Hiking in the Highlands

Mark and I set off with his friends Alex and Tiff for the long journey up to the Scottish Highlands- the others in the group picked up the 4x4, something we did not at first realize how necessary it would be! After a very rainy drive we eventually ended up in the most picturesque place I’ve ever been and definitely the most isolated place I’ve ever been. Nestled between rolling hills and impressive mountains sat our cozy cottage for the week. The sunny days of France seemed far away as we experienced our fair share of rain for the week, but it was a fun adventure nonetheless. We took turns cooking dinners for the group of 9 (something I was a bit nervous about- but managed with veggie tacos/rice and pasta/lemon chicken/bruschetta), and spent our time either out exploring or indoors during the rain playing a number of board games (including the always popular dominoes and bananagrams, charades, and a number of card games).

The first full day there we ventured out to the nearby ruins, saw some deer skeletons, and marveled at our surrounding before getting thwarted by showers. One of the most memorable adventures for me was when Mark, Alex and I spent the whole day hiking up to a beautiful loch nestled just below the peak of a 1000 meter mountain. It was a day of exhausting hiking, but the loch was beautiful (no signs of Nessie though). We considered climbing the rest of the way to the top, but the weather turned into unpleasant gusts and hail and the lack of lunch made us return home. The hike back down was quite exhausting and slippery, so we were really excited to get back home to our cottage. Mark ended up going back out the next day with a couple of other people and hiking up to the top of the peaks in better weather, so he got some nice shots. We finished off the trip with another long walk exploring the area surrounding our cottage in which Mark attempted mating calls with a cookoo bird.. an interesting experience for sure. As we packed up the car Friday morning, it was such a nice day that our car group went to a nice surrounding town (over some crazy-tall mountains) called Applecross. An interesting population inhabits the town of Applecross (inhabits may be an overstatement- I don’t think the local population is more than a few houses)- bikers and the elderly… and sheep of course. We went for a nice stroll by the sea and through the woods , waving to the passing bikers and elderly (sometimes a combo- elderly bikers… in leather… a shocking sight to be sure) and ended the trip with a delicious pub lunch overlooking the water. A very fun trip, but unfortunately I am back to intense working  on essays for the next couple of days; but then I’m heading off to Northern Ireland for a couple of weeks! A week of seclusion and I returned to 44 e-mails (a number of which were from my parents who I am pretty sure were flying the five helicopters we saw as we drove away from the highlands on a search mission for their long lost daughter), and no, mother- we did not elope. Here are just a few of the 600+ pics mark took during the week



that is our cottage we stayed at



ignore the watermarks...I had to convert two of these files

Merci!

That about sums up my extensive knowledge of the French language. Even this word proved difficult during my brief trip to France as I kept wanting to relive my Cortona days and say 'grazie!' Alas, despite my lack of knowledge of the French languge, there is one thing about the French culture that I have fully embraced, the food, thanks to my devout tour guide, Lauren (Man of Osch). Following a few weeks spent in the St. Andrews library and a quick trip down to London to run a group project, I was off to France for a week to visit my friend Lauren, relax, explore, and of course, eat.

Upon my arrival in France I had to take a taxi and a bus to Rennes (pronounced 'Ren'... yeah, the French add a lot of extra letters). Luckily, after awkwardly trying to make eye contact with a taxi driver and ascertain if he spoke English, I found out that he did, and I was off to Rennes. As we were approaching the bus stop, there was a bus preparing to depart. Before I could stop him, my taxi driver swirved in front of the bus to block it in case it was my bus. It was a gallant effort, but was not in fact my bus, causing an angry look or two from the bus driver.

On Friday, we explored Rennes, beginning with sitting at a cafe enjoying coffee and pain au chocolat, followed by lunch of a falafel wrap at a Lebanese restaurant, AMAZING caramel ice cream outside, and vegetable crepes and cider... oh yeah and there was some strolling, exploring, and visiting kitchen shops (they LOVE kitschy kitchen shops there!)  between all of that eating.

Saturday morning we ventured out early for the market in Rennes, the 2nd largest market in France, and bought all of the essentials for a French picnic in the park: baguette, cheeses, sausage, wine, caramel muffins (SO GOOD), and fresh strawberries. We headed to the park where we walked through a gorgeous rose garden and spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying our picnic- though it was at this point that I made the unfortunate realization that I am allergic to France.

my lovely tour guide, Lauren

The next day, we headed off to San Malo, a beautiful beach town (I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one). The amazing part about this town is that when we arrived the water almost reached the town walls, with a fortress and tomb appearing to be islands; by the afternoon, the tide had gone out revealing a pathway to the islands. We enjoyed a chilly lunch on the rocky beach, walks around town, some delicious sugary crepes, and witnessed a lot of French loving on the beach- let's just say those Charleston southern belles sipping on their sweet tea would be mighty shocked if this was going down on the South Carolina beaches!

We then headed to Vitre, a cute town where Pierre-Antoine (Lauren's boyfriend) is from to help another friend of Lauren's move out. Her family took us to a nice Indian restaurant for lunch (a confusing experience figuring out how to order Indian food in French) and we wandered around town and visited the chateau.

The rest of my visit involved exploring more of Rennes, eating some more (galette saucisse- sausage wrapped in a wheat crepe), Tibetan food, fruity drinks at the Funky Monkey, shopping, and visiting the chatteau in Nantes.

So, the metro, train, bus, plane, another plane, bus, train, and bus, and I was back in St. Andrews for a day to repack for slightly different temperatures and activities for a week in the Highlands with Mark's friends.