SCOTLAND: Part 2

OK, so maybe I've been putting this off. It's just been so busy and I was so wiped out from Scotland! But I definitely need to at least record everything we did before I start forgetting things. So here it goes...scotland part 2

After Edinburgh our group split in half. 6 of us went on to northern Scotland and the rest of them flew up to Dublin. I was one of the Scotland people. We hopped on a train that went through country and seaside up to Inverness where we got on ANOTHER train and continued up to Thurso. All in all it was about a 7 or 8 hour train ride. Beautiful, but a little long considering how short we were on time.



So we got into Thurso at 10 pm and the streets were EMPTY. There was this really funny moment where we all kind of looked at each other and said, where the heck are we?! It was such a random little town, it almost seemed like our friend had blindfolded herself and thrown a dart at the map and that's where we ended up. We went to thurso specifically just to catch the ferry to Orkney but still. Totally random. NOT a tourist spot. Lucky for us it was still completely light outside so we didn't have to find our hostel in the dark. Our hostel was pretty funny. We new it was called "Sandra's Hostel" so we were looking for that and not finding it. There was a little Italian cafe called Sandra's so we thought what the heck! and went in. Lucky guess. After we ordered some greasy disgusting food for dinner we went up to our rooms above the restaurant and went to sleep. Such an adventure!

We woke up early the next day to catch our ferry to Orkney. Let me just tell you, this was probably our biggest walking day. It was a two mile walk to the docks, another mile or two just walking through town, then about a 7 mile hike. So a little more than 10 miles? Not usually a big deal except for the fact I was wearing a flimsy pair of convers knock-offs that I was in the process of breaking in. My feet were KILLING ME. Oh my goodness. I could feel every single rock. Good grief. Never again.
But sooooo WORTH IT. haha
Another funny little tidbit. Our ferry ride was about an hour long on this super nice mini-cruise ship. We were so excited when we realized how nice it was. But then we got out on the sea and let me tell you, I have never seen such huge waves in my entire life. At least 30 feet, I kid you not. It was really incredible. Lying down and looking out the window in one second you would see the ocean taking up the entire window, then a little glimpse of land, and a huge sky. So cool. If I didn't have such seasickness problems I would have been happy to stare out the window for the entire hour. I felt like I was in "The Perfect Storm" except in sunny Scotland. I was able to lie down fast enough that I didn't vomit but my poor friend kiersten threw up THREE TIMES on that boat ride. Oh dear.



After we got off the boat we checked into our hostel, got some delicious food (an actual meal!), then caught a bus up to Skara Brae. I had never even heard of this place before and it was INCREDIBLE. It's this large neolithic stone village that was uncovered during a storm in 1850. 5000 years old! Older than the great pyramids, or stone henge, or the Parthenon. They call it the Scottish Pompei because of how well everything was preserved. Stone furniture still standing.




After we explored the museum and the ruins we had an interesting choice to make. We knew the bus would be leaving skara brae in a couple hours so we could either hang around and wait for it, or try hiking down the coast to this place called Yesnaby where hopefully we could find a road and wave down the bus that was supposed to pass at quarter past six. Consider: there was only one bus running and if we miss it...? Probably sleeping in the cow fields. It was a gamble. But we only had one day in Orkney! And we needed to make use of our valuable time. So we went for it!









The Broch of Borwick! An old watchtower we stumbled upon. I love that these old ruins aren't gated off or anything. You can climb all over them!



One of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. I've never seen coasts like this before! The rocks are stacked on each other in such an interesting way. They're kind of sinister looking. You really feel the ocean as an entity here. It felt almost alive like it was raging against the land and slowly wearing it down. We were the only people on that whole coast. I've never felt so small and isolated. It was as if we were set apart from the rest of the world and taken out of time itself. I could feel the ocean breathing on us and the wind was so strong it almost held you in the air. I know this sounds poetic and cheesy but I love the ocean. We understand each other :-)

So, to make a long story...well...a little less long, we caught our bus! It was 15 minutes late so we had a good amount of time to contemplate worst-case scenarios. We had just decided that hitch-hiking with one of the sweet elderly couples wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, assuming they were heading towards stromness...the only town on the island. But finally we spotted the bus in the distance and were able to wave it down! We all became a little hysterical at one point when it looked like the bus wasnt going to stop. Afterall, we weren't at a bus stop. We were basically in the middle of no where. But we chased it down until the driver finally stopped and got on to find everyone was laughing at us. We must have looked pretty wind-blown, wet, and ridiculous, so I don't blame them. I doubt I'll forget this day :-)

I still need to write about our time in Loch Ness but I'll do that another time.
Too doo loo!