Scotland

Eighteen months ago Joe and I were talking about what to do on our next big vacation. We enjoyed vacationing with a group and so soon found ourselves on the adventure travel pages for the Applachain Mountain Club, REI, Adirondack Mountain Club, among other sites. We dreamed of hiking across Ireland or England or New Zealand mixing with the locals along the way. At minimum of $2,500 per person plus airfare those trips seemed too much to spend on our first organized group trip. What if we didn’t like the organized group thing after all?  We drifted off to other topics.

Then a few weeks later another look at the ADK Travel page showed a new trip, Hike The Great Glen Way in Scotland at an affordable rate of $900 per person. Suddenly a place we never considered going looked interesting. It was a 79 mile hike from B&B to B&B with our luggage being transported for us. We’d hike from Fort William on the west coast of Scotland to Inverness on east coast of Scotland. We quickly decided to do it and signed up.

We spent the next year researching Scotland: weather, what to see/do/eat, culture we could expect.  On advice we looked at getting a credit card for airline miles and upgrading to first class but we could never make that work financially.  So we ended up booking our flights for the cheapest and shortest flight we could find.  JFK to Glasgow.  Finally the date arrived that we would depart.

The flight was long and tiring.  We had chosen an overnight flight expecting we would sleep on the way.  That didn’t happen and by the time we arrived in Glasgow we were exhausted.  We had a hotel reserved for that night in Edinburgh and we hadn’t planned a means to get there.  So we decided to Uber.  I was disappointed when our Uber driver’s name was Khalid and he was not Scottish looking.  I was hoping for our hour Uber ride to be with a real Scot whose ear we could talk off.  Khalid arrives and after a bit we start talking and learn that Khalid was born in Scotland and his accent certainly supported that.  I felt like a bigoted jerk.

I started writing this blog post months ago and this is as far as I made it.  Now here I am, back and trying to piece to together what was our biggest trip so far six months later on a quiet Christmas day.  I’m refusing to review my videos and photos so this post is not going to live up to a journal that captures our trip details so you get the abbreviated version.

We learned from our Scottish Uber driver that the proper way to say Edinburgh was Edinburah not Edinburg like I was saying.  After a nap in our two bedroom(!) Edinburgh apartment we went out and wandered the streets of Edinburgh.  We saw Castle Rock, visited some pubs where we had our first hand pulled Scottish Ale and walked some more.  We hadn’t rented a car because of our short time in each place and mainly because neither of us were comfortable with the thought of driving on the left hand side of narrow streets.  It turned out to be a good decision.  The streets were the equivalent of one lane roads in the US but two cars had to pass each other head on.

The next morning we headed out to the Edinburgh train station where we’d catch the train back to Glasgow and then up to Fort William.  But before we got on the train we grabbed a “pasty” for breakfast at a cart in the train station.  That pasty would turn out to be in the running for the best meal of our stay in Scotland.  Pasty’s consist of a flaky dough pocket stuffed with different ingredients.  I opted for cheese, sausage and onions.  It was heavenly and we couldn’t stop talking about the pasty for the next two weeks.

We managed to make it to Glasgow and catch our connecting train to Fort William.  We had opted for seats that faced two other passengers with a table between us.  Our travel companions ended up being a friendly older couple who were on their way to a cycling trip north of Fort William in Mallaig.  She was a native Scot and he was from London.  They filled us in on the sights along the way and shared stories of their travels with us.  We were delighted with their friendliness and shared love of the outdoors.  We passed the hours happily chatting with them.  We shared our plans to climb Ben Nevis the next day and they told us that the Ben in Ben Nevis meant Mountain.  We learned about the Scotland version of the ADK 46er challenge.  There are 282 munros (hills) in Scotland over 3,000 feet and anyone who climbs all 282 becomes a Munroist with the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC).  Scots seemed to be our type of people.

Upon arriving in Fort William we  had a bit of a hassle finding our lodging but eventually made it to the school dorm that we had rented.  We joked that we never thought we’d spend the night together in a dorm room bed.

The next day we loaded up our packs and headed over to start our scheduled date with Ben Nevis.   Since we didn’t have a car that meant we had a three mile walk just to get to the trail head for Ben Nevis.  We made it in short order and started the climb.  I was delighted to see the sheep dotting the hillside as we went.  Occasionally there were little gates we had to open and go through.  We figured the gates were to keep the sheep where the farmer wanted them.  The views up Ben Nevis were some of the best I’d ever seen.  Everything was lush and green and there were no trees to block the view.  We probably had the best weather that you can have in Scotland and so you could see far and wide in every direction.  We climbed pretty steadily and the trail looped its way around the mountain and up.  There were no real boulders to climb over and the trail reminded us somewhat of the Grand Canyon except it was covered with loose stones.  About a mile from the top we ran into about 100 feet of slushy snow we had to walk through.  As abruptly as the blanket of snow appeared it ended and we were back to walking on rocks.  It became quite cold and foggy the closer to the top we got and we were thankful for our layers of clothes and rain jackets.

On the top of Nevis are some old structures that you can still enter if you are feeling lucky.  Joe of course was climbing all over them and investigating every nook and entry.  The top was socked in and frigid so we didn’t stay too long but headed back down.  I was delighted as ever to have made it to the top of another mountain and giddy to be heading back down.  The climb was a lot of ascent/descent because you are virtually starting at sea level and Nevis stands at 4,411 feet.  Along the way down we met a local woman who was very chatty and known as she said for ‘waggin the jaw’.    We didn’t mind one bit.

The Ben Nevis Inn at the bottom of the Ben was a welcome respite after the long days climb.  They had a sign up that there would be live music that night.  I asked the hostess about it and she said it was ‘just some Scottish music’.  We would have liked to have heard ‘just some Scottish music’ but at a six mile round trip walk to get there and back from our dorm room it wasn’t going to happen.  The Inn was rustic with 25 foot tables made out of rough cut trees and benches.  We refreshed ourselves from our day’s exertions and headed back to Fort William on foot for a much needed shower.  If you are going to climb Ben Nevis I would recommend staying at the Ben Nevis Inn.  The food wasn’t bad, the atmosphere was friendly and just maybe they will have just some Scottish music.

The next day we met up with the group that we would spend the next seven days with.  We were lucky to find ourselves with a great bunch of people.  The Great Glenn Way hike turned into a wonderful experience. I won’t go into great detail here on that portion of the trip other than to say it was a wonderful experience that left us wanting to take another group hiking trip.  I’d be happy to share any information if you are planning a trip and wanted to reach out to me.  Here was our itinerary for the Great Glen Way:

Day One:  Fort William to Gairlochy:  flat, along the canal all day, Overnight at Guisachan House in Fort William

Day Two:  Gairlocky to Invergarry:  flat, along the canal all day, don’t expect to use the bathrooms along the canal!  They are locked and they will not let you use them.  Overnight at Saddle Mountain Hostel

Day Three:  Invergarry to Fort Augustus:  flat, along the canal.  Took a tour boat ride out into Loch Ness.  Overnight at the Lovat B&B

Day Four:  Fort Augustus to Invermoriston.  The high route, beautiful day following Loch Ness.

Day Five:  Invermoriston to Drummandrochit.  The high route, beautiful day in and out of forest with glimpses of Loch Ness. Overnight at Loch Ness Inn.  Best breakfast of the trip aside from pasty.

Day Six:  Drummandroichit to Inverness.  Relatively flat, lots of road walk.  Overnight at Acorn Guest House.

Every place we stayed was clean and welcoming.   I enjoyed all 80 miles of the Great Glenn Way, even the flat parts.  I’m a little sad that I didn’t spend more time journaling along the way of this trip.  But then I remember.  I was busy enjoying the views, soaking in the Scottish culture and getting to know our hiking companions.  I was living in the moment and will cherish memories of Scotland with my husband for the rest of my life.