretty damn good. They're chocked full of sodium, which isn't ideal, but they act as an impeccable heat pack and then provide something yummy to dive into to continue to warm you up.

Dinner in hand, book at the ready, camp chair set up with the perfect view, I was all set. Luckily enough, my spot was overlooking a good portion of the loch, but more importantly, was staring straight at Beinn Alligin and the incredible hike I trekked through over the day.

Dinner was delicious, and I was slowly getting to the juicy part of the book. But slowly, the onslaught of the midgees was starting to make me lose my mind. For some reason, I hate insects and just random things touching me, and that hatred/phobia/annoyance has only increased as this old sack of bones has aged. Insects excel at that level of sudden annoyance, and midgees could put on a full semester-long masterclass on how to ruin any moment outside.

I did my best to hold it off, but after a while I had to head into the car. Thankfully I was able to enjoy the scenery for long enough before diving into Rupert. Once in the refuge of Rupert, I did a little more reading, but didn't last too long before I knocked off and called it a night.

Day 18 - Cruising around the Highlands

Sleeping wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great either. Regardless, got up and since the midgees were out in such full force the night before, I did everything I could to keep my morning routine confined to the inside of the car, and did a fairly good job of that. Outside of heating up water for my granola, I got everything resituated, rearranged, and ready for breakfast and the start to the day. Thankfully, I survived the midgees too.

With a plan already in place, I enjoyed my coffee and oatmeal still in my pjs. I didn't change yet, because my first stop of the morning was back to the community toilet in Torridon. Why? SHOWER. Bwuh, dear god I needed one. First one in a week, and I was feeling damn nasty, dirty, and grimy.

Rolled up and got all my stuff and headed over. Man that felt good. The shower was a little janky, but after a shave and finally washing off a bit of the grime, I was feeling like a million bucks. Got all dried up and dressed, filled up my water bottles, (stupidly somehow forgot to throw my change into the donation bin), and headed back to the car. Before driving off though, I headed over to the field across from the parking lot - the sign looked cool and the field with the mountains looked even cooler. Got a couple pictures with the gorgeous framing then stood around to take it all in.

Well HOLY BATMAN what a surprise!!! While standing there, minding my own business and the beautiful surroundings, two elk strolled into view, seemingly in a bit of a hurry. The bull and cow were on a pretty good clip, and weirdly enough, headed almost straight towards me! How cool! But damnit, I had the wrong lens on...

Thankfully, that didn't make a huge difference. They were clearly in a bit of a tizzy about something, and were just headed straight for me. By that time, another couple folks had joined me out on the berm, but they kept coming closer. Once they got to about 100 feet away, I think the bull smartened up and then veered to the left, and the cow in turn followed. But damn! How cool! Nothing like a little neature to start the morning. Kinda crazy how dark their coats were - I thought elk were usually a little lighter, but maybe Scottish elk are a little different in that respect. Either way, way cool bit of neature to start things off.

Also, not sure how I managed this, but check this incredibly aligned composition out...

That was quite a treat. But soon enough, the lovely beasts galloped off and away. I hung around at the spot for a tad longer, taking the views in a little more, but then shortly thereafter it was back to Rupert and off to cruise through the Highlands.

The cliffnotes version - What. A. Drive.

I'd only just started out, but the first valley I motored on through was a sign of great things to come. That first valley, between Torridon and Kinlochewe was massive, full of a desolate beauty, and just a gorgeous place to drive with calm, low key, gorgeous mountain sights.

I was in a very low key, relaxed, and enthralled mood. The drive was slow going, and I was loving that, as I was enjoying every bit of it. As you'd imagine, that meant I stopped a good few times to take some pictures and capture that beautiful drive and valley.

Despite the slow pace, I eventually rolled into Kinlochewe. My plan was to jog right and slowly make my way towards Inverness. But thankfully the adventure bug was hanging around and talked some sense into me, reminding me that the scenic route is the way to go, especially when nothing concrete is on the calendar. Listening to the voice of adventure, I turned left, opting for the extended loop around. Gotta love the freedom and flexibility of a road trip :-)

Shortly after the turnoff, I took advantage of the open plan and pulled off at a trail center tucked right onto the lake/bay. Once I parked, I walked around, and took advantage of the many informative signs with some background on the nature, agriculture, and history of the area.

The first informative sign I looked at kinda blew me away/I'm not sure I believe it. Pictured below, it essentially asserted that the area I was cruising around, about 800 million years ago, was covered in 5km/3mi of sand. THAT is mind-blowing, and so crazy it's hard to believe.

The other signs weren't quite as insane, but still pretty cool. One stated that the loch (Loch Maree) was named after the monk who first brought christianity to the area, and lived on one of the islands on the water, and another talked about how the Scottish Pine trees used to cover the land there. But with WWII as the death knell, most were cut down for lumber.

A little more wise and a little more informed, I moseyed on down the path and found my way to the beach. There I had to do my usual and found myself a nice and comfy rock chair on the beach to post up. I got cozy and took the time with the smatterings of muted sunlight to enjoy the nature from the water side as the fish were jumping up out of the water with not a worry in the world - peaceful and gorgeous.

After the big hike up and down Beinn Alligin the day before, I'd agreed with myself that today was going to be a more low-key (no hiking or biking) day. Despite that, the trails I saw on my map and the signs for the hike from the trail center had me intrigued. I toyed with the idea of breaking that agreement, but ended up holding to it to both give my body a rest, and enjoy a spontaneous little adventure on this wonderful road trip. Decision made, it was back to the road.

Not long after I'd veered back onto the road and was continuing on, the clear morning had been superceded by a little rain. I was thankfully in the warmth and dry confines of my car, but the moody wetness really added to the beauty of the area.

Rolling into Gairloch, the rain was coming down softly, but evenly. Around that time I yet again remembered my forgotten search for a new coffee mug. Pulling into town I then found a place to park, do some pottery place searches, and take in the rain coming down over the harbor. Despite the gloominess of the increasingly grey skies and the rain pouring down, I was in a really relaxed and happy state of mind. What a fun trip.

I'd found a pottery shop in Ullapool during my google search, so I put that on the map as an actual target for the day's adventure. I was really enjoying the comfy mood of the rain coming down, and the beautiful countryside in the grey/wet aura made the drive extremely enjoyable.

Crossing over from Gairloch to Poolewe and Loch Ewe was this really picturesque lake with a scenic little tree on a tiny island out there. I was drawn to it as I drove by, and knew I had to stop. It got sketchy there for a hot second as I flipped a bitch on the highway, but I circled back, found a spot to park, and braved the rain to get a couple shots of the lake, the scenic road, and the layers of mountains staring me down with the rain.

This whole damn country is a postcard. No joke. I jumped back in the car, and just after the lake I had to stop again as soon as a view opened up looking back down Loch Maree, where I'd taken the break on the water. It was dark, gloomy, but with spots of sunshine down the lake. Seriously, this place is B-E-A-UTIFUL.

After turning round the bend and getting into Poolewe, the road skirted on the edge of Loch Ewe for a while. The rain was still there but light and drizzly. After seeing a big 'ole oil tanker, I was a bit surprised, and took another chance to stop off to take in the scenery at a well-placed turn-off.

A little further up the road was a giant boat pier with a big tanker at port. I was intrigued to see such giant ships in the bay here, and pulled off to take some pictures. Well, ended up pulling into a pullout in the perfect spot, but the Ministry of Defense signs had me a little worried, so I didn't stay there too long.

Continuing on towards Aultbea, I planned on just rolling through town to see if I'd see any pottery shops (not sure why I thought I'd find one in every town, but here we are...). Before I rolled into town though I saw a sign with some really intriguing word combinations on it. That was jumped to right next in line of things to do, but first the drive through town.

Didn't end up being much there other than a pretty drive along the bay in the wet weather. I came up empty, but took my time turning around and driving back out the way I came. But from there, I was on the hunt. It took me a drive back to the sign on the road to remember what was there, and after pushing a little further up the road, I'd stumbled upon something incredibly cool and totally surprising!

Through all of my travels with Zack, I've come to know that as soon as I see something with Russia, it's gotta be interesting. But the combination of Russian Arctic Convoy Exhibition had to be absolutely enthralling. All thanks to that decision to turn left instead of right in Kinlochewe, and here I was on a total hole-in-the-wall that I never would've encountered otherwise! HOW FREAKIN COOL!!!

Well, what was this exhibition all about? During WWII, since the nazi's had control of Norway, getting supplies over to Russia was pretty difficult, to say the least. Land wasn't ideal, so water was the next plan. To that end, Scotland ended up being a great launching point for such expeditions, and Loch Ewe (where I was at) was the perfect place. A deep harbor, tucked into the island with tons of space on the water, it was a great spot. This picture does a better job of clarifying the situation, and the differences between Summer and Winter.

As Loch Ewe was the jumping-off point for such critical supply and logistics routes, this place was a big hub during the war, and also a big target. There were garrisons all throughout the bay, and a lot of defenses set up (sub nets, etc.) to try and keep the place safe and secure. The missions weren't purely military, but involved a ton of civilian ships that were escorted over to Russia.

What a cool little spot! I had no idea these missions were even a thing before showing up there, and learned a ton through all of it! This was quite the operation all throughout the war, and it was clear this was pretty important, consistent, and dangerous. As you could imagine, not every mission was successful. In one of the areas they had a diary/log from one of the sailor's perspectives during one of the missions. That was a really riveting, harrowing, terrifying, and nerve-racking read. Flirting with the arctic circle while being hunted down by nazis is not a exactly a walk in the park.

What an incredible little find! I was really glad to find this little museum. Tons of incredible information and great insight into a very important but little known (to my knowledge) aspect to WWII. I really enjoyed taking a read at the many first-hand accounts into just how spooky and treacherous those missions were. Great information, and a wonderful stop on the road trip!

From that little delightful history lesson, I continued on down the road and headed from Loch Ewe over to the next bay. This one, just like everyone there, was gorgeous. So much so, it was slow progress. More great nature, more things to take in, and more beauty to enjoy. Took a stop right as I entered the bay, then motored on and found another perch where I expertly maneuvered Rupert right on up to a perch overlooking a tiny inlet on the bay. So many beautiful sights to see.

Again, it was slow going, but relaxed going. Soon enough though, I'd traversed the highway in that bay (Gruinard Bay, as google told me), and continued on the road headed towards LIttle Loch Broom. Such great names, right? Approaching the new bay, there was another big pullout, so I stopped to take a few more pictures.

While I was leaning on the hood, taking some pictures, the guy parked next to me asked me how I got in from Germany after looking at my plates. Turns out his name is Mark and he's from Britain. He's a former trucker, and before the pandemic he'd sold it all and bought a farm in Brazil. But due to travel/visa issues, he wasn't able to make it back down there. Instead, he bought his camper trailer, and had been travelling around Scotland ever since.

Being from Britain (and I heard this a couple of times throughout the trip) he was completely astounded at just how quiet, calm, and gorgeous Scotland and The Highlands are. Apparently, it's a helluva lot noisier and chaotic south of the border. To say the least, I totally agree with the sentiment (on Scotland being amazing). It's incredible how you can find peace and quiet here like almost nowhere else.

Mark and I had a nice chat, talking about each of our lives, how we're coping through Covid, and what our plans are. After a while, I bid him adieu and continued on my way.

Once again, I didn't make it that far. After the road worked its way down the length of Little Loch Broom, the landscape went from water to land, and there was a stretch of roadway that completely captivated me. I found a place to stop, and just soaked it in.

This spot, as I said, really capitvated. For one, I was in a beautiful, relaxed state of mind enjoying the laid back day. Next, this was an alluring combination of all the beautiful colors of Scotland's nature - the burnt rust, subtle greens, greys and blacks of rocks and shadows, and even a little bit of warmth from the sun and blue skies coming on down. All coming together to create an incredible spot.

The road slowly crossed over that vast plain, and then dipped down into the valley and linked up to another main highway. From there, I jogged to the left up Loch Broom and headed towards Ullapool. But, of course, not without taking a look down the valley at another great stop.

It was a short drive through the woods until eventually rolling into Ullapool. I had the map set straight for the pottery shop and made a bee-line for it. Unfortunately, yet again, not the style (shape or design) that was what I was looking for. It was a fairly quick visit, and from there I was off to whatever I could find next.

First thing up was to head towards town. I found the big public parking spot, headed there, and got squared away. I was getting hungry (it was around evening time), and was in the mood for some seafood again. Took a look on the map and headed to the highest rated spot.

I weaved my way through some of the streets and enjoyed the initial walkabout through the town. But it seems like my luck with the good eateries was set in stone before the trip. On the other hand, it also made sense, because being the highest rated (and most delicious looking) spot, it was packed to the gills. I was not in for waiting in line, so I motored on.

Further down the street, I wandered into a bottle shop just to peruse the many delicious beers available in the lovely land of Scotland. Didn't buy anything, but nothing wrong with a nice bit of window shopping. Just around the corner from the bottle shop was a seemingly well-known eatery, and I popped in to get me some grub. Threw in my order, and while waiting had the great idea of a beer pop into my mind, ran back up to the bottle shop to get a drink, then waited down by the restaurant to pick up my food.

Soon enough, Order Up! I grabbed my grub, and took the short walk down to the harbor to find a spot to eat up. Thankfully, one of the tables on the boardwalk had just opened up, so I snagged that, cracked open the box of seafood potpourri, and dug in. Was a little bummed that it was all deep fried, but I got past that quick and had an absolutely delicious feast. A few people gave some comments on how good it looked, and it tasted better than it looked. Nomnomnomnomnom.

I took my time licking my fingers and making sure I got all the goodies down the hatch. There were tons of pieces to eat, and I enjoyed them all. While I was eating, there was plenty to take in outside of the food. Down on the water there was a tourist boat doing its thing getting ready for the next wave/round. Up on the boardwalk there was a good hive of activity of people coming and going.

After I finished up my dinner, I finished off my beer, and slowly started making my way back to Rupert. It was a slow, enjoyable walk through town, and a took a couple different streets to get some different views, and some of the names didn't disappoint.

Once I was back at the car, I dropped my bag off, then walked over to the local Tesco right there to load up on some supplies. In, out, and stocked up, I got Rupert rearranged, and then was ready to head back out on the road.

I'd enjoyed an absolutely incredible and beautiful drive through the day. Gorgeous landscapes, no firm plan in mind, and nothing but time to take in a relaxed route twisting and turning through the Highlands. Unfortunately, at this point, it was a bit sad. Now I had a more firm target in mind. Slowly inching my way towards the end of my trip and wanting to get some more mountain biking in, that meant my journey would be taking me out of the Highlands. That fact alone made me sad.

I slowly drove through town, joined up with the highway, and started heading south. As you'd imagine, the landscapes stayed gorgeous. I kept my relaxed pace, continued to enjoy the drive, and started making my way to Laggan with a day of biking starting to creep into my mind.

The melancholy mood of knowing I was leaving the Highlands hung over me, but I got into drive mode. Rather than getting to Laggan as fast as possible, I decided to make one quick detour. Not really for any purpose, but Scotland does have some great names.

From Dingwall I cruised south and passed through Inverness. This may surprise some people, but rather than heading back down The Great Glen to go check out Loch Ness, I opted to skip that and kept on driving. The highway then curved right and skirted the border of Cairngorms National Park, and the landscapes looked quite stark and beautiful. I'd had that park on my pre-trip map, but with just a few days left on the trip I decided to focus on biking. Next trip through though, I'll be doing some hiking through the Cairngorms to get another taste of some incredible nature.

Once I got off the highway, I started back on a little country road and took advantage of the first little town I came across to find a place to use the loo. It was early evening, and thanks to it being summer it was still decently light out. I wasn't quite ready to find a place to bunk down for the night, so I was on the hunt for a good spot for a night cap.

Right off the road in Newtonmore looked to be a hotel and I spotted a patio (that was covered out of the rain!). Pulled in and thankfully squeezed Rupert into a really tight spot, and saw what my options were. Thankfully, the temperature was pretty decent, so rather than sitting inside I opted for a spot outside. The guy at the bar was super nice when I asked for recommendations, and he put me on to the local brewery named after the giant national park and got me squared with their award winner - Black Gold.

Out on the patio, I took some time to reflect on the great day I had. Full of spontaneous adventure and surprises and a delightful part of a continually growing adveture. The Black Gold was a delicious elixir - definitely living up to its award winning pedigree. Might be that it was a good stout, because I'm a sucker for a good stout.

I slowly sipped on my drink and did a little trip research while leeching off their wifi. I was still full of melancholy no longer being up in the Highlands. That is seriously such a magical part of the world! I can't wait to go back up there for a few more weeks to cruise around, hike, and take it in again.

At some point right before I'd finished my first beer, two blokes came in and sat a bit behind me. I'd've guessed they were young-mid 20s, and something military (I think they were talking about somethign navy-related, but Newtonmore isn't anywhere near the water...). Their conversation was full of interesting topics, the two I heard clearist were air friers and fighting. A proper funny listen in.

One beer turned to two, and they were both delicious. But at some point I was getting more and more tired. As soon as I polished off that second beer, I paid my bill, and headed out. Not far up the road in the direction of Laggan Wolftrax was a decent-sized pullout. I parked, got Rupert squared away, and winded down after a delightful day cruising around the Scottish Highlands.

Day 19 - Disaster Strikes

It was another easy up and at 'em. Rolled around for a hot minute then got Rupert rearranged and made my way over to the trail center. I had the epitome of a relaxing and laid back start. Once I rolled up to the trailhead, I whipped out my camp chair and made breakfast. Got the water heated up and then had my oatmeal and coffee ready to enjoy, then sat and read my book for a while. I can't remember ever having such a relaxed start to a day of mountain biking, but what a delight. :-)

Ready to explore what was recommended to me as a great place for some mountain biking, I got all geared up, jumped on my steed, and I was off to ride! It wasn't a steep climb, but damn I hate rock gardens, especially when climbing! But I slowly worked my way up the hill and was looking forward to some downhill dirt.

At the top there were a couple other dudes chatting before hitting the trails. I joined in for a bit, got a couple more ideas of places to ride, and got more and more stoked. Then, it was time to head down! Well, kinda. There was too much uphill and pedaling at the top part of the trail for my liking. Unfortunately, that would be a theme for the whole place. Uphills and pedaling when supposed to be going down, and then no berms and sharp corners on the parts that were going down.

On the first trail down, there was a good spot. Actual berms, real flow, great shaping, awesome stuff. The bummer is, it was only the last few hundred feet of the trial before the road. I was thinking there was more right after, but was disappointed as I started the pedal back up the hill.

Despite my complaints and dissatisfaction with what I anticipated being some great trails, there was still plenty of good fun to be had. A few fun, technical, rocky sections that made things interesting. But after mixing together the various trails on the hill, I'd hit the EFI of the network and then headed back to the car for lunch.

At the car with my handy-dandy camp chair, I got some water ready and whipped up some delicious Serbian rice pot. Nothing like a delicious and relaxing lunch. While sitting there and grubbing up, I got approached by Sebastian the German living in Scotland. He needed some tape and we got to chatting. He was between jobs, and instead of bumming around at home he's using the time to drive around and bike around a little further from home. Turns out he was likely headed to Comrie Croft the day after, so we planned on seeing each other then!

Then, after I finished up my food I headed over to the loo around the same time a group of motorcyclists (bikers, but didn't want to confuse things) were lulling about on their midday break. One of them was right behind me, and we got to chatting. Him and his crew were on a big journey throughout the country for the week, and he was a super friendly dude.

Getting back to the car I then crossed paths with Steve the Scot as he was getting his ride ready to go. While chatting, he gave me a few more great tips for rides around the area, and I threw them on both my list for the rest of the trip, and the list for the next trip up here:

• Aberfeldy, especially Top of the World
• Golfie, on the other side of the river from Innerleithen
• Torridon Loop
• Something about McMaster Rider or River, can't remember that

Although I had a nice, long, relaxed, and quite social lunch break, I was ready to ride. I wasn't too impressed or enthralled with the trails at the trail network (aka official trails). But, with the handy-dandy trailforks, I was able to see that there were some other trails on the other side of the valley. My plan for the afternoon - check out the unofficial trails and see what they're all about.

Crossing over the highway and cruising up the logging road, it wasn't too long after that where the trail got steeper and steeper and I had to push for a bit because that trail was nuts. I was a little tired from the early morning, but I got my steed pushed and pedaled up to the top.

Rather than just diving right into the riding, there were some signs for a lookout or castle ruin or something at the top. In the mood for a little sightseeing, I wandered over and up the little rocky outcrop. Turns out it was an old fort perched right on the peak of the hill. To be honest, it didn't seem like an old fort, as it was just a giant outcropping of rock. But I scrambled up the rocks, got some beautiful views of the valley in the sunlight, and enjoyed the afternoon's fresh air.

I wandered back down and back to the bike, and holy hell was I stoked. The trails looked pretty raw, definitely not as popular or well traveled, and I was really ready for it. But as soon as I jumped on and started pedaling, I heard this weird grinding sound. Wasn't sure how or what was going on.

I lifted the rear wheel and gave it a spin - no sound, all seemed to be in order. Thinking I was good to go, I jumped back on and still the grinding. I knew it was the mudguard, but couldn't figure out how it had gotten so misshapen. I tried bending it back, but nothing was working. What the heck. Then, I saw it...

Fuck. Fuck me. Fuck my life. You've GOT to be kidding me. I go from a broken chainstay in April, to now a broken seatstay? And at the worst possible time!?! Right as I'm about to start the best riding of the trip!!!?!?!?! You've got to be shitting me...

Commence all levels of sadness. To make this even worse? With all the difficulties I had trying to find a new chainstay, I knew there was no way in hell I'd be able to find a new seatstay to replace this. In essence, I realized that with this break, after all the miles, jumps, berms, roots, rocks, and crashes we've been through together, my bike was dead and gone.

To add insult to injury, this is when I was just getting to the best MTB'ing of the whole trip. After the trip, a month or so later, the perfect example of what I mean popped up on Pinkbike highlighting what would have been my next three days of riding --- Dunkeld, Aberfeldy (see below), and Comrie Croft. Fuck my life...

There was literally nothing I could do. And it was sketchy enough to boot that there was no way I could ride it down the trail, even super slow. As soon as you brake, the whole rear triangle twisted. Fuck.

I dejectedly walked my bike down the trail. And to make matters even WORSE, this would have been the best trail I'd ridden all day. Raw, rooty, technical, steep, fun as shit. And here I was walking my broken bike down it. You've got to be shitting me...

It was a long, depressing, and sad walk back to the car. This wasn't just the end of the riding day, but the end of riding for the trip, the end of an era with that incredible bike, and I now no longer had a functional mountain bike. That's a lot of ends to come crashing down all at once, and I was not taking it well.

Once I was back at the car, I was completely unsure and clueless with what to do with myself, my trip (and overexaggerated, my life. But kinda). No joke, the next few days, the last days of the trip, I'd set aside to get some biking in and now those were all shot. I seriously felt completely lost and adrift.

Slowly but surely, I squared myself back down into reality despite the loss. Since biking was out of the question, I booked a whiskey tasting for the next day, then went and got changed to let my clothes air out. Then, back in the camp chair, I did some research to see if I had any chance at a quick bike replacement. Found a few offers of frames in the UK and sent out some messages to see what might hit.

After some commiserating and sitting around, Sebastian the German guy rolled back up from his riding. I showed him the eternal sadness that was my broken bike, and after chatting, we decided to head over to the little cafe attached to the trailhead parking lot (I love that this is a thing in Scotland!) and grab a coffee. He's been living in Scotland for a good five years now (jealous), and as I said earlier, was between jobs. After chatting a while, and talking about my experience in Germany as a foreigner, he agreed/commented that living in a country where people are friendly to strangers, and just baseline friendly in general, is such a nice thing.

It was really nice sitting down with him and chatting, and getting a deeper insight into Scotland. I learned that the NHS (UK's Health System) is a single system throughout the UK, but each 'region'/system (Scotland, England, Wales, and North Ireland) is financially independent and operated. Then I got to hear some more about the Independence movement from his eyes, as its been definitely impacted by Brexit. In general, the more and more I learn about Scotland, the more I get the impression that it's like New Zealand - small, progressive, beautiful, friendly, and a great place on earth.

During our conversation, I also got a couple recommendations. To start, after talking about Whiskey and such, he mentioned that there's a really good gin from Harris Island, aptly named Harris Gin. Not normally a gin guy, but not opposed, he said it's only sold within the UK and kind hard-ish to get, so I took a quick mental note. Then, when chatting about bikes and my misery, he mentioned a big bike festival down in Tweed during that upcoming weekend. TweedLove is apparently a yearly event, and includes a gigantic list of demo opportunities. AKA - I still had a chance to ride in Scotland!

It was great sitting and getting to chat with Sebastian. Super friendly and nice guy, and a great resource to learn about this great country from a fellow foreigner's perspective. Once we finised up our coffees, we headed back to the parking lot and he continued on his way to more biking after we set up plans to try and meet at TweedLove.

Still hanging around in the parking lot, I went and got all my water bottles filled up, then kinda just bummed around in my camp chair trying to figure out what to do. It's dramatic but true, but I felt so down, aimless, and lost. Such a shitty thing to have happen, losing my bike.

Getting the wheels slowly spinning again, I pulled off my bike pedals for a potential demo ride on the coming Saturday down at TweedLove. Then, while sitting around, I sent off some emails, and then checked out what my demo options were. After initially thinking I was good to go, I realized I reserved the wrong size, and the options for my size were essentially gone. I found one manufacturer I'd never heard of, and they still had a bike my size available. I snagged it and that way I still had one ride left on my trip!

Eventually I think I was the last one in the parking lot, and figured it was time to find some food. There wasn't much in a 20-mile radius there, so I decided to head back to Newtonmore and see what my options were. On the way, I felt this construction site was a fitting representation of how I felt.

Strolling in through town, I ran into a similar problem that I'd had in other towns. The first place or two I went were closed, or didn't have space. Cutting the fruitless search off at the bud, I just headed back to the place from the night before. Unfortunately, the beer was the highlight. Made a bad call and the tomato soup was a little weird and the chicken was super dry. The upside though - Haggis was a side dish, and that ended up being quite delicious. Not sure if this is weird or not, but when I eat out alone (at least on trips) I usually read, and I got a lot of reading in as the book was just getting juicy.

No second beer that night, as it was already late enough and I was still dreary. Headed back out on the road and find a nice little lay-by kinda near the spot from last night. I got Rupert all rearranged, and then before tucking down for the night, walked across the road and down by the little lake that was right there. A good bit of time to reflect and try and get things on-track/in perspective. But I couldn't sit out there too long - midges ruin everything.

Soon enough I was back in the car and ready for some sleep.

Day 20 - Adventuring Back On Track

After waking up, I took my time getting together and ready for the day. Getting changed and rearranged, I soon had Rupert ready for another day on the road, but was still bummed I wouldn't be biking. Trying to get my attitude back on straight, I went and sat down by the water before hitting the road.

Back on the road, I headed south and started my meandering. I had a whiskey tour time set in Pitlochry for early afternoon, and a single waypoint on the map I had to stop through on the way, but until then the plan was to cruise around the hills and valleys and see what comes around. The initial stretch had me head south and right past the Dalwhinnie distillery. Unfortunately, it was still pretty early and they were closed, so I cruised on by and jumped on the motorway. The scenery was gorgeous, barren, and calm. Giant grassy hills (not quite mountains) on either side as the road skirted through the gorgeous landscape.

I didn't stay on too long before jumping off and navigating to a quiet country highway to take me into the sticks. The quiet road weaved its way away from the big highway and into more of the beautiful nature I'd come to know and enjoy. After taking a look at the map I saw there was a big lake nearby, so I pointed in that direction and made my way over. The roads got smaller and quieter the closer I got, so I kept my slow, relaxed pace to take it all in.

The little town of Kinloch Rannoch was super quiet still early in the morning as I rolled through and headed to the waterside. I lucked out and there was a single parking spot right at the edge of the water, so I parked and headed down to the water. Not feeling super motivated to do anything special, I just jumped out and found a nice rock to sit on and take in the lake and valley for a while.

Once I was ready, I jumped back in the car, but didn't know where to go, so headed back to the little town. I parked, whipped out my map, and slowly put together a rough route before getting back out on the road.

Weaving through quiet, single-lane rural roads on an early morning is a really relaxing situation. The landscapes are beautfiul and mellow, the random people that drive up oncoming are greeted with a wave and pulling off the road early, and the world just seems at ease. This was helping me stay mentally in it and enjoy the beautiful morning.

The countryside continued to provide gorgeous sights as the little road winded its way along. I stopped a time or two to take in the hills and greenery, and was even greeted with an increasing share of sunshine. Nothing like a little warmth and warm light to put you at ease.

After splitting through two big ridges and the road bending towards the left, I'd reached my first waypoint for the day. Through my time living in Portland, I'd often find myself going from Portland towards Mt. Hood, and often times through the little town of Boring, Oregon. Every time, I'd always note on the "Welcome to Boring" sign a note saying they had a sister city in Scotland, namely Dull, Scotland. Well, you guessed it! ...

There was no way I could be all the way across the world and not pass through! Not gonna lie, I was super stoked about this little stop! As it turns out, Dull, Scotland really lives up to its name. There's just a few homes, a community bulletin board, and a red deer 'safari' right on the edge of the village. No bar or anything like that. So I guess Boring has a leg up in that respect, but happy to put a pin in the map in this little tucked in connection to Oregon!

I was a little bummed and surprised there wasn't a little more there in town, but motored on from there just a little further down the road to the town of Aberfeldy. This was a bit of a bummer, because the trails I was gonna hit that day were right on the edge of town on the hillside, so I got a bit hurt every time I looked at the trees knowing I should've/could've been riding in there. Oh well. Had to get over it and did.

I rolled into town and just found a place to park next to the river on the edge of town. Right next to where I parked was a pretty big statue dedicated to the Black Watch, a group of solders meant "to be a constant guard for securing the peace in the Highlands". Right next to the monument was the Aberfeldy bridge, which is still used as a single-lane road bridge today, but was a huge part of the military road network back in the 1700s, developed and built way back when under General Wade. I took those two cool stone structures in and learned a little bit in the process.

After checking out the monument, river, and bridge, I just headed back to Rupert. Not motivated to do anything in particular, I threw the windows down, lounged back, and just read. It was a quiet morning, and the fresh air coming through the car was a nice relaxing way to be for a while. But, once the time of day was more appropriate, I closed up shop and decided on a walk.

Turning away from the river I pointed in the direction of town and decided on a little stroll. I was starting to get hungry, so I put that as a secondary mission in the back of my mind, but walked down the street and joined up with main street going through Aberfeldy. I took a relaxing stroll down the main drag, and once I got to the main square I saw something regarding a Himalayan Bazaar, or something along those lines, so I went in to check it out.

It ended up being a craft exhibition from the Himalayas in Nepal! I'd been (and still have been) continually rewinding back to my trip to Nepal, and the many impactful, incredible, and gorgeous experiences from that incredible trip keep popping back into my head. So when I walked in and saw some pictures of some of the places I'd been, that only helped me rewind even more. I walked around, perused some of the crafts and wares available, then chatted with the lady there. Super friendly and explained some of the things their group was doing to support people over there. Cool little walk down memory lane.

Continuing on, I did some cursory window shopping and strolling, and eventually the hunger in me grew. Time to find a place to eat. Long story short - the places I checked out were either too full, bars that only served drinks, or didn't look too appetizing. The cheap in me then decided to head to the Co-Op, and there I grabbed some grub. Food in hand, I wandered back towards the car and posted up on the lawn-bowling green nearby, and the older folks there getting things set up for the day let me set up my spread on one of the picnic tables to feast and read.

A delightful little lunch. Nothing special, but some good, cheap stuff to tide me over for a while. After popping off to the bathroom for a hot sec, I had some friendly small talk with the folks there, and one of the guys recognized the author (Jo Nesbo) from the book I was reading. He then recommended a couple other of his books, and it was cool to hear that I stumbled upon a good author! Bidding those folks a lovely day, I packed up and headed back to Rupert to continue on down the road.

I don't know if it was just Aberfeldy or had something to do with the local area, but the buildings were predominantly made out of the same/similar stone, but as a point of distinguishment, they all had different, vibrant trim colors. This really made the buildings stand out and add some cool character. I'm not sure if this was present in a ton of other places, but they really stood out in Aberfeldy and were a cool bit of color injected into the cute little town.

The day was slowly creeping forward, and my whiskey tour was an hour or so away. Rather than forcing myself into a rushed situation, I continued on down the road out of Aberfeldy and worked my way over to Pitlochry. It was a fairly quick drive, but the day had turned into a wonderfully sunny and warm day, so the drive was enjoyable the whole way with the continued great landscapes.

As I rolled into town the Blair Athol distillery was just on the outside of it, so I rolled in and grabbed a place to park. I was a good bit early, so I whipped out my camp chair and sat on the little bit of grass between the parking lot and street and got to take a load off for a while.

In the parking lot and in the area there were a ton of old-timey cars coming and going, and all had some sort of placard on them. I was wondering what the heck was going on, but enjoying the tons of antiques and specialty rides coming and going. Turns out it was a big rally-type race called Scottish Malts carving its way through the Highlands. Blair Athol's parking lot was being used as a checkpoint, so all the cars were coming in, and the navigator was running to the distillery to get a stamp or something and then they'd continue on their way. I got in some reading but was looking up fairly often to take a peek at yet another old cruiser that was motoring on by.

That little break was really relaxing, and helped put me in an even better and more relaxed mood after a low-key morning of driving and adventuring. But soon enough it was time to head in for the tour! I got checked in and then loitered around the inner courtyard waiting for things to get underway.

A few other folks for the tour started to gather and then our tour guide showed up to get the road on the show! Maria was our leader for the day, and she showed us around the small grounds of this medium-sized distillery and shared some pretty cool information. For instance, Blair Athol only sells only about 1% of the whiskey that they distill. Over 90% is sent to other companies to use for blending (Johnnie Walker is their biggest taker, that they know of). Crazy! And another insight - the logo for Blair Athol is a couple otters playing in a river. Well the river that Blair gets their water from is known for having otters playing in the water!

Maria gave us a wonderful little tour through the whiskey making process at Blair Athol. It was funny as she was talking, she seemed to finish every third sentence with an inquisitive but warm, 'Hmmm?'. I kinda got the feeling she was from Spain, but kept sharing some great insight into the small and relatively unknown distillery in Pitlochry.

First we got a rundown of the malting process, then got to check out their big vats and washbacks used in the distillery. Maria then guided us through the Still Room to get a look at the setup there and the Spirit Safe used to ensure the quality coming off the stills.

From the still room she walked us back outside into the sunlight (and great greens, reds, and greys of the campus), and out over to the maturation warehouses. The walk over to the warehouses took us past their water source, the tiny little river Kinnard Burn. We perused at the many long rows of barrels aging in the warehouse (spotted one from 1968), and then headed back over to start the tasting.

Up in the swanky tasting room, Maria guided us through our 6 drams. Full of variation and excellent notes, it was quite the potpourri of deliciousness. Here's what we had:

• Blair Athol 12-yr - smooth but a bit spicy
• Blair Athol Distillery Exclusive - rich, cake, sweet with spice, 11-yr maturation in an ex-bourbon cask with red wine. Good stuff
• Linkwood 12-yr - aperitif single malt, from Speyside. Very light, very smooth, and dangerously unnoticeable, think of it like a dessert whiskey. Most of their production goes to Johnny Walker
• Cragganmore Distillers Edition - malty and complex, aged in ex-bourbon casks for 12-yrs, then port wine cask for 6-months. Smooth, very smooth, with light hints of smoke. Good stuff
• Blair Athol Cask Strength - 28-yrs old, direct cask edition from a breathing cask, aged in sherry. Really good stuff!
• Caol Ila Distillers Edition - 6-months of sherry at the end, Muskatell to start, smooth and smokey, delicious

Other than the Linkwood and Blair 12-yr, all the tastings were absolutely fantastic. My favorite was the Blair Cask Strength, which went down all kinds of smooth and delicious. The Cragganmore was also delicious. After the tastings, we all said thanks to Maria and then headed down to the gift shop to peruse. Since I did the tour I got a little discount at the store, but had to decide what I wanted.

The Blair Cask Strength was the best, but it wasn't for sale (and would've been wayyyyy out of my price range anyways). The Cragganmore was really good, smooth and smokey, but being at Blair Athol I figured I had to get something to remember the great little visit. That decided it. I went the slightly touristy route, but the Distillery Exclusive was the 11-yr option that to get it, I got to pour my own bottle!

At the counter I paid for the thing, snagged a sticker to go with it, then the guy walked me over to the main building. Kinda had to figure out the process, but once things got figured out, it was pretty official. I had to sign a ledger stating I was the one pouring it, got to write out the label for it, and then pulled the lever on the cask to fill up my bottle. Touristy, yeah, but hot damn, I poured my own bottle of whiskey! The guy put a cork in it and sealed it, and I was off to the races!

I'm not sure how I heard about Blair Athol, but I'm really glad I did. A pretty small distillery, that as I said, is not all that easy to find. Especially considering how little of their product they actually bottle and sell themselves! But a wonderful little whiskey insight to another great distillery. And with that, I was off to whatever came next!

What was next was not yet defined. But I opted to start off with a little walk around Pitlochry (the town right nearby). I packed my schnazzy bottle into the growing mess that was my trunk, then drove over to town to find a place to park. The visitor parking lot was all shut down (I think for some kind of bike race on the weekend), but I found a spot, parked, and started walking.

Just a hop, skip, and a jump down the street after I'd just started, I spotted a liquor store and decided to head in. Yeah, I was just at a whiskey distillery, and already had a few bottles to take home, but here I had to work out the lead on Harris Gin that Sebastian gave me the day before! I walked in, and the process to get it was complicated (order on line, set to pick up in store, wait til the online order shows, voilá), but it worked! I snagged me a bottle of the Harris Gin, and also of the Kilchonman Loch Gorm that I had eyed (and still regretted that I didn't go to that distillery). Loaded up, I went back to the car to drop those bottles off, and then did a restart on my walkabout.

It turns out, Pitlochry was quite the hopping place. They were setting up for whatever bike event added to hustle and bustle, but there were people all about and a good amount of activity all over. The initial walk down the main drag showed me that the colored trims from Aberfeldy weren't specific to that town, but were also present here. Overall, I was really digging the architecture with the multi-colored rock and the relaxing place. Really enjoying my stroll.

Once I strolled the strip, I headed off the main drag and towards the river. Weaving my way under the train tracks I was heading in the direction of the dam. But before I got there, I broke off and went to the reservoir and stumbled upon a fantastic bench. I still had a good bit left in my book, but I whiddled away at it and enjoyed the little spot I'd found overlooking the water, the trees, and the little bit of sunlight hitting it all.

I'm gonna have to give another Jo Nesbo book a read. Quite the enthralling book. A few chapters in, I packed up and kept on my way. Over a little grassy knoll I walked on and ended up at the Pitlochry Power Station. I'm always a fan of great big machinery, and dams totally fall under that list. On the walk across the dam, I took some time to read the cool signs, peeked into the power station room, and then strolled across to take a look at the fish ladder right next to it. Cool little piece of renewable energy power generation.

Wandering down the other side of the river, I took my time next to the trees and the water. Soon enough, I'd come up to a few restaurants and buildings and some kind of festival theater. I stopped to take a few pictures of the spot, and then back over the cool iron suspension bridge back towards town. It was a pretty cool (but really thin) bridge, and interesting to read the signs on the other side of how the bridge really changed things for the town after it replaced the ferry and really equalized mobility in the area.

Shortly after the bridge, I stumbled upon a big park. I initially planned on strolling by, but then saw one of those big, giant, rope towers, and was feeling like a kid (well, I always feel that way) and headed over. There were some kids playing elsewhere on the playground, so I felt a little weird but not too weird as I climbed up, got situated in the ropes, and whipped out my book. Not sure why I don't do this more (there's one of these in Karlsruhe), but it was a nice little break finding a way to lounge up in the tower and just hanging out for a while.

After a couple chapters, I put my bag back on, climbed on down, and continued back towards town. By this time I was a little hungry and started the hunt for a place to eat. After a quick search, I found Cafe Biba and jumped in. The folks there were nice and welcoming. Opting to sit outside, they led me to a table in their tiny patio out back and got me all squared away.

I took some time to pick out my meal, but got my order submitted and then whipped out my book to read in the mean time. Soon enough, my beer came, and not long after, my mac and cheese. What a killer combination. Dark beer, cheesy goodness, bwuh. Delicious.

After I wrapped up dinner, I headed back to Rupert. Quite the successful and enjoyable jaunt through Pitlochry. But by this time, night time was slowly making its way to the forefront, and I was getting tired and ready to clock out. Before finding a spot to hunker down for the night, I drove out of town and down the highway to Dunkeld, then jumped up into the hills behind. Up there were a couple lakes that I figured would have a quiet place to park and sleep.

It was a rural drive through town and then up the hill into the sticks, and yes, this was yet another spot I would've gone riding. Seemed like great terrain for it. But at Loch of the Lowes I found a perfect little pull-out and got parked.

There was still a little daylight left to burn off, and I took advantage of it by hopping across the road and through the gate into the big field right there. There I found a nice little spot to sit and take in the evening. The whole needing to figure out how/where to get a new bike was still constantly hanging over my head, but that wouldn't be going away anytime soon. To add to the melancholy, I realized just how bad my eyesight has been getting. Had to add that to the things high up on the to-do list - new prescription and new glasses.

On the good side of the thoughts, I reflected on how great the day turned out to be. Despite the need to change up my plans on a moment's notice, I had a nice little driving adventure and checked out some pretty neat towns. Adding to that, I still had a couple days left on the adventure. The next day was time to be a tourist a little more and see some new friends, followed by some biking and then hitting the road home. Time flies, but what a great trip. Right around when the sun went down, I turned in as well to get some rest.

Day 21 - Sightseeing and Warm Scottish Hospitality

Another relaxing up and at 'em. After almost 20 days seemingly in a row of sleeping in the car, I was really starting to look forward to my own bed. But thankfully my body hadn't been yelling too much about the situation. Once I was done rolling around, I got Rupert rearranged and then walked through the trees down to the water's edge before jumping in and hitting the road.

Slowly working my way out of the woods, I drove down the hill to Dunkeld and was on the hunt for a place to use the loo. Unfortunately, this town's public bathroom (similar to a lot of public bathrooms) didn't open until 9 or 10am. Damnit. Not wanting to waste my day, I continued on.

Before diving into the more heavily populated part of Scotland, I just crossed over the highway and took another low-key stroll through yet another gorgeous valley. I stopped a couple of times to take it in, and even got one of an old timer from the Scottish Malts rally in a gorgeous scene.

Eventually, the road twisted and turned its way out of what topographically seemed to be the Highlands and popped me into the valley/flatlands opening up to Glasgow and Dundee and the majority of the Scottish population. Needless to say, I was quite bummed to know I'd left such a beautiful, natural, magical, and gorgeous area of the earth.

The pickup in traffic density and population was definitely noted as I made my way to Crieff. I still had to use the loo, so I pulled a quick one on the town. The Co-Op had free parking for two hours for customers, so I jumped in and grabbed a banana or something for breakfast, then walked up to the town center. A nice little walk through another town that seemed to be a cool little spot. Refreshed and ready for the day, I headed back down to the car and then was back on the road headed further south.

The drive took me through the valley at the foothills, and then on the way to Stirling headed for the route through the hills rather than the motorway. Pretty much always the right choice.

Over the hills and through the woods, I zagged to the right and was on the lookout for The National Wallace Monument. Driving through the fields and traipsing through town after town, soon enough, the big tower was visible, perched up on a little knoll outside of Stirling. Google maneuvered me right to it and I was ready to go check it out.

This was on my map because it was supposedly a great spot and insight into Scottish History. Thankfully, that was an accurate description. I snagged my camera and then started the little walk up the hill of the Abbey Craig and was greeted by a bunch of wood carvings incorporated into a history walk along the way.

Due to Covid, things were still a little tight, but I was able to pay my way in, learn the rules of how to go up and down the tiny tower staircase, and I was off to learn.

As I learned and explored this museum, monument, and exhibition of Scottish history, this was an important site in the battle for Scottish Independence. William Wallace was the leader of the movement at that time when the forces of King Edward I made their move in 1297. It was essentially right at this location, overlooking the Stirling Bridge over the crazy curves of the River Forth, where the battle took place.

The first level was dedicated to the life and works of William Wallace. Wallace was essential to the movement for early Scottish Independence both within the country and abroad, stirring up support from other countries/leaders to shed light on the efforts he was pushing forward. Really insightful look into his life, his efforts, and how he fought for his country. In the corner of the room, they also had on display his apparent, actual sword from way the hell back then, over 700 years ago. That's some history.

The second level brought back strong memories of the incredible monument Valhalla in Regensburg. The Hall of Heroes contained busts of some of the most influential, extraordinary, and revered minds of Scottish history. There are a LOT of impactful people that have come from Scotland - Adam Smith, James Watt, and so many more were on display and heralded for their works in the country and their impact throughout the world.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge was the focus of the third level. Here, they had a few great representations of the battle itself, and then a comparison of what the area likely looked like back then to what it looks like today. Quite the strategic location (at least back then with the lack of infrastructure), and turned into quite the turning point.

After the three exhibits, it was up the last stretch to the roof and terrace overlooking the landscape. Quite the great view up top, overlooking the location of the battle (which had been by now turned into a series of rugby pitches). The views opened up to all directions, with some of the Highlands in view, the many cities and towns out across the valley, the town of Stirling right below, and the Stirling Castle right across the river.

I took some time taking in the view in each direction on the muted and mostly cloudy day. After I'd soaked in what I could, I worked my way down the tight spiral staircase and back down out of the tower. On the foyer out front was another decent spot to take in the view over town, but not quite as great as the top of the tower (obviously). After taking a look at the old architecture of the tower, I hit the trail and headed back down to the car.

Back on the road, my next stop for the day was down to Falkirk. As an engineer, I have to always pay my respects and visit the incredible marvels of engineering when the chance arises. Here, the chance was definitely at hand, and there was no way I was going to pass up the Falkirk Wheel!

I remember hearing about this incredible marvel years ago, likely around when it opened up. Hard to forget an incredible piece of engineering like this. It's the only one of its kind in the world! The drive over went by fairly quick enough, and soon enough I was parked and ready to check this giant thing out.

First I walked up towards the top of the rotating lift to start my loop. As I was walking up, I was immediately astounded at the sheer size of the thing. Water is not a light liquid, and something meant to rotate giant tubs of it and the boats inside it were respectively massive, which made the whole thing gigantic.

At the outlet of the wheel, I hung about waiting for a rotation and ended up chatting with a friendly dude while there. Not only was the wheel impressive, but it was connected via a giant bridge of water over the area to get to the wheel itself. Big structures always fascinate me. While waiting from the perch above and behind the lift, I was able to take in the lay of the land and analyze the many facets of this incredible structure.

After short last, the whole thing started to spin! It was a very slow, controlled movement, but cog after cog the giant wheel was doing it's 180-degree flip to bring the boats up and down. Really cool stuff.

After the first rotation, I wandered down the hill and decided to jump into the main info center to see what was up. By that time, I was a bit hungry. Before continuing my loop around and exploration of the wheel, I grabbed some lunch and found a spot out in the courtyard to keep watching the big structure. The sandwich (toastie) was quite delicious, and it was a nice little break in the shadow of the wheel. Bummer that it didn't start a rotation while I was sitting there, but that's how it goes!

Replenished and satisfied, I returned my tray to the cafeteria, and then started walking around the pool. Walking under and around the whole thing really just reinforced how massive this thing is.

I continued on around the pond and made it out to the front. There, somewhere near the water I found a really informative sign that answered a few questions for me. For one I wasn't quite sure on the gearing of the whole thing (which were the drive gears, what the planetary/sun gears drove). Then, I had no idea how they kept the damn trays for the boats water-tight. Not easy when each tub can hold 500,000 liters of water! Well there was one perfect little sign that answered both of those questions, and with those answers, I was able to watch and analyze the giant machine a little more intelligently.

So many great views of this incredible thing. I continued on back towards the main patio to the side of the info center, and then saw some kind of plaque from the American Society of Civil Engineers. I know we're a boisterously proud country, but even our civil engineers too? This was a huge step for keeping the Forth and Clyde river canals operable, alive, and fully funtional, but I didn't know the ASCE was the world body for recognition of technical advancement. Oh well. Regardless of who certified its awesomeness, it's pretty incredible.

After making it out to the big courtyard, I got to say hi to a big 'ole husky. What a fluffy pillow. Such a nice litte puppy, but a bit skiddish. The owners were super friendly though and let me say hi. But before the wheel went again, I jumped over to the bridge to get a straight-on view of another rotation. What a cool marvel of engineering!

My next stop on the touristy day was off to the Kelpies. There was, in fact, a walking path from the Wheel all the way to the Kelpies that wandered along the canal through the town of Falkirk. I seriously contemplated taking it, or even jumping on a rental bike and pedaling on through (which in hindsight I should've done), but I was feeling cheap as always, and a little like wanting to save my legs. That decision finalized, I took in my last views of this modern marvel, then headed back to the car and was off.

The drive through Falkirk was a little stop and go. Not sure why, but for a Friday mid-afternoon there sure was a ton of traffic. So much so, I ended up not driving all the way and opted to find a place to park away from the actual park itself. That took me to a bit of an industrial area right on the walking path. From there, I was off and walking.

It was a fairly quiet and calm walk along the canal, and soon enough I got my first view of the Kelpies. Even from far away I knew this was gonna be a pretty cool spot to check out.

The canal kept going along, and then once it rounded a bend I came into sight of the whole Kelpies complex. This complex was connected by canal to the wheel back the other way, and although there weren't any boats coming or going, the water went right past the statues through a lock and eventually out to the River Forth. As I was walking up, I was already in awe of the two gigantic horse heads just sticking up out of the ground. As I walked up, I was happy to see one special sticker knowing I could take in this place without whizzing annoyance.

I've been a big fan of big statues and monuments, and the fact that many people along the trip recomended this place, meant this was a must-see for me. Walking up, I was already impressed by the roughly 30m tall statues. I took a moment to sit and soak them in at a bench in the courtyard before a while and then continued my walk and got up close with the big statues. These were pretty incredible, and incredibly life-like works of art.

These statues are not just meant to represent any horses, but more specifically, the Kelpie is a a mythical, shape-shifting horse-like creature from Scottish Folklore. Upon closer look at the statue, I was pretty astounded how the life-likeness of these horses could be brought to life by random geometric pieces of sheet metal. There was a tour you could take to go inside of it, but looking through the structure it was just a bunch of structural tubes for the inner skeleton, with these various shapes bolted on. Incredible usage of simple shapes to create something so alive.

On the far side, I found a place to sit down, take a load off, and enjoy these beasts. Again, really astounded by the usage of simple, flat shapes, to create such beautiful, tall, living structures.

After a nice break and some time to watch out over the park and the statues, I started wandering back towards the car. On the way out, I took a few looks back to enjoy the statues some more and then headed towards the locks right there to see if any boat traffic was coming or going. To my luck, there was a small sailboat cruising on through. Pretty impressive here, because the rear gates of the lock were still under manual operation. So the old guy and the young guy on watch got the gate ready to open so the little sailboat could continue on its journey.

My plans for the evening were coming up soon, but I still had some time to kill before heading over to Dunfermline. Connected to the Kelpies Complex was a big park that stretched down south. Not ready to head to the car yet, I walked around the park and just kinda kept it slow, steady, and relaxed. It was aimless, but I wandered around the little marshy area, then the big grassy areas. From the satellite view, it kinda looked like a cricket or a rugby pitch, but ended up being a gigantic pond. Got turned around on that one. But my stroll just kinda looped down, looped around, and then by the time I'd looped around it was time to head back to the car and head off to see Derek and Susan!

Remember back during the art tour in Glasgow? I met a lovely couple named Derek and Susan during the tour and then we went out for beers afterwards. Well we exchanged info and on my trip back down south, they'd invited me to come over for dinner and even spend the night! Such a lovely offer of hospitality. From Falkirk I jumped on the motorways and headed towards their place. It was a quick drive over, and soon enough, I'd rolled up and they welcomed me into their lovely home!

Right away I felt incredibly welcome. Derek and Susan were such gracious and friendly hosts and full of delicious things to share! As soon as I got in, we shuffled cars around to not confuse the neighbors, and then Derek whipped out some great beers and got me started with a delicious heather ale. From there, we headed out to their sun deck to chat. Great to catch up with them over my trip and learn more about them and their lives. All the while, their lovely puppy, Angus the English Terrier, was hanging around and doing his thing, being friendly, inquisitive, and chill as can be.

Soon enough dinner was ready to go, and Susan had a delicious fish pie ready to share! She was a little worried about it, but I'm not sure why because it turned out to be absolutely delicious. To go with it, Derek pulled out some more beer and we all enjoyed some yummy food with some continued conversation.

After dinner, we migrated over to the couch and finished off the evening with some more relaxing conversation. Little Angus was making himself known, and came over for some attention every now and then. Damn I need a dog.

Did I mention they were incredibly gracious and offered to have me spend the night? Well, as things winded down for the night, I had an early morning to head down to Peebles and they had an early morning bike ride with some friends, we wrapped things up and they showed me my bed for the night. I did my best to show my gratitude, but the bottle of wine and multiude of "Thank You!"s can't adequately thank such great people for such a wonderful offer. But seriously, what incredible generosity from such welcoming, friendly people!

Once I was all squared away, they hit the sack, and I did the same, with a belly full, tongue still savoring the food and beer, and a wonderful evening with some wonderful people.

Day 22 - Ride, Buy, and Head on Home

It was an early morning for me to get up, get out, and make it down to the TweedLove festival for my demo time slot. I'd agreed at night that I would be quiet in getting up and getting out, and did (I think) a good job in doing so to not wake them. Bummed to be leaving there, but so thankful for the wonderful evening and great hospitality that Derek and Susan extended to a random foreigner they met in Glasgow.

The morning was crisp and fresh as I got out to Rupert to hit the road headed south. I crept through the quiet streets in the fog and soon enough had found my way to the motorway. From there, I was in a bit of a trance just heading towards Peebles. I got through the Edinburgh metropolis pretty quick thanks to the early departure, and then dove back into the countryside as the road whiddled through the hills.

Before I got into town, I stumbled upon a beautiful little pullout in the middle of some beautiful fields. I parked, enjoyed the view and was really captivated by the composition of the road, the hills, the colors, and the whole area. But while sitting there and taking it in, I figured it would be smart to eat something for breakfast, so I whipped out the little camp stove and put together a little coffee and oatmeal to start my day off in the beautiful fresh air.

From that gorgeous little spot, it was just a little further down the road on the increasingly sunny day to get into Peebles. From the immediate looks of it, the festival had taken over the town, so I followed the signs to the designated parking spot and was lucky to find a spot. Yet again, the public bathrooms were closed (despite saying they were open, false advertising), but I got my shoes and gear on, and headed over to pick up my demo bike.

The TweedLove Bike Fest turned out to be pretty gigantic. Tons of stands and vendors and people all about. I went over to the registration desk and got my wristband, and headed over to Commencal to see if they had an spotaneously available demo bikes. No luck there, and I didn't want to waste my time hanging around, so I headed over to Revel and got squared away with my demo bike. Not really a fan of carbon frames, per se, but their carbon Rail was the only thing my size available for that time slot.

After checking in with them, I had to use the loo. That unfortunately meant running all the way across the complex to do so. While they got my bike set up, I went and did my business and by the time I returned it was time to dial in the suspension. Before I could ride off into the fresh, sunny morning, they had to give me the run down. As I learned, I only had an hour and a half with the bike. That kinda irked me, but as I set off to the trails, realizing it was a good 10min ride just to get to the start of the uphill climb, that made me pretty annoyed. And the kicker, for every 10min you're delayed or late in getting back, it's a 15£ penalty. Sheesh.

Not wanting to waste any time, I set off as quick as I could. Weaved my way through town and started pedaling up, following a group out ahead of me who looked like they knew where they were going, to get close to my first chance to go downhill. With the extremely tight timeframe and not knowing what trails were the most ideal for my riding tastes, I based my plan off of the recommendations from the two Scots at the top of Laggan a few days beforehand. First stop - Cool Runnings.

Unfortunately, there was a big Funduro (Fun Enduro... haha.) race going on that day, so a couple of the other trails I wanted to hit were all blocked off. Bummer. Nothing I could do about it.

After a hustled and pretty sweaty climb, I'd made it to Cool Runnings. This was supposed to be bermy and flowy and awesome according to those dudes. Geared up, ready to roll, and off I went. Turns out it was pretty ok. Rocky and a bit bermy, but not quite what I expected. Not bad for a first run though, and long enough to try and get dialed in on the Rail.

At the bottom I whipped out my map to see where I was off to next. As I was doing that, a couple other guys made it down the trail and we started chatting. One of them was headed towards a trail I was eyeing, so I pedaled along with him in that direction. I was a total loss though. It's not easy trying to keep up with someone on an eMTB.

Especially when it comes to uphill. Unfortunately, the route we were headed involved a lot of uphill. I put myself in overdrive and did my best to hang with him, but there was no chance. At some point, I got the vibe he was more there for the uphill than the downhill, so I broke off and went at my own (slower) pace to try and find some trails to enjoy.

Soon enough I'd found another trail I'd heard was good and bombed down that. It was a short one, and left me eager to find something more fun/challenging/long. This required a bit of a pedal, and unfortunately I could see the clock was ticking. I had to make the decision if I was going to try and shoot for two shorter trails with a bit of a pedal in between, or one long one with a bit of a pedal there and back. Opted for the one long trail, and it ended up being the right choice, time-wise and trail-wise.

Didn't mean the pedal over was quick or easy. I was sweating like a stuck pig, but made it over and took a break at the top. The morning was still dewey and misty, and I took advantage of the fresh air, enjoyed the bits of scenery, and took a little break. But since time was running out, the break was quick. Time to ride.

This turned out to be absolutely the best trail of the three I rode. Raw, rutty, rooty, technical, steep, and slippery as snot. But damn it was fun, and a damn good challenge. Had to throw a foot down a few times, but it was a great ride. If only I would've had my (no-longer) trusty steed to enjoy it...

A great ride, and thankfully it was a long trail, but it put me out a bit far away from the pavilion, and I was down to 15ish minutes to get back. Sucks having that kind of a time pressure to enjoy something like that. But, time to pedal, and pedal I did. Long story short, it ended up being no problem, just a bummer I had to rush it back.

Not only was my demo ride over, but in a way, so was my trip... That ride was the last real adventury thing that I had on the docket for my three weeks in what is the incredibly beautiful land of Scotland. I still had a long drive home, but that kinda signified the conclusion. Seriously, what a beautiful place.

But now to get home...

I kinda toyed with the idea of going for another ride, but knew the clock was ticking. I had an appointment in Doncaster for the afternoon, and had no intentions of missing it (more on that in a sec). Once I got back to Rupert, I got all my sweaty biking gear off and suited up for the car ride home. After a bit of stretching and cooling down, it was time to hit the road.

The route to Doncaster first had me going through some more country roads. I realized I still had a few pounds in my wallet, and although I already had a good bit of beer and whiskey to take smuggle home with me, might as well put the extra money to good use! I searched and found a Lidl on the drive out and popped in for a visit. I probably looked a good bit weird, but I stocked up on some delicious-looking craft beers (a bunch thanks to the great recommendations from Derek!) and was a bit of a mess at the checkout counter.

I didn't have any bags with me, and I couldn't take the cart/basket to the car. So I had to run out to the car, scramble together a couple tote bags, then run back in and bag it all up. Guarantee a couple people hated my guts for holding the line, but thankfully I wasn't in Germany, so no old Oma came over to passive-aggresively stare me down to death. Beers in the bag, it was out to the car to get this contraband stowed away.

I make it seem like I was doing something sketchy, but I kinda felt like I was. There's only a certain amount of alcohol you can transport into the EU per person, and I was 100% way over the limit. To better my chances, I did my best to hide and stow everything as best I could. I think I did a good job, but the verdict would come at the border checkpoint. But for now, it was off for a drive.

From the Lidl, I plugged in the address in Doncaster and had a few hours to just find a groove and enjoy the ride. That's exactly what I did in the rolly hills along the way. Once on the motorway, things just started floating on by.

Soon enough, sadly, I'd crossed the border leaving the wonderful country of Scotland. To say my expectations of this wonderful country were met would be a disservice - Scotland is absolutely incredible, and blew my expectations clean out of the water. The nature, the people, the whiskey, the hiking, the peace and quiet, the everything. Even before I'd left the country, I was putting together a plan of what I'd do the next time I come back. And I've got a feeling that time will be sooner rather than later...

The miles flew by and the countryside morphed through a number of variations of rolling hills and vast farmland, before skirting around Newcastle. Then, back to more quiet, calm, rolling hills and fields. After a few hours, I eventually approached Doncaster and jumped off the freeway. A few highways, a few other turns, and I was weaving my way through a random neighborhood hoping I was in the right spot.

What the hell was I doing? Meeting up with a guy named Adam to make a deal, if things looked good. As I drove up there were a few kids playing in the street, but Adam saw me coming and after I parked I went and met him at his car. After taking a look at it and sending him the cash, I had officially found myself a new (slightly used) bike!!!

All the searching on PinkBike had got me onto his ad, and he thankfully replied before I'd left the UK (that way I wouldn't be charged for the insane import fees). With a few strokes of luck, everything worked out and I was able to plan my trip home around the pickup of my sweet new (slightly used) frame!!! To say I was happy, relieved, and put at ease was an understatement. I was still incredibly bummed about what happened to my incredible old ride, but now, I had something to hold me over til I could figure out how my long-term bike plan was. Welcome to the Family, you lovely 2018 Transition Patrol! :-)

Once I got the new frame loaded in the car, I whipped out the map to start heading to a spontaneous new must-stop before I could head back to the EU. On the drive down, I saw a very familiar logo on a truck that I did not expect to see. After a quick search, and just a hop, skip, and a jump away in Sheffield, I'd stumbled upon a treasure I thought I'd only have at home. But now, in yet another foreign country, I got to experience a new Costco!

Costco? Just a big box store, nothing special. Well, that's where you're wrong! Cheap gas is one benefit, free snacks is a huge benefit, but this is also a little family thing, because my Mommy works at Costco! Because of that, I was on a couple of undercover missions. Just like I did in Japan, I had to figure out what was different about a UK Costco. Additionally, my new foreign-Coscto task, was to touch base with the optical department.

The first task was easy and fun. And it turns out, there's a number of subtle differences. On the whole, the high level, Costco's the same. Regardless of where you go, they follow their business model to a T. But as I was walking around, there were a number of things that I'd run across that I wish we had back home at Costco, and had me really wishing I had more money and a fridge (for some cheeses) to take a number of things back with me. Here are a couple things that stood out to me:

This was one of the many cheeses I was drooling over. So many good options, but I didn't have a way to keep any of it cool over the remaining drive. Whomp whomp whomp...

The options at the food court looked awesome. There was a Mango Smoothie that looked really good and I really wanted to try, but the line was gigantic.

How the hell is this not an option back home? These looked absolutely delicious!!!

Goddamnit Budweiser...

Who the FUCK needs 5kg of Mayo!?!? If anywhere, I would've expected something this back home in the US. But damn, this was nuts.

Apparently the UK doesn't have any choosy moms...

When all was said and done, there was so much that I wanted to pack up and take home. But, I minimized the damage to a few bags of Sun Chips (which are called Sun Bites, because chips mean fries), and a couple tubs of nuts. Nothing too extravagant, but one to scratch an itch, and one to make my version of trail mix!

The task related to the optical department was a fun one too. As soon as I walked in, I headed over and went to give the backstory, me being the unofficial ambassador of US Costco visiting the UK. The two ladies at the counter enjoyed the story and after explaining my connection to my Mom, who's a Costco Optical Department colleague, they both sent their regards to my Mom as I was chatting with her while I was there!

I went around and walked about, and then my Mommy sent me a picture of her at work, so I had to go back and show them. Well Mary and Beth at the counter of the Sheffield Costco were absolutely tickled! After showing them my Mom in her Costco, they offered to send some greetings back to my Mom. And that's exactly what they did. What lovely people! Nice when a little fun, a random connection, and multi-national corporation can pull random strangers together. Thanks for the wonderful chat and great greetings Mary and Beth!

Another great Costco adventure. Again, it's crazy how they can maintain such a consistent image, setup, and structure throughout the world. With my chips and nuts I was back out to Rupert to get everything fully squared away, packed, and ready for my transit back into the EU. In Sheffield I had a better idea of when I'd be down to the southern coast for the trip through the channel. Unfortunately, the Chunnel was outrageously expensive again, and thankfully there was another option. The ferry wasn't quite all that cheap either (well, it was the night before, but I didn't book in the interest of flexibility), but it was still almost half the cost of the chunnel, so that was the clear winner.

One last stop in Sheffield had me find a supermarket for snacks and dinner. But once that was all set, it was back in the car and off to catch a boat 'home'. (Quotes because it was still another 8hrs after landing back in France) Getting out of Sheffield was straightforward, and the motorway was still smooth sailing as I got underway. The drive went by relatively fast, and soon enough I was weaving through the rats nest that is London. Thankfully I didn't have to go to the center of town, but even finding my way through the outskirts made me get a taste of just how big that town is.

Getting out of London left only about an hour until I reached the ferry terminal in Dover. As soon as I rolled up I was blown away with just how gigantic the terminal was! I was pretty bummed I was seeing it at night time, because I would've been even more floored if I could've seen everything in clear light, including the amazing cliffs (The Cliffs of Dover), that were obscured by the dark of night.

Once I rolled up, it was fairly lowkey, but it was clear the terminal was on skeleton staff, because the line was barely crawling along. I got through the customs checkpoints pretty easily (Successful Smuggling WooHoooooo!!!), and then jumped in line for my ferry line. That was even slower, but I eventually got up to the window and figured out where I needed to go.

It was still a good half hour til boarding or so, but I maneuvered through the massive terminal, under and around bridges and such, and found myself in line. Once parked, I got out to enjoy the beautiful harbor air and walk around. Great way to take the gigantic complex in as our boat unloaded, a boat down the way loaded, and the quiet calm of the nighttime activity deftly went about its business.

I was only in line for a good 10-15 minutes, and then we were ready to board. Gotta love efficiency like that. Revved up and ready to go, our train of cars drove up the ramp and entered the gigantic boat to take us across the English Channel. Similar to the other ferries from the trip, no loitering around the car deck while underway. So I grabbed my camera and water and such and was up to the decks to pass the time.

For some reason, it took me a long while to find the upper viewing platform. For a minute there I thought there wasn't one, or at least no passenger access. But after some hunting and searching I was out on the deck and checking out the harbor before departure. Again, what a massive facility!

Before we took off, I got to watch the giant boat to the side of us depart and head out of the jetty. Crazy big boats maneuvering so smoothly is fun to watch. I was kinda bummed, because the viewing deck was a good bit limited, but I crawled and walked around a good bit in the fresh midnight air. That combination of sea water, a light breeze, and a cool night, really helps put you in a calm mindset.

I hung out on the deck for a while, but shortly after we were underway and leaving sight of land, I knew there wasn't all that much for me to see at night under the black sky and the dark blue water. Bummer, but my eyes aren't quite night-vision certified. Since it was already pretty late, I was a good bit tired too. Thankfully, there was an open plushy bench in one of the hallways, and I plopped down to knock out for a while.

I ended up being more tired than I anticipated, because I didn't wake up until the call to head back down to the cars. Good thing I heard that at least! I followed the masses, got back to Rupert, and soon enough we were docked and driving off back onto EU soil.

It was a good bit past midnight now, and I knew I needed some more sleep. No use pushing the last stretch home. I started down the highway, and soon enough stumbled upon a rest stop. Once I rolled in I scoped the parking possibilities and there were a good few open spots, so I found a quiet one, leaned the drivers seat back, threw on some blinders, and I was out like a light.

There's something like situations like that night. I was completely out on my own, on an adventure, no time restrictions, and had the ability to really do anything I wanted. I could've driven off to Denmark, could've kept driving, could've just done whatever. No one knew I was there, I was cruising out on my own. I'm not doing a good job of describing, but I felt completely free and on my own. Boringly, I opted for sleep, but still, it felt freeing...

Day 23 - The Home Stretch

Car sleep is not the best sleep in the world. But the lack of comfort had me awake before the sun. Knowing I wouldn't be getting much more sleep anyways, I decided to hit the road. Again, the free and open feeling of being out on the road and in control of my own journey. Popping back out on the highway, I got to taste the full color palatte as the sun slowly worked its way into the sky.

Once I was up and running, it was just a matter of chugging through the miles. By then, I was pretty ready to be back home and in the comfort of my apartment (and to sleep in my own bed!!!), but it was still a good 6 hours out. With a few podcasts, I just zoned in, focused on the road and conversations coming through the stereo, and kept chugging along.

Eventually, the road took me along a stretch of road I'd traveled with my amazing friends Zack, Dawn, and Kat, wayyyy back when. The reason I remembered it, we'd stopped off and explored the European Space Center's facilities in Belgium, and I'd just driven right on by. How did my posts turn from tiny snippets like that into gigantic novels like this...

Chugging along and chuggling along. Belgium morphed for a hot second into Luxembourg, and then soon enough, I'd crossed the border back into Deutschland! Cruising through Saarland, then through the Pfalz, and soon enough, I'd rolled back into Karlsruhe. Damn it felt good to be back home.

Since I had a ton of stuff to schlepp up to the apartment, I parked in the loading zone to get to work. As soon as I got out of the car, I was shocked and extremely lucky to see what I saw. Somehow, the rear axle of my now-defunct bike had somehow wiggled its way out and was hanging on. Definitely not by a thread, but hanging on for dear life.

After pushing the axle back in, it took me an hour just to get everything unloaded and up to my apartment. I was pretty pooped after the long drive and hauling things up the stairs, so for dinner I headed down to my döner shop down the street, grabbed me a good Yufka to go, and headed home with it. Once back home and sitting at my kitchen table, tired and weary, I cracked open some of my treasured Secret Aardvark hot sauce, paired with one of the great beer recommendations from Derek, and had me a lazy but absolutely delicious dinner.

Dinner all finished up, it was time to start the unpacking. Doing my usual method of just dumping everything out and slowly shuttling things to where they belng, I slowly made some headway. But slowly is definitely the operative word here.

Part of the unpacking process was putting together all the contraband I'd smuggled into the EU. Happy to say that all of it made it back safely and is ready for me and my friends to enjoy over some great meals, great conversations, and great times. :-)

Throughout the unpacking process, it was great to reflect on an absoultely incredible trip. It dawned on me just how lucky I was to be back out and traveling and adventuring again. I love me a good trip, and what a great one this was.

Good, Bad, Different

Continuing on with the wonderful tradition I gained through the experiences in my CBYX years, here is another installment of Good, Bad, Different! This is the part of the story where I categorize (comically, against the teachings of my exchange program cultural training) all of the things that I noticed and what stood out being in an environment foreign to me. With that, here goes!

Good

• People are baseline super friendly. Maybe the comparison to Germany (aka baseline anger) influences this a bit, but people are so bubbly, and it's awesome. My first interaction in Scotland was at Starbucks. I had to ask the guy to repeat himself a coupla times on a coupla things just to understand him, and he was super patient, super friendly, and super bubbly throughout it all!
• There are separate road signs meant for navigation (white) and tourist-stuff (brown). This was super helpful, and helped highlight how much history there is, how many monuments there are, and all the touristy things to dive into!
• Small-scale wind energy is pretty prevalent. Even if it's just a single small turbine on someone's roof or property, people are geared up and ready to harness the windiness of Scotland. Pretty awesome to see.
• The usage of credit cards and tap to pay. Again, maybe because I'm used to the stone-age nature of Germany, but Scotland and the UK made it so damn easy to pay for things. Credit card, tap, done. That was such a breath of fresh air.
• No tipping required! A total is the total, and no extra on top. Yet another country that realizes that food service deserves a living wage...
• Masks in Scotland were required at the entrance to every establishment, and people held to it respectfully. Weirdly enough, England and Wales didn't have this requirement. Crazy the differences within the UK.

Bad

• Shit's expensive, yo. The prices are pretty much numerically the same as elsewhere. But because the pound is such a strong currency, bam, that exchange rate is gonna cost you.
• Similar to Germany and throughout Europe, coffee is not like American coffee. Instead, a coffee means an espresso diluted with hot water, which is not my understanding of coffee. Bummer.
• Separate hot and cold tap handles are extremely prevalent. Why? Why not blend so you can configure and have it mixed for you? Having to swap between a hot and cold stream out of separate taps is annoying.
• No alcohol sales after 10pm or before 10am. Bars and restaurants excluded. But seriously? What sadistic group of individuals would think up such a thing!?

Different

• Instead of using the unit declaration 'mi' for mile, a single 'm' is used. This is, however, the unit declaration for meters. After coming in from the EU (where everything is metric), this was really confusing at the start, and befuddling once I recognized it.
• There are honestly tons of older cars on the road, at a notably higher rate than what I remember in the US or in Germany. Not sure why this might be the case, but even within the first day of driving, -20’s, -30’s, -40’s series cars popping up every now and then. Kinda cool.
• This one doesn’t make too much sense to me, but the overall quality of roadways is notably poor. Country roads are extremely rough, and even freeways are bumpy and rough. Not sure how that came to be, but damn, make sure your suspension and alignment is in good order before driving up there off the motorways.
• There are some really tall semi trailers here. It’s not every single one, and maybe it’s a niche use, but some look to be 4-5m tall, like 15’-17’ or something like that, aka abnormally tall compared to a standard height.
• You know, the whole driving on the left thing...
• The usage of “No Bother” instead of “No Problem”. Different, and a touch more warm and friendly.
• A lot of crosswalks don’t have a rhythm or order to them. Instead, pedestrians go from all directions in one go, and then car directions go in order. Weird not to have the pedestrians flow with the traffic, but instead have them all blast across all at once.
• Big on giving sauces with whatever you order. Doesn’t matter what you get, but a lot of places boast about their sauce variety. Garlic and chili seem to be the two most popular.
• Speed limit signs are all kinds of tiny. Really tiny.
• All the different word differences, chips, loo, lorry, aye, wee... It's English, yeah, but you gotta watch out for those different words or else it'll slip you up.

Let the Commentary Begin...

Musical Realizations

This doesn't really have anything directly to do with memories, per-se, but while I was writing up this post and my post about going home, I somehow got onto Mac Miller and had his tunes (most of his new stuff) giving me some good vibes while I was writing.

Well, during a mental break I looked him up and realized he's dead. Died in 2018 due to a drug overdose. Which, as I put 2 and 2 together, one of the albums I was listening to (Circles) was a posthumous release. That kinda shocked me a bit. Good music, and from someone who put out a ton and had enough stored up for a release after he was gone.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but it was a bit of a weird realization.

More Commentary

In the interest of getting this post polished off and done, I'll save more commentary for a later post. This thing's long enough to begin with anyways... I'd be surprised if anyone makes it this far.

Next Up

Once again, there's two versions of this section. One, next up according to the timeline of theses words on this site. The second, the timeline of real-time me and what's going on with my life taking into consideration the massive time-delay of my blog and my actual life.

For the blog line of life, it's mid-September, and fall is fast approaching. I've got a busy Fall planned, and ready to jump into all of it.

For the real line of life, I've just spent three months doing a shit ton of writing and picture processing to get my US and Scotland blogs written up and done. I've put on a few pounds in the process, spent a bunch of weekends holed up at home to get progress done, and still have the last few months to write about. I'm kinda questioning my motivations in all of this and the reason I'm doing all this typing and such, but so far the stubbornness and tradition of it is winning out. We'll see how it goes.

Adding to that, work has been insane the last few weeks, and I've still got about a week of work left until I can take off for the holidays. Needless to say, but I'm really looking forward to that.

Thanks everyone/anyone for following along! Take care, stay healthy, and keep on adventuring out there!

Dates Covered in Post: August 27th -- September 19th, 2021
Original Publish Date: December 16th, 2021