It Wasn't Quite As Bad As The Terra Nova Expedition

I have always professed that the two best reasons to go backpacking are as follows: 1. To come home after backpacking and 2. To brag about how horrible it was.

Why do I keep on doing it? Is it because I'm a conceited, emulous pig and I want to be better at everything than everyone else?

mmmmmmmmm... yes

Day 4. Elgol Harbor. 8 am.

After another bitterly cold morning, we arrived at the harbor for our trip into Loch Coruisk and the Black Cullins. An older couple eventually joined us and we started sharing niceties. We eventually realized that the man (and 2nd wife?) was the father of the owner of the store that we had shopped in the day before. He had between 7-9 other children in the Highlands somewhere and he was on a grand tour. Some people get around... Eventually the boat crew arrived and we got our safety briefing, etc. We took the tour with Bella Jane. Now, on their website you'll see a picture of a nice big ol' blue boat. We assumed we would be taking that one into the Loch.

WRONG

We instead would be taking a RIB. Now, Merrie is absurdly afraid of water. This did not come as a very comforting realization. We played it cool and got on our weird saddle seats and braced for the ride. Fast-forward 30 minutes and we just had one of the coolest experiences of our lives. I do not have any videos or pictures while on board, but we were moving at quite a good clip. The water was spraying everywhere and the scenery was just crazy. Right before we landed there were seals, and seal pups, on a little island near us. It was a good time.

The RIB going away with the seal island on the left. It's difficult to see the scale of the Cullins, but I think this picture does a nice job.

Merrie infront of Sgurr na Stri. Another scale picture. (That was also the mountain we intended to scale)

Loch Coruisk and Me. We're buds. It's unfortunate it was such a poor day.

That's what it should have looked like. From the mountain we should have gone up. You may have won this battle nature...

 Of all days, everyone predicted this one to be the nicest. It really ended up being the worst... Maybe next time. We started the hiking day by trying to circumvent the perimeter of the loch but we just realized it would take too long with how wet the ground was. Regardless, we had a good time walking around the loch for a while. We made it back to our insertion point where we had to cross a fairly widely spread out rock bridge/damn. It was pretty intense. Falling in could really ruin... a lot. We eventually made it. Bodies, clothes, packs, and iPhones were all safe. From this point we started walking up a "trail" towards Srath na Creitheach and Glen Sligachan. About half way up, the trail completely disappeared and it started to steadily rain. At this point we really had to just say "screw it." Every part of us was going to get wet and we knew theoretically where we were, lets just get up the ridge. After an uncomfortable climb, we had an unrewarding tuna lunch at the top of the ridge. In the planning stages, we thought we might climb Sgurr na Stri to get a better view of the Cullins, but it was just far too wet and visibility was horrid. It would have been pointlessly dangerous. Did I still bitch about not trying? Refer to my statement near the top...

Glen Sligachan with River Sligachan snaking through it. This was just when it started to clear up. Those two lakes were only about a third of the way to Sligachan.

Thankfully it really started to clear up after we started to descend. Again, Skye presented us with a completely different environment. Merrie commented that it looked prehistoric. I agree. We had a good time crossing about 80 creeks that bled into River Sligachan in the Mexico-ish scenery. It stayed reasonably dry on the ground and in the air, so it that was a blessing considering how soaked we'd gotten the entire morning. 

We knew that the town(?) of Sligachan consisted of one large hotel and maybe 4 other houses. It also was the first place to have a proper campsite. We had gotten pummeled enough by the elements that we kept our faith up by saying that we were going to stay in the hotel that night, regardless of how the evening actually ended up. From about 3-4 miles out we could start to see it. The building was a nice goal to have in our sights. By the mid afternoon we made it to Sligachan to find out that the campsite was not "open" and did not have showers, or toilets, or laundry. With this awful twist, we pulled the trigger and got a hotel room. It got upgraded for free. That was cool. Being Merrie's first real backpacking trip, she was being an absolute trooper. We needed a treat. It was really a pretty brutal day of about 13-14 miles in the end. In hindsight, the hotel really kept the trip alive. The room was big enough that we emptied out or bags and slew all of our sweaty and just plain wet clothes and equipment all over the floor, heaters, and heated towel racks. After about 18 baths each, we had an embarrassingly pitiful PB&J dinner in our nice seating area. Merrie probably went to bed at 8pm and I reveled in BBC Scotland. I saw this documentary about Scott's failed Terra Nova Expedition and it was probably the best thing I've seen on TV this entire time I've been here. You know you're destined for greatness when your middle name is Falcon.

That was a pretty rewarding day. Maybe our middle names should be Falcon. God knows, Merrie needs another one...

Mhm

The next morning after our Torrin experience we headed out for Elgol. We had to backtrack a little bit back to the "main road" and go around the rim of Loch Slapin with what I believe to be the Red Cullins all around us. Instead of sticking to the road for the whole trip, we decided to veer off and do our first "unmarked" hiking. We started walking along the trail towards Bla Bheinn but instead went south and paralleled the road to the East and the An Carnach ridge to the West. This was the first time we really experienced the bog of Scotland. Merrie had adequate boots, which she had gotten only a few days before we left, and worked... wonderfully! (Thank the Lord) I, however, was using some trusty hiking shoes that were very "breathable." I knew they had to be re-waterproofed, which I did twice, but that still didn't seem to help at all. For the rest of the trip the bog and staying dry was our real enemy. With every step you could see your foot push a pool of water out of the saturated ground around your foot. It was really unnerving. You really didn't know what was solid and what would engulf your foot.

Looking elated getting, and purify, water near rusty electrical equipment feeding into the creek.

A picture of the mossy woods. Do not be fooled, that ground is not dry, at all.

 We had lunch in a cool forested area almost completely covered in moss. It was neat. Just after that, we got back onto the road near Kirkibost/Kilmarie. From there we kept near the coast. For any Jethro Tull fans, we passed by Ian Anderson's old house as well as Dun Ringill... Anyway, the coastal walk was pretty straightforward. It eventually turned into a fireroad type of trail and we got a little mixed up when we walked through someone's front yard when we were actually supposed to walk through their backyard. Oh well...

Me looking savage in a picture on a road between Elgol and Glasnakille. Behind me should be the isles of Soay and Rum. Let me also point out how dry the ground looks just a few feet to my right. Unfortunately, it's not, at all. It is utterly and completely soaked.

Eventually we hit Glasnakille and headed west across the Strathaird peninsula towards Elgol. We didn't have time to hit a pretty impressive coastal cave known as Spar Cave. However, in hindsight, I don't think we had enough battery power and we didn't know the tides (because you can get stuck in it). The little hike from Glasnakille to Elgol had an alien and barren landscape. Again, it was neat. On our way into Elgol we saw a few perfect campsites and the first real building in the town we hit was the "village hall" pictured in the wikipedia article. Coincidentally, this doubled as the only store in the town. We got a few more supplies and a free can opener (because I really turned on the charm). From there we went down to the harbor and got us some tickets into Loch Coruisk the next morning. The harbor also has one of the most badass primary schools I've ever seen in my life. I can see why people never leave.

Merrie peering out of our tent at our campsite just outside of Elgol.

From there we went back to our campsite and had some dinner and the only fire of our trip. So that was Day 3.

I'm So Lazy

We last left off on Day 2 of Scotland.

We had a (soon to be standard) early morning and caught the ferry over to Armadale in the Sleat area of Skye. We spent some time in the harbor area talking to other hikers and imaging the almost certain fairy-tale lives of the other passengers on the ferry. We also were given some nuggets of knowledge about transportation in Skye by a photographer and his little shop. (I used to have his card, but I seem to have misplaced it... I'm sure it's around here somewhere...) Eventually, and apparently luckily, our bus showed up. From the harbor we got the bus all the way up to Broadford. From there, our first day of real hiking began. 

Images from the bus ride to Broadford

Another one

In Broadford

We headed south out of Broadford towards Torrin. We had a clear, but very windy, day. It was difficult to talk when we were walking in to the wind. The first real mountains that welcomed us were Beinn na Caillich and Beinn Dearg. They were a dominating feature for almost the whole hike. Before we headed towards the coast, we stopped off at Cill Chriosd. It was pretty. After that little side trip we continued south until we hit the ruined settlements of Boreraig and Suisnish. Both of these settlements' populations were forcibly removed as part of the Highland clearances in 1853 by the Macdonald clan. This was to make way for sheep, since they were more profitable than people. While walking in between the two ruins I might have accidentally steered us up a pretty steep sheep trail instead of the nice coastline... Oh well, it looked like the trail when we started... After a few leaps of faith and some bushwhacking we made it back down.

Merrie in Broadford with Beinn na Caillich and Beinn Dearg behind

Me looking like an absolute twat with Loch Eishort and Sleat behind

Boreraig

More Boreraig

We liked Boreraig

More Loch Eishort

After the two settlements, we started heading back North with Loch Slapin to our left. The trail had turned into a gravel road by this point and the hiking was pretty straightforward. Along the way there was a nice bench dedicated to a man and his dog. They apparently had the right idea because the view was pretty stunning. We had a very deserving rest there for a while. Eventually we hit Kilbride. It was annoying having to circle around for an extra mile or two because of a quarry which we didn't see on the map, but it was all ok, until we got to Torrin.

Now, until this time, we were under the illusion that towns that looked like the size of Torrin on our map, would have things like... stores, or gas stations, or restaurants. Nopes. There was a telephone booth and one "cafe" that had a very small window of opening times. Looking back, there are around 35 structures individually marked on the map. They were all house or barns. That's not very many. After this sad revelation (since most "towns" on our maps were Torrin's size or smaller) it began to rain. So, we headed on to a boggy, marshy hillside and looked for a descent campsite for a half hour. We never found one, but we camped there anyway...

So, that was Day 2.

I DECLARE MY EXAMS OVER.

So... Now that life has slowed back down over the past couple days, I feel like I can devote the time that I really need to share/chronicle some of our peregrinations. God knows I won't do it once we get back. So, all you already bored summer kids can check out some of the fun we were having.

I believe we last left off at Scotland. That started (checks calender) on the 14th of April.

After returning from London, we both began to kick ourselves over the fact of not even giving ourselves a full day of rest/preparation. I believe we got somewhere between 3-5 hours of sleep that night. The day of the 14th we awkwardly got ourselves a bus down to the train station with our 40lbs bags and unknowingly got on one of the best train rides in the world. Literally. Check it out. So we had a nice time attempting to stay awake for that trip. It was unfortunately a little bit, or maybe a lot, overcast, so we really didn't get to see all that we would have liked. It's a pretty interesting story. I'm sure my dad has read a book on it. Probably.

Anyway, our train eventually ended up in Glasgow and we had an afternoon to spend there before our train all the way to Mallaig. We were departing from a different station than our arrival so we wandered around Glasgow for a while attempting to find the station. It only looked like it was a block or two away but somehow it still managed to take awhile. While there, we bit the bullet and splurged on a baggage storage box. Unfortunately we couldn't have knifes or explosives or etc etc etc. SO, we ended up walking around for the afternoon with a bottle of butane. Needless to say, it was preeettty awkward. Don't mind me, I've just got some really explosive gas in my hand, in your store. Nothing to worry about. We eventually found a Tesco and bought some tiny amount of food so I could put it in a bag. While there we also ate at a fantastic little pub where I got myself a steak pie and Merrie had (gasp) macaroni and cheese. After the moving culinary masterpiece, we then decided to wait some more, and then some more. Gonna be honest here. Glasgow, nice to see, not that much to do. Additionally, after about the 4-5 block square city center, I felt like we were walking through a 3D documentary of inner city violence and poverty. Apparently it's getting better, good for them.

Finally our train left for Mallaig and we had about... if I recall correctly... somewhere around 20-25 stops? Again, this trip was a complete continuation of the beauty of our first train trip of the day, but there was also a continuation of the clouds. We got to see a lot of the mainland highlands, the Trossarchs, and Loch Lomond. The entire rest of the of the trip Merrie serenaded me to Bonnie Backs O' Loch Lomond. It was nice when the sun went down and we didn't have to strain our necks as much and just go to sleep (we would need it). We eventually ended up in the small harbor town of Mallaig at around 11:30. A few weeks before we left for the trip, we thought to ourselves, do we want to be all bland and boring and actually book a hostel in Mallaig? We thought, noooo nooooo... We want a STORY. So here's your story. Guess what? The one hostel by the train station didn't have any vacancies! Duh. Cut to about an hour later and we have walked about the entire town and there seems to be about 2 places with vacancies. One looks like we wouldn't wake up in the morning (if you catch my drift) and the other was on a nice hill overlooking the bay where we would cost us all of our cash and our firstborn child. At this point we decided to just start heading out of town to camp in the nice soft ground which muuuuust be near by. On our way out of town we past another b&b which claimed to have vacancies. After our creepy 15 minute walk, we turned around and tried the b&b. 20 Minutes later we were rejected by a grumpy women in pajamas that had neglected to change her sign. At this point we probably fought some and then went on a trip down a previously unseen street. On this magic street was a big hotel! There's not a single light on in the entire place. But wait, is that a small pub/hotel a few doors down? Yes, yes it is. Is the door still open? Yes, yes it is. Is there a light on? No, no there isn't. Do we yell out into the dark anyway? Yes, yes we do. Does a scared man answer us and think we're ghosts? Yes, yes he does. Does the scared man eventually state that he was just about to leave through the back door and we would not have gotten a room? Yes, yes he does. Do they end up having vacancies? No, no they don't. By this time it is on the latter half of the 1 o'clock hour and the chap recommends climbing a hill which we had previously walked by on our way out of town. Long story long, we end up going back out to this mini-quarry thing, climbing it, realize my batteries on headlamp are dying, Merrie's headlamp brakes, were we eventually find a decently flat and dry enough place to set up the tent. In hindsight, it was one of the nicest campsites we had. Eventually, we get to bed probably around 2:30, 3 hours after our train arrived, and less than 6 hours from when our ferry departed. Did I mention we had 40lbs packs on the entire time we did this? I think we got our story... and maybe a lesson... maybe...

The view from our tent after night pitch. Pretty good start.

Another view of our soon to be infamous tent.

A view of of some of the houses in the Harbor of Mallaig while we were on the ferry to Armadale. I think the one on the hill in the middle might have been the "expensive" B&B.

THERE CAN ONLY BE TTTTTWWWWOOOOOOOOOO (part ?)

I had a (read: a few) Budweiser the other day. It tasted American. It also says and I quote, "We know of no brand produced by any other brewer which costs so much to brew and age." Umm what? That's cool Budweiser... That's a strong selling point. I'm sure your investors love having less of a profit margin since you cost about exactly the same as everything else.

BACK TO THE ACTION

Since we last left off Jack Bau... I mean Luke and that other girl... they had just arrived at a creepy airport in East London. Border control decided we weren't Portuguese terrorists, so they let us back in. From there we bought some tickets back into Tottenham Hale (not nearly as cool a stop as Fulham Broadway) and then to King's Cross. We had a great dinner at Nando's. After this point, the situation quickly deteriorated...

-We had no map or idea of where our hostel was.
-It started to rain (surprise).
-Only I brought my phone for communication purposes. The number of contacts I have on my still in Spanish phone: 0

I remembered glancing at google maps once before we left so I would know which tube stop was the closest.
Sweet baby Jesus combined with a normally horrible memory led us to the correct hostel in about 15 minutes. I think Merrie was mad at me. I can't imagine why.

Once reunited with our Leeds buds we took a nice stroll (since it had, of course, cleared up by this point) before we tucked into our super weird cubicle style bunk beds.

The next day's visits included:

-British Museum (We saw the Rosetta stone and dozens of mummies and coffins among an untold amount of history)

-Westminster Abbey (It was highway robbery to get in, but we saw a ton of dead people)

-Buckingham Palace and some of the gardens (they were setting up for the London Marathon while we were there)

-The outside of the HMS Belfast, Winston Churchill's Britain at War Experience, the natural history and science museums, and the Tate Modern. (This was mostly related to money and time, except the Tate, that just would have been boring.)

-Millennium Bridge (something happened to it in the Harry Potter movies. I don't really care to know.)

-Chipotle (no, it was not as good.)

-Mr. Wu's (This title is actually a misnomer. I don't think any of us are really sure what it is called. It just is. Regardless, it has the cheapest Chinese buffet in London ever. You can't beat £6.50.)

-The laundry room at the hostel (Hallelujah.)

As far as the next day is concerned, we used one of our Brit rail passes and headed on out to Salisbury. It was honestly a great town. We visited the cathedral and, of course, Stonehenge. It was a little bit rainier and colder than the day before, but we got by. We intended to visit Bath, but we just ran out of time. We used our priceless passes to hitch a train back to King's Cross St. Pancras and headed north to Leeds.

I was really excited

THERE CAN ONLY BE OOOOOOOONNNNEEEEEEE (part 1)

SO.... since we last talked, coach had benched me for a blogger that was much more reliable (ie: Merrie).

BUT I'M THE STAR! I'VE GOT THE PIZAZZ!!!!?!!!

So I'm blogging today. I've got a 94mph fastball and a decent splitter. Hopefully not many readers are southpaws, which will give me trouble.My ERA's only 2.47 for the season... sooooooooooooo

My random baseball rant has made me check espn and realize how much I miss web gems. Plus the Blue Jays are already below .500. All of the AL East seems to be sucking anyway... THIS COULD BE THE YEAR


Since we last left off, I believe we were still in Portugal? Overall this was a more than incredible experience. We stayed in one of the only 5 star resorts on the island and did absolutely nothing for an entire week. This is half in part to our actual exhaustion and half from the price of a double cheese burger being about $3.50. (You can guess how much anything else costs from that one statistic). We had a steady diet of pasta and honey liquor since 1. we were afraid of the seafood 2. we didn't have an oven 3. the refrigerator was about as successful as a cabinet at keeping things cold. There was also a mishap with ketchup and cheese flavored Cheetos®. Things happen when you can't read Portuguese.

Oh yeah, who only brought dirty close assuming there would be laundry in the room and there wasn't? Not us of course... >_>  

Recap of some cool things that happened:

1. Portuguese park kittens. Foreign cat's are extra cute because you get to imagine them with accents.

2. French ships either don't have guns or have laser technology. Honestly I would assume it's some kind of communications ship helping coordinate UN forces in Libya? Cool except for the French part.

3. Madeira did not, I repeat, did not get ugly while we were there. It also had a lot of flowers.

4. Why do they get cooler cereals?! They are paying a premium for it. I know where you live Nestle. Watch out.

5. Big chess is more fun. It just is.

We made it to the airport without any difficulty and got back on our plane to the mecca of air travel: Stansted. Honestly, if anyone is considering budget airlines, don't do it. You're treated like cattle and there are a lot of alpha types that think they deserve to be in front of you. I don't want to have to give someone the people's elbow for a window seat.

Coming Soon

                                Once we have recovered a bit from our trip I'll post our pictures!

Can you spot me???

Are We There Yet?

This past weekend has been great! It was also a major learning lesson. Lets start back on Friday night-

The ancient walls!

We had gone to the store to buy camping food and finished packing our bags around 9:30 pm with plans to leave for the Yorkshire Dales at 10am. Luke's flatmates were having a send off for one of them who is hitch hiking her way to Morocco ( apparently its safer here than in the US?) We dropped in to say hello and ended up hanging out and talking with them until 4am because we were having so much fun! I've been sick for about a week and have a rather horrific cough so I haven't slept well at all, all week. I woke up Saturday morning coughing at around 9am after about 4ish hours of sleep. We decided to get up and go get euros for our trip to Portugal which we were leaving for on Sunday night. After that we got our packs on and started off for the Dales!

Along the canal in Skipton.

We got on the wrong bus. Well, we knew it was the wrong one- it only went about halfway to where we wanted (Skipton) and we thought "Hey, it won't be that much more to catch the next bus there and get it to Skipton." WRONG. It ended up costing us about twice as much to get to Skipton. No biggie, lesson learned. It was about 12 when we made it to Skipton. Buses make me SO carsick so it was nice to have a little break before getting on the bus to Malham, our final destination. That bus ended up being even more than the other two. We were grumbling and rather exhausted when we boarded and settled in for the last leg of the journey there. Then we entered the Dales. The photographs and videos don't do it justice. It was breathtaking. And there were baby lambs everywhere.

From the top of the first hike

We started off hiking along an ancient roman wall to a cliff that used to be a huge waterfall. See below video. I know I'm saying things in the video but the wind is too strong so you can't hear me. I'm sure it wasn't anything that interesting anyway. I'm rather ramble-y in front of the camera.

From the top we hiked down a few miles to Gordale Scar. It had a really steep waterfall in the very center, but I was too scared to climb it with my pack. That thing is heavy! At the base of the scar there is a camping ground where we had planned to pitch for the night. We went to the house to pay for a place and got in line behind a lady who was waiting for the owner. We were outside this perfect little farmhouse nestled against an ancient cliff surrounded by beautiful fields when the owner came crawling out of a very dingy, rusty, nasty little trailer. Luke said like he looked as if he had just shot up meth, dropped a cigarette on his 100 year old flannel, burned straight through it and then decided to wander out to kill us. I like to think we slipped away unseen but I'm sure it was pretty obvious we were freaked out of our minds. We decided to stay elsewhere.

Gordale Scar

It was about 5pm then and I was getting pretty tired because of my lack of sleep lately so we headed back into town the scenic way, true Talian style. Luke's dad never likes to go the same way twice if there is a new and untraveled way to go. Luke agrees. I usually agree, but my boots are about 2 sizes too small ...(I'm getting new ones before we go to Scotland- there's an awesome sale going on in Leeds for them!) Anyway, we got to town about an hourish later. The other campsite was at the top of a little hill behind the town and when we got up to it there was a tiny "No Vacancy" sign hanging on the fence. How can a field be "full"?? I saw plenty of green spaces. Stingy.

It was either hike back to the killer's campground or go to the hostel. We went to the hostel. It was fine and fairly affordable. We preceded to eat absolutely everything we had packed except for breakfast. This was our trial run, now we know we need more food.

Then all hell broke loose. We found out from the hostel lady that Malham, for three Sunday's out of the WHOLE YEAR, doesn't run buses. None at all. A taxi would be 20 pounds. We both felt that we'd already had to spend over what we wanted to to get there by bus, and we had to pay for a hostel and really didn't want to pay 20 to just get to Skipton and have to another 10 to get back home. So, being completely out of our minds, we decided to get up at 6am and walk the 12 miles to Skipton to catch the noon bus to Leeds. 12 miles isn't that far, right?? Well, truthfully, 12 miles isn't far at all its simply trying to walk it without much food, ill fitting boots and a severe time limit that made it a little difficult. Oh, and our map didn't have a sizable section which included half of our hike there. We got up at 6 and started out about 7am. The hike itself was gorgeous. We walked through tons of fields with baby lambs everywhere. We crossed a beautiful brook sever times and the final 4ish mile were along the canal which was quite busy that day (for a canal.) Anyway, we made it! We about died the last mile and I wasn't really talking to Luke in the 12th mile, but we survived and made it within 5 hours with about 3 minutes to spare!

Little Lambs!

*My loopiness in the above video: evidence of my lack of sleep*

We rushed back to our room when the bus let us off outside our housing. No time for a nap. Neither of us had packed for Funchal so we just threw stuff in our backpacks and rushed around trying to clean up before heading downtown to print off our flight tickets and get on the train. We got to the station with about an hour to spare. At 8pm our train departed for London with a bunch of switching done in Kings Cross. We got to Stanstead at about 12:30 am. It was the most trippy place I've ever been. The airport was kind of a huge room and there were people in sleeping bags and such all over the floors. So weird. We stayed there for 7 hours. It was SUCH a horrible idea to go that early even if it did save money. Never again! Even though we were completely exhausted neither of us could sleep either in the airport or on the plane.

The Airport in Funchal

 We are now if Funchal and it was completely worth all the trauma getting here! Its so gorgeous. We met a couple who have been coming here for 8 years and they showed us around the resort. They were both so sweet and told us to assure our parents that it is completely safe here. I'll post photos as a get them. I've brought my camera so hopefully there will be more than just iPhone shots on the blog for a bit!

On our walk after dinner tonight

The bus ride to our hotel!

We love it here

Yay for a week of sleeping and sunning!

We're like Bear Grylls.

This was another windy day. Nearly got blown over in between camping stores. Now that we are back safe and sound we are completely prepared for anything Scotland may throw at us. Sun, rain or snow, we are set.

My first proper backpack

Thankfully there is a plethora of camping stores in Leeds which means competition which means good deals for us! Plus student discounts :-) Along with everything that Luke's parents (thank you!!!) sent us, we have what we need to master those highlands.  Now we just have to figure out how it all works. Luke is very prepared and knowledgeable but the tent gave us a bit of a challenge....

I suspect the blog posts will decrease again in April because of the hefty traveling schedule that we have. Funchal is on the map next for us! I'm looking forward to a little luxury. We'll be headed there Sunday night and (if we have wireless in the hotel) I will post many pictures of what I hope will be a tropical wonderland. Thanks, mom and dad for this opportunity!

Funchal :-)

The last days of school went well although the testing system over here is a bit different. What is covered in class is not all that is on the test. I'm sure we did fine. Then again, anything over a 40 is passing so I doubt there's much to worry about. Either way we have 4 glorious weeks of break ahead of us. In no time we'll be back at home with all of our family and friends. Can't wait, but hopefully it won't go too fast!

Castles, Cliffs and Harry Potter

Scotland is wonderful. If I could go anywhere again that we have gone so far, it would be Scotland! Good thing because we are spending 9 or 10 days hiking through it in April!

Early Friday morning Luke and I walked to Uni met about 45 other U of L students also going to Edinburgh. We loaded up two huge coaches and set off around 9 am. We got to the Hostel at about 2pm and checked in. It was actually really nice and the beds were cozy if a little creeky.

Luke and I and some of our friends set off to see the castle and walk down the Royal Mile. It was such a gorgeous day! There was even a bagpiper! I loved its so so so much. There were a ton of shops ( I got my sisters each something very Scottish. Be excited, you two!) After that we went to the top of Calton Hill, which had a national monument on it and beautiful views. On the way we happened upon a rather ghostly graveyard.

After walking for hours we were starving so we went to a very authentic Scottish restaurant...

Delish :-)

Afterwards, because it was getting dark, we decided to find a nice place to sit and have a few drinks. Luke wanted live music so we got a computer pass and looked up the top rated Jazz bar. We found one that was very popular named The Jazz Bar (wow.) and went. I got a lovely Bailey's and hot chocolate and Luke sampled some local ales. Yum again.

By 10pm we were both so tired. We have been getting up earlier lately and so early bed times are a must.

The next morning we met up with our friends and ate breakfast in the cute hostel kitchen. They had a nice little selection of carbs and juice. Then we all set off in search of the Royal Gardens. We got to it after about an hour of walking and wandered around inside for a few hours. It was again such a beautiful day! The garden had wonderful views and it seems like Spring is finally here!

For lunch we went to The Elephant House which is where JK Rowling started writing the first Harry Potter novel. I'm not the biggest fan of Harry Potter by any means but it was interesting seeing the environment where she came up with her ideas. The Edinburgh castle view out of the window was strikingly similar to Hogwarts... I got an elephant shortbread and some lentil soup. Luke decided against the haggis calzone in favor of a the tomato and mozzarella one. So Scottish.

Nice and full we went off window shopping until we had to go take a little nap. We went to Greyfriar's Kirk and the place where his dog was buried. Some of the graves were from the 1700's. This got us all prepped for our ghost tour that night!

After a nice little nap our little group met near the castle and we went on an historic ghost tour! We went down into the vaults underneath the city.  There was even an active coven down there... Entirely terrifying although nothing supernatural happened. Afterwards they gave us shortbread and whiskey :-) That would keep me coming back.

We went for a late dinner at an "American style diner" cafe in one of the side alleys. It was so good! THEN bed time.

Our last day was yet another gorgeous day! After breakfast we hiked to the top of the bluffs which hang over the city. There were amazing views, even though they are not anywhere near as tall as the ones in the highlands. Luke and I decided to go down the precarious way. My arms are still sore from the climbing! Good conditioning for our upcoming hiking extravaganza.

After another pizza we decided to spend our last 3 hours walking to the piers. We got there with no time to spare and had to turn around pretty much immediately to make it back in time for the coach. We found two little kittys who wanted to join us in the US I think. We had to pretty much run away to keep them from following us :-)

Well, not much happened after that other than loading up and driving back. We've been spending the day today recovering and solidifying our plans for April. Its going to be a busy last 2 months!

Luke's sweet video posts coming soon