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...
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| The view from our tent after night pitch. Pretty good start. |
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| Another view of our soon to be infamous tent. |
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| 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. |
