Part Two: The Scottish Highlands

And here's the fun part! MY kind of vacation ;)

After leaving Edinburgh, we went to Dumbarton (west of Glasgow) and got off the train to go visit the Dumbarton Castle. It's pretty cool...up on a hill with some 557 steps to get all around it. We went late afternoon, so nobody else was there...we had it all to ourselves!

Those mountains behind me are where we were headed next!

We got back on the train and rode up to Balloch, which is a little town on the south end of Loch Lomond. This was when we first got there...gosh, it was so beautiful!

The only hostel available near that town was located 2 miles down a busy road. We were both tired, and we had our backpacks, and it wasn't a very fun walk.

But then, we finally came around a corner and our hostel came into view...look at this place!

It was practically a castle we were staying in! This was our favorite hostel of the whole trip! (and not even that expensive) We just couldn't help ourselves...we were like little kids exploring "our castle" that night :)

The next morning we had breakfast out in the front yard, with a beautiful view of Loch Lomond. Then we checked out and walked back to Balloch. One of the very nice ladies that worked in the tourist information center let us leave our packs in her car for the day, while we explored the Loch. We met such kind people in the Highlands!

The day consisted of a half day biking around part of the loch (gorgeous!)...exploring the beautifully-kept grounds of the Balloch Castle (you can't go inside)...(I love these flowers...they look like fireworks!)

and eating Cherise's very first fish 'n chips on a bench by the loch. And this is where we had our first, and only experience with the "you won't be able to understand anything the Scottish say" warning. A man walked up to us and started talking to us, and I swear it wasn't english! We stared at him like deer in the headlights for a few seconds, before my mind could switch into full Scottish mode. I could only understand enough to answer back when he asked where we were from and what we were going to see while there, etc. He was very kind and friendly, but VERY Scottish! Boy, those rolling R's and long E's everywhere (and many other distinctions) sure make it hard to understand your own language. :) After talking to him for about 10 min. he went on his way, and I turned to Cherise, who hadn't spoken the entire conversation. I knew she hadn't understood anything he said, because for Cherise to be silent like that...well, if you know Cherise, that's strange. Oh boy, what a funny experience! I mean, it's been awhile since I've had to concentrate that hard! :)

After eating, we caught the bus back up to Glencoe (we stopped there briefly with my study abroad group), which was one of my favorite drives of the whole trip! This picture is from the bus window as we entered Glencoe.

We got dropped off in Glencoe Village, and had another 1 1/2 mile walk to our hostel. As we were walking along the road (which actually turned out to be the wrong road - ha!), a young, Swiss couple on holiday pulled over and offered to give us a ride to our hostel. They were so sweet! They even waited while we checked in to make sure our reservation was correct, etc. Oh, I love kind people!

Now this hostel was a little different than the others (especially the last one). It was up in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere practically, and was actually quite ghetto. But once we got settled in, took showers, and met some other people, we were feeling more at home.

The next morning, we hiked the Pap of Glencoe, which we were told has some of the best views in Glencoe. You could see Loch Linnhe and Loch Leven, all the way out to the Cuillin Mountains on the Isle of Skye, Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland), and just the great mountains of the Scotland Highlands! It was beautiful!

And I must tell you, there is a totally different language for the outdoors in Scotland. Somebody should write a book / dictionary:
Ben = mountain
Glen = valley
Inver = mouth of [river] (ex. Inverness is the city at the mouth of the Ness river)
Firth = where the ocean comes into a river
Loch = lake
Highlands = mountains
Lowlands = plains
Burn = stream

...and many more...

On the hike up, we met a couple from Holland who had just been married in December and were having a late honeymoon in Scotland. We hiked about half of it with them, and got to talk to them a lot - they were awesome! We also met a family of 3 from Canada who were on a 6 month trip (!!) and next they were headed to Iceland for 5 weeks for some backpacking, and relaxing in their many geo-thermal pools. I really wanted them to take me with them... :)

The top part of the hike was climbing up rocks for about 20 minutes, with no hint of a trail. It was great! :)

(this was half-way up the scrambling part)

We spent the evening wandering around Glencoe Village (yes, we wandered around the whole thing - it took about 10 min) and walked down by the Loch.

Then we went back to our hostel to make dinner and met 3 guys in the kitchen and ended up talking to them for the next 3 hours. They were older, experienced travelers - 1 from Australia, 1 from Ireland, and 1 from southern Scotland. It was fun to just hear about all their travels, talk about the differences and similarities between all of our countries, and what food we needed to try while in Scotland (ha ha!). I love meeting people - it just makes me realize how unique and fascinating each person is - that's what makes the world so interesting!

The next morning, we decided to hike a mountain called Bidean Nam Bian. About 30 min into the hike we ran into 4 older adults from England and ended up the hiking the whole rest of the day with them! They were really entertaining! They have a group of 11 that are all friends and they all go on hiking trips together (but the others were doing other stuff that day). They all seemed to be in their 30's and 40's, but were so young at heart. They were just like kids! It was great!

This is on the way to Bidean Nam Bian (you enter the Lost Valley - where a massacre took place during the Jacobite Rebellion - click here for the story).

It was the perfect day for hiking: clear skies, sunshine, and a light breeze...(that peak way in the back, on the left-ish (looks like half-dome) is Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland)

and these are our English friends - Geoff, Karen, Patrick and Leela

Cherise and I on top! (3773ft - yes, that sounds small, but coming from sea level...)

We were quite pooped when we finished, but still had to walk about 2 miles to our hostel and pick up our packs, and another 1 1/2 miles into town to our B&B. When we booked the hostel, we could only get 2 nights, as it was full for Friday night, so we found a cute little Scottish B&B for cheap, and decided to treat ourselves. :) Boy, was it nice to finally have a room to ourselves!

The next morning at breakfast, we met a grandma and her daughter from Edinburgh who were taking a 2-day holiday together. They could tell we loved being active and she started telling us about this book she's reading in her book club about an English lady, diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, who biked across America. She got it to show to us, and ended up giving it to us! She said she could get another one easily, and even signed our copy and gave us her address! They were so sweet - they just made our hearts happy :)

That Saturday was our only cloudy day in Scotland (it may have sprinkled for about 20 min), but it was still warm, and we still got to go kayaking on the loch. It was great! The colors were so vivid!

In the afternoon we went up to Fort William, ate lunch, did some last minute souvenir and food shopping (digestives and chocolate!) to bring home. Then we took a 4 hour train back to Edinburgh (once again, beautiful!), got my luggage back from Duncan, slept for about 4 hours, and went to the airport to fly home!

Here is just a collage of the unforgettable Glencoe!

Overall I was so grateful to have this adventure, to learn more about myself, to look at things with a different perspective, to expect the best from people, to see such beautiful country, and most importantly, to meet so many kind, funny, helpful, selfless, wonderful, beautiful people! (We made a list of all the people we met and its quite overwhelming!)

GOODBYE UNITED KINGDOM!