A lot going on in the past few days. 27/3/2014

There has been plenty of things going on in the past few days. Unfortunately, internet and time has been limited and with all the things to do while the weather was nice, I needed to take advantage of it. That being said, I apologize if it seems rushed but I'll try to get to the point of things.

Let's start from the beginning. The bus I caught from Glasgow up north to Oban was at 6 in the evening, so after a 3 hour bus ride, I reached Oban and decided traveling in the dark with no flashlight would be dangerous, so I stayed at a hostel. Must I say it was incredibly clean and I could walk barefoot all around with no dirt stuck to my feet. After the owner checked me in and I settled, he showed me a road to Taynuilt Which is a 10 mile walk east of Oban. So I decided I'd go there in the morning.

Room in the morning. There were only a few others staying at the hostel so I got this room all to myself! 

The lounge. They provided free breakfast! 

So I headed off after breakfast. It was a great day. 

Oban's main road

  

Towards the edge of town was beautiful community golf course. 

Further up, a small lake. 

After some ways the country road

Beautiful weather

My first encounter with a sheep... Little did I know... They are everywhere. 

Literally everywhere

Wandered off the road. By the way, Scotland has a free roaming policy. You can hop fences and go anywhere you want, so as long as if you do cross private property, you respect it such as by closing gates behind you and not harassing animals. 

I am proud to say, I herded these guys off the road. 

Series of beautiful views

This mysterious thing! 

The road, everyone who drove past were nice and waved. I had a couple people even stop to make sure I was doing alright or if I wanted a ride! 

Ooo 

Ooo 

Me! 

"Keep on swimming"

River

Mountain

Seemingly endless

The mountains. I believe the tallest one may be Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain on the island. I might be wrong if that's actually it or not... 

Cows 

A group... There was this one bull by the road. I was scared as it stared me down the entire time. I didn't make eye contact. Haha so when taking this picture I excluded him. I don't think domesticated cows are a threat, but I didn't take my chances. 

Still technically coming out of winter. 

I did stick mainly to the road though I wandered off here and there when there were no fences present, or gaps between them. I was paranoid fences were meant to keep me out. That really isn't the case though. Its to separate herds. 

Finally reached Taynuilt. Took me longer than I thought... This was closer to the center. I had already passed some houses on the way and chatted with a local gentleman. 

Iron furnace touring site. It was closed cause of off season. 

I set camp up near the iron furnace site. 

Behind the bushes is the road leading left to the town. 

Iron furnace is right, down the road. 

You can see a house. They weren't home. 

Me making porridge from oats. 

So... I have to say my first night was very miserable camping out. The sleeping bag wasn't thermal and the night was colder than I expected (locals thought it was a strange shift as well) I had enough shirts to keep my internal upper body warm but the cold sleeping bag, made my skin all over my body cold. My legs did not get enough warmth,  I needed to wake up every 20 min to warm up by stretching in order to stay warm.  By the time the sun came out, I could no longer feel myself moving my legs and feet because the pain of moving them masked the feeling of everything else until I warmed them with my cold hands. Haha strangely I never complained mentally, only because I realized there was literally nothing I could do about it. I needed to do what I needed to survive the night and you know... As painfully miserable as that was, it was also a very incredible and humbling experience, being forced into a survival mind set conserving energy by not even thinking... Though I would not choose to do that again... And have avoided it up until now at all costs... 

So much has happened in the past few days that I can't cover  it all now. Hopefully this post about Thursday will do until I get more time to post more. Until next time. More good things to come. 

Thanks for reading. 

Loch Lomond. Backpacking the north.

I went on a stroll near a lake called Loch Lomond in Balloch which is north west of where central Glasgow is. It's a lake and there is a castle! 

 Me and Loch Lomond

 Bottoms up! 

A castle

 Another angle

The back. 

I don't know if you can go in or not but it was being restored or something so I didn't want to go bother the workers. It was pretty cool. Can't wait to find bigger ones. 

 Back to the lake 

A beach earlier on in the trail

I almost wanted to go for a swim

Solitary tree

I have never seen so many swans in one place. Haha they were all looking for food. I managed to catch most of them looking in the same direction. 

Magpies live here too 

Casting shadows

Sun going down, still have an hour or two. 

 I love how vibrant the colors are. The deep green grass and the blue lake and sky. 

It would have been perfect if the daffodils bloomed

A path further inland along the river. Lots of benches and stone picnic tables this way. 

I followed a small dirt path that led away from the main trail and found a woodsy area. 

A river! 

 That's my squatting shadow on the left. 

More rivers! Hello! 

Getting wider

Led us back to the lake

It took me a while to get this in frame and focus. My face was numb. 

Cool tree. Almost looks like a person scratching his head. 

Swans again

We know who the leader is

The setting sun

The day was almost over and all the swans must be heading home too. 

 

 This guy had his feathers up. It looks pretty. I think he was using the wind to move him along. 

Front view. Pretty cool looking. 

 These ducks were cute

A lot of wandering around the lake and lounging around outside. It was a beautiful day, warm and not too windy. Course it chilled up after the sun went down as the wind picked up. 

So I plan on going on a backpacking trip around the north to get a better glimpse of the Scotland's country side. Exploring the wilderness, submitting to the elements, and getting a good view of the land. Hopefully I'll see some great architecture (more castles too of course) and I'm on a mission to find sheep. (the only other unique request from my friend Colin) I saw sheep on the train ride to Balloch but I thought it would be cheating unless I managed to get a closer view on foot. 

I will be going to 3 cities that Stephen suggested and head out from those cities for 2-3 days just wandering aimlessly or until I'm scared for my life in the vast wildness on my own. I'm going to Oban, Glencoe, and Fort William. Afterwards I will either continue to explore if I like it, or head back to Glasgow and to Stephen's place. Stephen was kind enough to let me borrow a rucksack, sleeping bag, mat, and a few other things. I needed to buy a tent, butane, and some pots. (I got myself a compact towel as well, since it rains so much and I can't waste space on a normal one)

I have to admit, I'm a bit frightened, but like Stephen said, I will most likely be OK. He said I'd have to be pretty retarded to die out there since there aren't many dangerous animals or incredibly severe weather, with exception of maybe wind and rain, but if I have a tent, I should be OK. 

I will be leaving on Wednesday for a flexible amount of time, though if things go well, I'll be gone for about 10 days, 2 nights camping and one night in a hostel to clean up and move to the next city. Should be a pretty wild time. I've been wanting to go backpacking, but never thought my first time would be in a foreign country. Time to utilize what I've learned on Survivorman... Course my circumstances aren't nearly as severe. I'm sure I'll be fine. 

I will spend most of tomorrow making the final preparations. I'll post as often as I can. 

Thanks for reading.