On my way north to Loch Ness I saw for the first time the vast moors of Scotland. There is somethings impressive and awesome in the miles of vast hills painted in a range of green from light to near brown like an artist's palette. I reached the most northern part of my journey in Inverness before hoping on the next bus down the west coast of Loch Ness. In Drumnadrochit (drum-na-drak-it) I met up with a lovely couple from one of my lists. We had lunch and dinner together while we shared a wonderful conversation in large part on the environment. They took me on a walk in their protected woods (no, not even the Scottish Forestry will be cutting any of it) to a river that feeds into Loch Ness.
After they waved me off on the bus I settled down in my OWN little room at the youth hostel literally on the shores of the famed loch.
Next day I set off on a wee bit of the Great Glen Way down to the next village on the loch. This rock bench overlooking Loch Ness was where I enjoyed my lunch. In Fort Augustus (I opted for the bus part of the way) I went out on a tour boat on Loch Ness (yes I do a few things the typical tourists do). No sign of the monster, so it still remains a mystery.
After we landed I followed most of the people into the nearby museum/gift shop where we seated ourselves on the benches inside the model of a traditional Scottish home. As everyone settled down I felt increasingly unsure as to whether or not I should be there. It turns out I was in the middle of a group from Belgium and their guide was sitting up front to translate. We were treated to probably an hour of very humorous background on Scottish houses, clothing and weaponry. One of the Belgian couples were the lucky ones to be chosen to dress up in traditional Scottish dress while everyone else took advantage of the photo opportunity and good laugh. It turned out that I wasn't the only one out of place there because the British father in the front row was chosen to demonstrate the many ways one could be killed. Depending on how disliked one was the methods of death varied, the nicest of which was a simple swing of the sword. (He did walk out with all body parts in place though.)
I spent a very nice dinner at the hostel talking with a Scottish man on a bicycle holiday and a young couple from guess where? Belgium! on a motorcycling holiday. While the Scot and I stirred our pots the Belgian couple of course pulled out mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, etc. and began cooking up a sauce to go on their fresh noodles. As we ate we compared notes on work, education, health care and the like between our countries. They were shocked at how little we pay our teachers!
And so another section of my trip came to an end as I got on the bus the next morning for Arisaig on the West Coast of Scotland. That story will have to wait for now though as it's midnight here.
Sleep well!
