We left Aberdeen at 6:00pm on Friday night. It was a five hour drive to the western coast of Scotland, including a brief stop at a discount supermarket to pick up a weekend's worth of food. We stayed at a cozy little bothy (Scot-speak for cottage) surrounded by majestic Scottish "hills". It should be understood that in Scotland, the term "hill" generally applies to what we call mountains in the States... and everything else, by comparison, is flat ground.
After arriving at the bothy we formulated our plans for the next day. About half of the group had come up for ice climbing on Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in all of Britain. The other half had come for hill walking. Due to my lack equipment and experience I stuck with the hillwalkers.
The ice climbers left at 4:00am, but us hillwalkers got up at a leisurely 7:00am. The day was uncharacteristically sunny and dry. We really couldn't have asked for better weather from Scotland. We left the bothy around 8:00am and made our way up the Buachaille Etive Mòr, a famous local ridgeline of four peaks. After a few hours of ascent, most of which was very steep rock scrambling, the seven of us made it to the top. The view was breathtaking, and we spent the next few hours walking along the ridgeline to the other three peaks, each equally impressive and majestic.
Our descent was a little less planned, but we found a popular route and, despite massive amounts of ice and frozen snow, we made our way down. With all the ice about I got to try some very basic ice climbing skills. We made it to the bottom sometime in the late afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day walking through the muddy bog of the valley. We made it to the road just as it got dark. It was a strenuous but rewarding ten hour hike.
The evening was spent around a nice fire at the bothy, with the ice climbers and hillwalkers trading stories and showing off photos. Sunday morning everyone was worn out and the weather was less favorable, so we split into two groups again, one group going on a harder hike up another hill and the other going on an easier hike to the Lost Valley. I chose to go on the easier hike, and afterwards we all packed up and made the drive back to Aberdeen.
I got back to Hillhead Halls at 10:30pm, dropped off my things, and made it to the Watering Hole. I met up with Tommy, Mark, Sandy, and Matt to watch the Superbowl. Because of the time difference the game didn't start until 11:30pm and it ended around 3:30am. I helped explained wacky American football to my flatmates and we all had a good time. I was personally cheering for the Bears, but in the end Grossman surprised no one and played just as everyone expected: horrifically.
But even if the team I was rooting for lost the game, the weekend itself was an absolute success. I walked some of the most picturesque mountains in western Scotland, I met tons of fun, new people, and I topped it all off with a beer at the pub with my mates. It was a perfect weekend in Scotland.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Jacob
3 comments:
Uncle Jeff loved the pictures of the geology of Scotland. The father of geology, Charles Hutton, was Scottish. He thought it was great to see some of the geology that influenced his beliefs. The pictures you took are beautiful. Every blog makes me want to visit more and more. Keep up the good work.
Cheers to you, Aunt Lila & Uncle Jeff
que hermoso. I am sooooo happy for you. I feel like we haven't spoken in ages... you are so missed.
Have been looking every day for an update, I enjoy reading about your life in Scotland and have enjoyed the pictures also. It is good to hear about another country and see the pictures since I will probably never get there in person. You will have to be my eyes thru your writing and your pictures.
Love, Nanny
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