Current Location: Bed - Wavell House - Aberdeen

Now that I'm here all comfy on my bed and listening to Fratellis, a British band recommended to me by my friend JJ, I think I'll make a good attempt at catching up on all that's been going on.

I tried SCUBA diving with the Aberdeen Aqua Club a Thursday or two ago. If I was staying in Aberdeen longer than just this term I think I would join, but as it is there is not much of a point. The people were fantastic though and I had a great time. After a brief talk we were giving a swimming test, a simple eight lengths of the pool using any stroke we wanted. I must admit, just that small amount of swimming wore me out! Once we were deemed "swim-able" we were paired off with an instructor. Mine was Gary who was French but spoke very good English... just a bit hard to understand through the accent. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive that my instructor and I would be having communication problems since I have never even been around SCUBA gear and did not know anything. Gary was nice though and patiently showed me how to use the regulator, how to clear my ears and clear my mask if it got water in it while we were underwater. With all that out of the way, we just SCUBA-ed around the pool together for the rest of the time. I feel like I got the hang of it, with the gracious help from Gary of course. He even showed me how to do spins despite my less-than-perfect buoyancy.

Unfortunately the morning after my great SCUBA adventure I ended up with what I'm pretty sure was food poisoning from the hamburger I ate at Hillhead the night before. It was especially unfortunate since I had train/bus tickets booked for Fort William that day with further plans of hiking Ben Nevis the next day with fellow Americans Steve, Colin and Haleigh. In between bouts of nausea I managed to pack my rockin' backpack but still had no idea how I'd make it to the train station, much less up the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. But I made my decision to go and just put one foot in front of the other. The nausea seemed to pass while on the train and I was able to enjoy the view out of the window. My favorite part was watching the sheep that had been grazing too close to the tracks getting scared by the train and running away. Simple pleasures I guess. I wasn't looking forward to switching to the bus in Inverness just from what I heard about the bus system, but I actually quite enjoyed it. I got to see Urqhart Castle all lit up next to Loch Ness before curling up across two sets of seats and enjoying some much needed nausea-free rest.

Once we were dropped off in Fort William we didn't really know exactly where our hostel was. Luckily a woman overheard us and gave us directions adding that we really ought to just hail a taxi. But we are an adventurous lot and set off through Fort William confident we'd be able to make the journey. Well, we went a bit past our destination, quite a bit past actually and fortunately came upon a restaurant that was closing and got new directions from there. We still had trouble from there with wrong turns and such but finally made it to our hostel which happened to be full of some very loud and fun-loving people who fancied themselves singers. It was a challenge to fall asleep to that, but a challenge I was certainly up for.

The Ben Nevis Inn

So I figured my food poisoning thing was over... but I was wrong. I had thrown up twice before our departure time and was definitely wondering if it was a good idea to try and climb in such poor condition. I'm sure it was a terrible decision, but I decided to go for it, just putting one foot in front of the other. As we made our slow and steady progress up the mountain I was continually second-guessing my decision, wondering if I should turn back now before I passed out. I managed to eat a cracker and later, a few raisins washed down with a bit of Gatorade and water but that was all the fuel I could bring myself to keep down. There were times I just wanted to give up, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other until I was putting one foot in front of the other across the summit of Ben Nevis.

The Ben Nevis Conquerors!

I still can't believe we made it! The summit was quite windy, cloudy and cold (there was even snow!) and honestly not that amazing, but finally standing on the rock cairn and being the tallest point in the United Kingdom, even just for a few seconds, was worth the effort. I wasn't sure if my wobbly legs would be able to support me all the way back down. Walking down I started feeling better and better and I was able to enjoy the beautiful view that was materializing through the cloud cover. The wind would blow pockets of open sky our way revealing the awe-inspiring blue of the lochs below surrounded by the golden brown of the lower peaks, only to cover them up with thick fog. Soon we were below the cloud cover and Haleigh and I enjoyed descending at a slow pace. After resting for a few minutes on a strategically placed bench we ended up taking a wrong turn and had to loop around a big field of grazing sheep to get back to our hostel. I was completely worn out but before collapsing on my bed I took a much needed shower. Food that night was conveniently eaten in the restaurant right above our bunks. The tomato soup was perfect in every way and I slept peaceful that night, quite satisfied with myself.

Haleigh and I in front of "The Ben" on the way down

Since we weren't sure if we'd be attempting the Ben again (we decided to leave two days in case of bad weather), we didn't have any plans for Sunday. Not that we needed anything since we were all very sore from the previous day's climb so we just took a casual approach to the day. Upon leaving our hostel we were immediately distracted by the sheep herding around us and stopped to watch those woolly buggers scurry around for awhile. On the walk to town we found blackberries growing ripe on the side of the road and ate our fill of those. Not as good as raspberries but I found just one of those and it was delicious. Later in the walk we found the "Wishing Boulder". Apparently if you see it magically levitate and apin around three times you can ask it a question and it answers you. The tale mentioned something about running around it as well so Haleigh and I looked at each other then took off running, our backpacks still on and all. I think I wished for something like, "Please let me not be sore anymore!" or something like that.

Me and the Wishing Boulder at Glen Nevis

Continuing on we stopped once more at a cool outcropping of rock that were jutting into the river that runs through Glen Nevis. The rocks were quite slippery but of course we had to clamber out of the edge. The water pooling beneath me was so clear and so obviously deep that despite everything, including my beyond sore muscles, I was sorely tempted to jump in. Perhaps another time. As it was, we simply continued on to town. Haleigh and I were sidetracked from the boys' whiskey distillery mission by a sign for Inverlochy Castle. The castle happened to be oddly unsupervised, which we took advantage of by climbing up the blocked off spiral staircases. It was windy out so our brief picnic style brunch was chilly but still enjoyable. Sitting on mossy rocks watching people walk their dogs by the side of a river is much more memorable when there is a cool ruined castle behind you. We met up with the boys before heading into town again. After walking around the shops, Haleigh and I retreated to the comfort of Number Four, an adorable little cafe style restaurant. The soup we got reminded us of RiceRoni and was absolutely delicious. I ate my ham and mustard toastie as slow as I could, then we just stayed there chatting while the rain came down outside. It was so cozy!

Blackberries from the side of the road

Climbing around Inverlochy Castle

Me and the little rock tower I made with Inverlochy Castle remnants

The trip back to Aberdeen was relatively uneventful except for all of us complaining about our sore muscles Haleigh starting to feel a bit poorly. While waiting for the train in Inverness we went on a little adventure to find a toilet since the one in the station was closed (no public restroom, insanity!). We snuck into a hotel lobby and walked purposefully towards the ladies' room, somehow making it by the front desk without getting stopped, an amazing feat as we were the stereotypical dirty backpackers. The bathroom was a lot nicer than the train station and we had it to ourselves so we hung out in there for awhile before sneaking our way back out. I thought the train journey was going to be pretty memorable when a large number of men in kilts carrying coolers of beer filed into our compartment, but they left at the first stop. Darn! After all that had happened though, I was done with adventuring and all I really wanted to do was fall into my bed. It felt so good to be back in Wavell... strange to think that a college dorm was far less noisy and rowdy as our hostel full of middle-aged Scottish women!