Sorry I haven’t been writing in this, but the hostel in Inverness required payment, and the one I’m in now at Fort William doesn’t even have internet access (I could only find it in this busy bar I’m at now). Anyways, I’ll tell you about Inverness for now.
I strolled around Edinburgh before leaving. Tis sad really, I was starting to get attached to this city. I lugged the semester’s worth of stuff on my shoulders and walked to the rather nice train station and bought a ticket to Inverness. At first it took me along the coast. There were many Scottish thistle (the national flower) along the way. They’re quite pretty, being all purple in color. A lot of plants around here are purple in color. After the coast, the train went through an area that reminded me of Oregon. Then it took me to a landscape that I imagined Scotland would be like. Tree-less hills of green and brown. Green and dark purplish actually. The purple flowers look brown at a distance, but with closer inspection the hills were a mesh of green and dark purple. I wanted to jump out of the train and sprint up them to look at an expanse of barren hills stretching for miles. I was excited to hike!
Unfortunately, Inverness wasn’t quite like that. Actually, I talked to a Scottish gent in my Fort William room and he agrees that Inverness is kind of a tourist trap with not all that much to offer. Don’t get me wrong, it is actually quite pretty, but it’s the type I’ve come to expect in the Pacific Northwest. That is, it was heavily forested with all sorts of trees and flowers, which isn’t anything to complain about. It’s just that, I lusted for those tree-less hills! Also, its more of a central hub for if you have a car, which I did not. So that evening I just did the touristy things of castle and cathedral viewing, and walking around town. It had a neat little indoor market.
I saved loch Ness for the next day. I figured I’d take a bus there then walk back along the river Ness. The loch was quite pretty, but once again a tourist trap considering there are prettier lochs (as I saw on the bus down to Fort William). The loch is very, very long, with hills along the side. Looking down it, the overcast sky looked like it parted the earth as it reflected in the water. I wandered around the shore a bit, and hitched a lift back (hitching a ride would be a sexual connotation). I had heard it is easy to hitch-hike in Scotland, and surely enough the first car picked me up. It was an adorably kind old couple that were wondering where I was from (ah, that’s lumberjack country, huh?) Really though, the people here are only making this trip so much more enjoyable. They’re such a laid back, kind people!
Before heading along the river, I visited this Nessie watcher who’s lived in a shack for 17 years, hoping to see the beast. He makes little waxed Nessies. As for me, I haven’t seen Sasquatch yet, so no luck here either. Also, there was a nice bar at the lochend, with a sitting area outside. So I looked for Nessie while sipping a whisky (the Antiquary, 12 year old blended, an extremely smooth and almost refreshing whisky!) and then a half pint of a real ale (what they call microbrews, in which they pump on a lever to get it right out of the cask). With that, I started to hike tipsy.
I walked along an old trail (which even the locals called it old) that wasn’t necessarily consistent. That is, it broke off sometimes. But I didn’t mind, I just wanted to wander in the woods, so I did! I found an old stone wall in the middle of the forest, and I had to resort to going through some brush. It was fun! As long as I stayed by the river, I was fine. I even saw some Scottish cows. They're kind of cute... but dangerous from what I hear.
Eventually I made it back to Inverness, and went to a place that played Scottish music. There, as I waited for the music to start, I was reading. A Scottish girl and her boyfriend wondered what I was reading (Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami). Well, that led to a discussion of literature with them, the guy’s sister, and a couple of Germans. Oh, there names were Rachel (the girlfriend), Johnnie, and Mary. The Germans I don’t remember because they went elsewhere. We talked about Russian lit, Shakespeare, politics, philosophy, etc. Johnnie even wanted to know if I wrote, and he was interested in my story ideas. They even offered to pay for my rounds in Scottish tradition (I declined the first time, must be some pride complex we Americans have). Anyways, what I’m getting at is I think I could be best friends with them if circumstance allowed it. Really, I took a mighty liking to them. But alas, they went to the University of Edinburgh, whereas I’ll be in Glasgow.
Anyways, Inverness was fun, but I decided to go down to Fort William which is a good hiking location. I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
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