“Hi” from the (Western) Highlands

Yes, you read that correctly… I am no longer in Edinburgh!

This morning, I woke up at 5:15 in order to check out of my hostel and walk to the train station for my 7:15 train. Despite Google Maps telling me that the station was only a 16 minute walk from the hostel, I gave myself plenty of time to get there since Edinburgh is a hilly city and my luggage is heavy. Little did I know just how ridiculous the walk would be. The first half wasn’t too bad. I just had to roll my luggage up Victoria’s Street (aka Diagon Alley) which is steep but not too uneven. Since it was so early in the morning, I had all of Victoria’s Street AND the Royal Mile all to myself which was a bonus.

Then, my Google Maps told me I only had three minutes left of walking — woohoo!

And then my Google Maps told me to haul my entire semester’s worth of luggage down a FLIGHT OF AT LEAST 100 STAIRS.

Yes, I really went down the stairs. With all of my luggage. At 6:00 in the morning. My only other option was to go take an alternate route that was at least 20 minutes out of the way, and even that didn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be any stairs.

Thankfully, I made it to my platform with enough time to grab a coffee before boarding the train. The trip was 5.5 hours total, but the time went really fast. I rode for about an hour to Glasgow, and then boarded a new train to Oban. What was interesting about this transfer was that the front two cars were going to Oban, while the last four cars were going to Mallaig. Fort William was only a stop on the route to Mallaig, so I had to make sure that I was getting in one of the last four cars. I didn’t really know which car to get in because, as dumb as it sounds, I didn’t know what they were considering to be the front of the train! Luckily, nobody else knew either.

And that’s how I met Lynn.

I had just sat down in my seat when Lynn asked me, “Is this the front or the back of the train?! Are you going to Mallaig?”. I was SO relieved to know that I wasn’t the only one confused about this. We laughed for a while about how confused we were, and laughed even harder when others came to ask us the exact same questions. Once we were sure that we were in the right section, we started talking about our journeys and what it’s like to travel solo. She was on a solo trip traveling to the Isle of Skye from her home in Manchester, England. Her train had been unexpectedly cancelled the night before, so she had to stay in Glasgow for a night. We talked about how important it is to prepare for the worst case scenario and just step back and take a deep breath when things don’t work out as planned.

Two hours passed before we quit chatting and turned to admire the beautiful view out our windows. There were mountains, rivers, lochs, and waterfalls. Absolutely breathtaking.

As the train pulled up to the Fort William station, I turned to say goodbye to Lynn. She was continuing all the way to Mallaig. In that moment, she said, “I wish I could take you out for tea, but we’re on a train!” and handed me a £20 note. I wished so badly that we were getting off at the same stop so that we could get tea together, too! I could’ve talked with her for the rest of the day. What a sweet lady.

By this time, it was just past noon and I was HUNGRY. So, I went to the first pub I could find and ate a veggie burger and a beer.

I spent the next few hours walking along the loch and soaking up the sunshine. Then, I spontaneously signed up for a seal-sighting cruise and was on a big, orange boat within a half an hour watching a bunch of seals bathe in the sun on a rock.

What I really love about guided tours is everything I am able to learn about the area in such a short period of time. Here’s what I learned today:

• Loch Linnhe is the 2nd deepest sea loch on the west coast of Scotland and is hundreds of feet deep.
• Salmon and mussels are farmed in the loch
• Deep sea divers come to Fort William for training
• At least one deep sea diver used to die every two weeks before strict guides were put in place for dive training
• Ben Nevis is the largest mountain in the UK
• Ben Nevis looks like an elephant
• When seals dive into cold water, their heart rates slow down to 6 bpm (in other words, it beats once every 10 seconds)

I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting, but these are some pretty interesting facts, right?!

LOCH (get it?), I know you want to hear more, but I’m quite tired.

Until next time,

Clara