Scotland

29/ 5/09

Gday all!

So since my last sleepy blog entry from Edinburgh I have travelled north to Stirling, a beautiful little town in central Scotland, and up to Fort William and the stunning Scottish highlands. Currently I am sitting in Edinburgh Airport waiting for my flight south to meet Simo and Painkiller (the yacht) in Marseille.

Stirling was a truly beautiful little town! With a castle overlooking the main street, the majestic Wallace Monument, friendly locals, and the surrounding picturesque valley, it reminded me of Edinburgh, just without the masses of tourists. It had an old world charm, with the added extra of a thriving nightlife thanks to the local student population. On that note, I took a stroll around Stirling University, which I would have to conclude has the most beautiful campus grounds I have ever seen. It is set around a little lake, right up against the surrounding mountains, with rolling green hills where the student population were enjoying the rare sunshine to the sounds of a lone piper playing down along the waterside to an audience of inquisitive ducks and swans. Oh and did I mention the castle and golf course next to the student accommodation?

One of the additional points I should make about Stirling is the presence of an Australian bar (random!), which serves ‘outback brew’ alongside VB and Carlton Cold. However I didn’t come halfway across the world to drink Australian beers! I had a Fosters instead!

After a fun 24hrs in Stirling I took a bus North a few hours into the Scottish highlands to Fort William where the largest ‘mountain’ in the UK, Ben Nevis, resides. The region is simply stunning, with the bus winding through narrow valleys and beside raging rivers, dwarfed by the dramatic (although relatively small) mountains which rise abruptly from sea level to over 4,000ft. Simply put, it looks like another world. Although Fort William was disappointingly touristy, I took a hike away from the masses into nearby Glen Nevis, suggested to be the most beautiful glen in the country. While a number of hikers took the path beside the road, I trekked up to a higher, and much boggier, track where I was afforded magnificent views of the valley and the nearby Stealle Falls (the largest in the UK). Amazing!

So now I travel south to the much warmer Mediterranean climate where Simo, Painkiller, and the next chapter in my journey await. Until then, as they say here in Scotland, Cheerio!