Mull, Iona, and Staffa - Another Magical Day!! Annnnd A Glimpse at October 3rd Too.

I SAW DOLPHINS TODAY!!! About 20 of them!!! Little babies and full-sized ones, frolicking in the wake of our boat. It was innnnnnnnnnnnnncredible! So amazing, exciting and exhilirating! I've never seen dolphins, but have always searched like crazy whenever I'm in an environment that has the opportunity. Today was like a triple jackpot!! I am still extra ecstatic about that!

Annnnnd this should be a new paragraph!! So exciting also!! =) Huge thanks to Aaron for making this magic happen. So today's update....

I couldn't sleep at all last night, I think mostly due to worrying about my camera!! I tried going to bed around 1 am with a 7 am alarm to explore Oban a bit in the morning, but at 2 am I re-set the alarm for 8 am and at 4:30 am I got out of bed, took a shower, wrote some emails and skyped some friends!! It's times like these I love having a significant time difference! So I headed out to explore Oban a bit at 7 am, although I was feeling hesitant and not terribly adventurous as it was still raining. =/ I'm so resentful to rain right now. And after my utter saturation yesterday, I really don't want to get saturated again.

I'm suddenly realizing I didn't blog about yesterday, so in a nutshell: Thursday, October 3rd: got a rental car, drove to Torlundy to park in the North Face parking lot and do the North Face Hike to see Ben Nevis. It rained steadily the WHOLE time, with a few 2-3 minute pauses, which I zealously used to my advantage to snap some pictures. Since it was raining so much, I simply left my phone and most water sensitive things in the carm but I had a plastic bag for my camera and I definitely wanted to take some pictures of this hike! After the first few pictures, I realized that the plastic bag was not only a pain in the ass, but it also kept the little bit of rain drops trapped in the bag, so I decided the better option was in my waterproof jacket pocket. I checked the status of my pocket often, and all was good to go. At the top, I got some phenomenal pictures, though I never got to see the top as it stayed in the clouds. What I did get to see of the cliff faces was still tremendously impressive. I stopped at this hut/weather station house because the river was raging and the only way I could see to cross it was this little 2x4ish plank that was nearly in the water itself. It didn't inspire confidence. To really deter me though, there was a mountain rescue helicopter above me. It came twice. Such a disturbing sight and sound. Apparently some climbers had had problems and needed to be air lifted out. The second time the helicopter came by, it circled over me 4 times, and unsure what the hand signal is for "I'm good to go!" I just did a little wave hello and they flew over to the cliff for the second guy. I felt like their little hover over me was there way to say: "Don't even think about crossing that river. We are not coming back to recover you from the raging river because you used poor judgement and crossed a plank of wood you shouldn't have."

So feeling quite satisfied with where I was, I headed back down. I think this is when I compromised the water-proof-ness of my pocket. =/ I clipped the waist strap on my backpack because I ran some of the way down, and I am suspicious that it was during this time that water leaked in and created a lovely little puddle for my camera to bathe in. When I got back to my car (kicking myself HARD for not checking my pocket at all on the way down!!) I pulled my camera out and it was on....what??! Some random image was on my screen and there was line across it, which I soon realized was the level of water in my camera. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I removed the battery and SD card, shook my camera like crazy, drove to the nearest town to get rice and all parts of my camera are now sitting in bags of rice. I'm so so worried that 1.) I've lost ALL of my Scotland pictures - because I didn't have a chance to save any of them onto a USB key yet and 2.) my camera is dead.

Why do I murder technology in rain storms??!! WHY WHY WHY??!! I feel like the cruel joke of it is that I even had a plastic bag for my electronic device this time, and I chose not to use it. Ugh. Feeling frustrated with myself.

But back to October 4th, because that is much more fun!! The big bummer is that I didn't have my camera for the day. That was a bit heart-breaking. I did the best I could with my phone camera, but they are mediocre at best. Yet better than nothing, right? They'll at least spur memories, and that's my main goal, so I'll stop complaining now.

My morning exploration of Oban turned out to be fantastic!! The rain stopped within the first 15 minutes of my being outside, and I even got some sunshine and pockets of blue sky with wispy clouds. I went to grocery store and got lots of fruit and oat cakes (mmmmm, love oat cakes!! OH!! And randomly, but before I forget, I found that my absolute favorite baby food flavor on the WHW was a "spinach, pear, mango" WOW!! Amazing!!)

Back to today. I took a picnic breakfast up at McCraig's Tower and had a splendid little view - it was so nice!! Then I went to booked myself a boat tour to the islands of Mull, Iona and Staffa. GLORIOUS!!

We took a ferry over to Mull, had a guided bus ride across Mull to the West Coast, and our guide was very informative and amusing. From the West Coast, we took a small boat out to Staffa, and THAT is when we saw the dolphins. They chased us for about 10 minutes. I was in awe. I still am in awe thinking back on it. They are such beautiful, graceful creatures!! They were leaping out of the waves and one even did a little rotation mid-leap - it felt like a coordinated show. There was one pair of dolphins that was adorable in that it was a little baby with an adult (mom, dad?? who can say?) =) They were together the whole time, leaping at the same time, it was adorable. I felt like the baby was training! =)

Once we arrived at Staffa, we had 30 minutes to explore, which was quick, but not absurdly so. Staffa was my favorite. It is the "other end" (if you will) of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, so this was a fantastic way to bring my trip around full circle. I even found Staffa more impressive than Giant's Causeway. It is a whole island of nothing but these hexagonal columns (from the same lavaflow as Giant's Causeway). It is tremendous. Some are even curvy, but still hexagonal. It is truly unreal. The kicker?? There is a cave called Fingal's Cave, famous for Scotland's mythical giant, yes, but you may also have heard of it as Mendelssohn's inspiration for his Hebridean Overture. I am unfamilar with it, but am very much looking forward to listening to it now that I've gotten to stand in Fingal's Cave. The best part of the cave is that I somehow managed to time my visit in a gap of people and I had the cave all to myself for nearly 5 minutes. It was awesome. Truly awesome.

After Staffa, we got about 75 minutes on Iona, which was far too brief, but I'll just have to come back some other time and spend a week on the island. They're meant to have a lovely hostel! =) So this island was the destination of St Columba from Ireland in the 6th century. He founded a monastery and there is still a (renovated) abbey there today. It is gorgeous. My whole time on the island was basically exploring the Abbey, seeing St Columba's shrine where he was originally buried (but no longer is) and taking close to 300 pictures with my phone. Yowzers. It was a brilliant day and I'm so happy I was able to capture it in pictures, even if only via camera-phone.

Tonight I had some fish and chips that everyone raved about and it was actually pretty decent (considering I'm typically completely against deep-frying fish). But I enjoyed it! And added some brussel sprouts =) Now I am off to pack and bed because my all-nighter is catching up to me! Onwards to explore the Northwest Coast tomorrow - Applecross and Gairloch on the list! Woohooooooooooooooo!!

WHW ENTIRELY COMPLETE!

I am the luckiest girl in the world! :) And I'm also very behind schedule on my updates so here we go : DAY 6 (September 28): KINGSHOUSE TO KINLOCHLEVEN. An absolutely tremendous day for so many reasons...1.) SUNSHIIIIIIINE 2.) NO RAIN, NO MIDGES, NO MOSQUITOES, NO BLISTERS, NO CHAFING, AND PERFECT TEMPERATURE!! 3.) The clouds lifted enough to get to see the peaks of mountains! :) I'd made a barter with Mother Nature the day before that if I could get the clouds to lift enough to see mountain tops and some sunshine, I would take rain on my last day.... I realized I was being ridiculously picky in asking for clouds that would keep the temps to a perfect chilly but high enough to see peaks of mountains, but Mother Nature was generous and it was so fantastic!! 4.) Only 8 miles!! My shortest day yet and it was glorious!! Late start, no rush, picnic from the top of Devil's Staircase, and SUNBATHING in bare feet!! :) 5.) Before I started my day, sat in the hotel at the window drinking tea and watching the clouds go by. Marvelous! 6.) Met a great guy that inspired me to sunbathe barefoot. He was doing so in a river on a rock and it just looked phenomenal, and I thought, why am I not doing that? So I found a spot about a mile further on, and did my own sun-ray-soaking. He ended up walking by me and we ended up chatting up a storm, all the way to Kinlochleven, where....7.) We found 2 fine folks I'd met 2 nights before who I also hit it off with really well. We ended up getting a beer outside together to enjoy the sunset on Loch Leven and eating dinner together. It boosted my spirits off the chart!!! DAY 7: (October 1) : Kinlochleven to Fort William. 15 miles. Annnnnnd NO RAIN!! Mother Nature didn't hold me to the barter - unreal!! Everything is so much prettier in the sun! The main valley we walked through had these insanely strong winds but they were at our back so it was glorious!! The blue sky against the hills was amazing and knowing it was the last leg was very motivating as well. The miles flew by! I also had company as the guy I'd met on Day 6 joined me. It was grand! Only downside - there were some miles that were quite depressing through forest that had been annihilated. Walking through stumps of former trees and piles of timber was incredibly ugly, sad, and a rude awakening back to reality. We ended up modifying the last few miles of the Way because my companion had done it already and knew it was all on road and quite bland. So we modified :) stayed on trail and walked to the peak of Cow Hill for some incredible views and sunset colors in the sky. Maaaaarvelous!! We joined up with the actual WHW trail for the last mile or so and I felt good enough to run the last couple hundred yards!! Running the end was unexpected but was spurred by my walking companion's "Race you!" and will leave a lasting memory! Epically fun!!! But what about September 29 and 30, you ask?? Well :) I'd decided to spend 3 nights in Kinlochleven when I was planning all of my lodging and it was the BEST random decision ever!! I spent those 2 days hiking around and getting some of the absolute most magnificent views of my life!! I will attempt to post some of my favorites when I get to a computer. Overall, utterly stupendous!! And today I hiked to Steall Falls from Fort William, another roughly 15 mile day. It's so stupendous!! My body feels great and I've become addicted to walking for hours! Oh, if I could make a job out of long-distance walking ... the wheels in the brain are turning! :)

WHW: Day 5 - FANTASTIC!!

Heavenly!! Today was absolutely heavenly! Started at 10:45 am after a very leisurely breakfast and chatting with other guests and B&B hosts (the perk to a shorter mileage day!) and arrived at 4:15 pm. Highlights: thus far, this was my favorite part of the walk. Stunning. And no traffic noise =). It was a brilliant day, crossing through a gorgeous valley in solitude, with a few short interactions. I absolutely loved the tranquility of being alone today. PLUS there was sunshine!! For a whopping 5 minutes! I put on my sunglasses (maybe more because I wanted than needed to) but still, it made everything even more spectacular!! And two new delicious baby food packs today =) "pumpkin-apple-carrot" and "sweet potato-carrot-brown rice." YUM to both!! Celebrating: NO RAIN (especially ecstatic about this one as a fellow walker told me this morning that the forecast for the day was "showers"), NO MIDGES, NO MOSQUITOES, NO BLISTERS AND NO CHAFING!! Tremendous! I couldn't be happier! Disappointment of the day: that I arrived at my destination!!! Today was the polar opposite of yesterday's last three miles. I did not want it to end! When I realized that I was only 3 miles away from my end-point, I started taking a lot more breaks, slowed my pace significantly and made a more concerted effort to soak it all in. I wanted it to last for at least 3 more hours!! My feet felt great, my body felt great, the sun had broken through some clouds, everything was just magnificent! Today was significantly shorter than yesterday as far as mileage goes and the path was even easier (minus my "frustration of the day," to follow...) My feet haven't felt so refreshed since the first day....I will be golf-ball-rolling daily from now on =). I hadn't before because my feet didn't feel THAT bad, but I have now decided to incorporate it every night. I was truly shocked by how good my feet felt all day. Excellent!! Frustration of the day : about 40% of the path was super slippery!! If you imagine a sort of dodgy cobblestone path, that's a rough idea of what I had under my feet, and the rocks were all really slick from rain last night (I think also they might just always be slightly humid from how wet the ground is everywhere). In any case, every few steps, my foot would slide back abruptly and it made it nearly impossible to maintain a regular walking rhythm. Frustrating because the rest of the aspects of the path would have made for setting a great pace. But such it was. I think I can get past that. =) Met some folks from London for dinner who gave me all kinds of tips and things to do and see when I make it to London. Top Notch!

WHW Day 4: Complete and Wanted to Stop Sooner!

Pour ceux qui preferent francais, esseyer le bouton "translate" a gauche :). And Susan, you make a very good point - sorry! I'd made a huge leap and didn't explain the gap....my attempted bridge construction....yes! I'm back in Europe!! Both of my parents are doing significantly better. My dad's surgery went amazingly well and he's now back to work. My mom can walk and drive again, life has nearly returned to a pre-trauma status. Seeing as there was no longer a need for me at home, and seeing as I had a flight to Paris with my name on it, I jumped at the opportunity. Here I am now walking the WHW in Scotland. :) And Chantal, you make a very good point as well - I was getting too sleepy for my update and didn't bring it back around to fill in the "more" of why I was so happy I'd stopped. The bath was definitely a big part of it, but also the whole atmosphere of the place. Built in 1707, it had a ton of character, with sagging floors and ceilings, tartan carpets, and a slew of taxidermied animals including a bear to greet you. Look up Drover's Inn in Inverarnan if you're intrigued. It was such a fun and unique place to stay!!! Now on to today.... Oh my. I was ready to stop about 3 miles before my actual end point. Feet were really unhappy and cramping. Massaging my own feet has never felt so incredible!! :) I'm a little suspicious that plantar fasciitis might take this opportunity to present itself, but am currently rolling my feet on a golf ball for more massage. :) The low-down of day 4!!! Celebrating : NO RAIN (WAAAAHOOOOOO),NO MIDGES, NO MOSQUITOES, NO BLISTERS, NO CHAFING!! I'm spectacularly excited about all of the above. Disappointment of the day - way less remote than I was expecting. Very few moments of tranquility where I could just stop and soak in nature without the noise of traffic in the back (or fore!!) ground. Bummer!! Highlights of the day include lots of fall colors, TWO golden eagle sightings (or at least I'm almost positive),ample blue sky in the morning (such a lovely sight!), enough sun to create a shadow for two minutes (!!! took a pic of that rarity), and the Loch of the Legend of the Lost Sword where Robert the Bruce's sword may be! :) Only 750 meters worth of detours today for a waterfall and a Holy Pool. Official start time : 8:45 am, end time 6:15 pm. Made better time than expected. Today's trail was much less technical than yesterday, which significantly improved my average pace. Last bit of excitement for the day : my camera still works! Yesterday I clumsily threw my camera to the ground while taking off my fleece and I was worried I'd killed it, but it's resilient :) took over 200 pictures today. Looking forward to resting my feet overnight and then getting going again tomorrow!!

WHW Day 3: Completed and Could Have Continued!

Wow! Felt so much better today at the end of my trek - I kind of wanted to just keep going! But my lodging was reserved, so here I stopped, and am I ever ecstatic that I did!! :) More on that in a bit .... but first, the pertinents....CELEBRATING : NO RAIN, NO MIDGES, NO MOSQUITOES!!! WOOHOO!! And I'd forgotten this the last two days, but no blisters and no chafing. I'm so very grateful for all of this! Disappointment of the day : added a little 2 mile loop to my day to see a "viewpoint" and "ruins" and it was basically pointless. No views whatsoever (sheer hogwash!!) and the ruins were mediocre at best - bummer!! Highlights of the trip did include seeing 3 deer (!!!! Hooray!!!!), finding Rob Roys cave (you have to work for it!), having a completely tranquil and serene solo day reflecting on all the things I am grateful for, annnnnnnd :) having a "kale-apple -mango" baby pouch today. It was scrumptious!! I left my awesome hostel (former hunting lodge) around 10 am, and was done with the day at around 7:15 pm. I THEN TOOK A BATH!!! It was borderline magical. I haven't taken a bath in years but this was absolutely tremendous. So thankful!! Dinner included Scottish steak in Guinness gravy, steamed veggies, a local beer and meeting a couple of really nice people. Perfect!!

WHW: Day 2 COMPLETE!!

Celebrating: NO RAIN, NO MIDGES, NO MOSQUITOES!! Disappointed by : No views from Conic Hill. =( I'd heard the views are spectacular from this hill as it sits right on the faultline between the Highlands and the Lowlands, and if you look East, you literally see a nearly straight line with the rugged mountains of the Highlands to your left (the North) and more gentle terrain of Lowlands to the South. That would have been so incredible to see!!! But wasn't meant to be. I even spent an hour at the top, waiting and hoping for it to clear, but it just got worse. Incredibly low-laying clouds that ended up enveloping the hill. I didn't get to see this spectacular view. I must settle for simply standing on the faultline and crossing over it. Today, I started at 9:30 am and I got to my next destination at 7:15 pm. Overall another brilliant day, but I must say, I was really ready to get to my next stopping point. With an hour at the top of Conic Hill and about 45 minutes in the Visitor Center (Did you know that Scotland used to be part of the North American continent hundreds of millions of years ago??!!) that left a lot of hours for walking, most of which were fantastic, but there was more climbing than I was expecting and the last couple of hills were not the most welcome sights. Ha, but when I say hills, I mean baby hills. They were really very reasonable, I just was sick of walking by the end! =) OH! And I provided a good laugh for a hotel owner. I stopped in to double check my route and my expected distance left, and when I thought I was about 1 km away, he tells me I'm about 5 miles and should be there in about 90 minutes to 2 hours. WHAT??!! Such sad news! I apparently had missed something drastic. But it turned out he was kidding and just likes to get his laughs in with us tourists. The upside to this is that I was ECSTATIC when he told me I was only 10-15 minutes away!! One of my favorite moments today was meeting a guy who had done the WHW from South to North, hiked Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond and was now completing the way back South. We stopped and chatted for about 20 minutes and he is doing a similar travel sabbatical, having quit his job almost exactly a year ago. It was a lovely interaction! I also ran into my two companions from yesterday and we did quite a bit of leap frogging today and ended up walking together for a few miles again. They're great fun! Unfortunately no animal sightings any more exciting than yesterday, today. Actually the exact same list as yesterday. I kept trying to spot an otter by the water, but no luck. We shall see! One of my favorite random discoveries was this bright bright orange mushroom on the trail. At first I thought somebody had littered because it was such a bright orange, it looked artificial, but no - it was gorgeous! Taking a shower and eating a real meal have never felt so utterly amazing!! Especially when I massage my feet a bit in the shower as I wash them. Glorious!! I think I would pay big money for a foot massage when this is all done! And dinner tonight was scrumptious and perfect : pasta with mushrooms and eggplant. Although my baby food of "spinach, pea and pear" and "carrot-apple" was fantastic as well!! I'm super excited to have Day 2 done and am just as excited for Day 3!

West Highland Way: Day 1 Complete!!!

Amazing!! Extraordinary, spectacular, splendid, terrific, tremendous, magnificent, magical, fabulous, fantastic, phenomenal, brilliant....there are not enough words. And today's apparently the least exciting day. :) First footfall onto the WHW (West Highland Way) was at 10:30 am after exchanging picture opportunities with some other gentlemen starting the walk. And the first day came to a close at 5 pm. Overall, I was passed by 5 or 6 groups of people today, and I passed none :) with my slow pace of picture mania and small detours....including finding a castle!!! About 2 miles in, I see a sign for Mugdock Castle and only half a mile away....Really??!! I can't pass that up! So I go find this historic castle ruin from the 14th century, only half a mile from my planned route - incredible! On my way back to the WHW trail, I passed a group of students and the teacher invited me to listen if I wanted, so I did! :) I walked on at first, in my walking groove, but then thought about what a cool opportunity that was, so I returned and learned a bit about forest regeneration. Unexpected, but grand! Animals seen today included countless dogs (a very popular trail for dog owners in Milngavie, and I can see why), a cat, frog, crows, magpies, and countless sheep and cows. Animals I did not see today but hope to see before the end of the trail : osprey, golden eagle, and deer. Animals I'm ecstatic I didn't experience today : midges and mosquitos!! Other highlights of the trip include : NO RAIN!!!! (that's probably my #1 ecstatic factor) blue sky patches, some fall leaf colors, so many shades of green in the hillsides it was spectacular, and the truly perfect temperature for walking. I packed some baby food packs to be able to have some veggies on the trail and today I ate a zuchini-banana-amaranth combination and carrot-apple and they were incredibly delicious and satisfying!! I did end up meeting 2 fun guys towards the end of the trail, at just the right moment too. The last 2.5 miles are on paved road which would have felt like forever alone, but I ended up chatting with these two gentlemen who are also novice WHW-ers but they are camping. At one point I described s'mores and at the very end of my thorough explanation, one asks, "what's a Graham cracker? " Haha! Cultural difference I had not taken into account! I was very grateful for the company in the end, even though at first I was hesitant to join anybody else because I thoroughly enjoyed the bulk of the walk by myself. At my destination, one of the gentlemen who'd been part of the picture exchange at the beginning of the trail saw me and made sure I had a place to sleep. So nice!! Every single person I met today was profusely kind and multiple random strangers along the trail wished me a good walk. All the well wishes were very much appreciated and very much outdone....it was an absolutely incredible first day!