TravelStream™ news feed for member sianeth on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sianeth en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:59:56 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sianeth/9/1258840869/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sianeth/9/1258840869/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sianeth/9/1258840869/tpod.html Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:59:56 -0500 Summer 2008 and beyond; Galavanting around in an aimless fashion

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Luss, Scotland, United Kingdom

A spot of lunch in Luss (frickin' beautiful by the way)... tomato soup followed by apple pie by a log fire :) A kinda moody day looking out onto the Loch, but pretty stunning...

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Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom

This weekend I was working at the Mitchell Trophy swim meet in Inverness - naturally I took the opportunity to take some photos along the way :)

Unfortunately the weather on the way up was far from the best. There was a grim moment somewhere in the middle of the A9 (pretty much the only straight road there) where a lorry had crossed the central reservation and we were held up for about 45 mins, and all I could see was literally mist and rain. Thankfully I had my CD player or else it could have broken me!

So I only took a handful of photos on the way up - the weather didn't do it justice, and typically there was nowhere to stop off the main road whenever I wanted to take photos... so it's fair to say I bypassed quite a bit. Nonetheless, my favourite (non-mist shrouded) bit of the trip up was the stunning autumn colours abundant in the trees all the way up the Highlands, beautiful...



When I got to Inverness there was still a good hour and a bit of daylight left - and the sun even made a brief appearance, so I thought what-the-hey, lets take a little detour to Loch Ness and see if I can't see anything... look carefully :P Again, not lit the best, so... that's my excuse!



I checked in at the hostel, but couldn't get wi-fi so wandered into town with my comp and ended up having dinner down there... it looks a pretty small place for a city, some nice streets though and the river was nice at night.

Saturday I worked at the Aquadome - there was so much frost when I woke up it was ridiculous, and caught me completely unaware... and then it was roasting in the swimming pool all day, just can't win sometimes...

Sunday I was driving home, and got up early and was met by an equally intense frost... I missed the mist over the river, but it was pretty, honest.



If the drive up was autumnal then the drive back was full on winter - everything looked so stunning in the frost, it was really kinda special, I wish I got it on film better. I drove back down the main road for the first bit, so again, found it hard to stop in the best places.



I turned off just before Aviemore onto the A938 - a completely obscure but brilliant road that took me past some beautifully untouched frosty countryside, and plenty of opportunities to pull over.



This road became the A939 soon after, and it really was so middle-of-nowhere-awesome. I passed through Lecht ski resort - super high up, yet no snow at the moment - and weird to see ski lifts sans snow. Completely deserted again - when I got out of the car there was a lifetime worth of silence... and a rock that summed it all with the line "take a moment to behold"...



Before I knew it the road descended into a single lane track with tight passing points every hundred yards and heaps of snow poles. Thank god it was Sunday morning and many people weren't daft enough to brave the ice like me... hmm! This road literally passed over the top of the world... jaw-dropping...





When the road came out, almost in civilisation, we were around Braemar. Not much civilsation for long though - the other side was Glenshee, home to another ski resort... and this was the A93, the highest public road in the UK... closed to snow for much of the winter... unsurprising!





Beautiful, beautiful drive. It took hours and hours but I didn't care... I need to find more excuses to go to the Highlands :P
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St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom

What better way to celebrate the 60th birthday of my fabulous Mum than a bus spotting trip to Dunfermline, followed by a "scenic" drive around the Fife coast up to the historic university town of St Andrews...

I say "scenic" because much of the early part of the road was actually inland through tinsy, slightly miserable looking Scottish villages, and we rarely got to see the coast. Despite this, every place you drive through in Fife has a sign welcoming you to a "beautiful Fife, award winning town", with three grades, bronze, silver and gold. Most places had only made the bronze level, which is therefore technically the lowest... hmm!

Anyway, the first place Mum requested to stop was a "pretty little fishing village" called Elie. What the guidebook failed to mention was that the moment you stepped out of the car you'd have to fight with all your might not to be blown away into the sea by the stiff winds!



Then we stopped at another "pretty little fishing village" further up the coast, Pittenweem this time, and walked around the harbour briefly. Again it was cold, boasted a selection of scummy public toilets, and there wasn't much happening given that it was a Sunday... surprisingly it didn't hold a "beautiful Fife gold award".

The final "pretty little fishing village" we stopped at was Crail - supposedly the prettiest of them all. It was quite nice - probably seen in a better light in summer. We walked down to the harbour and looked out across to the Lothian coast across the water.



Then it was inland to St Andrews (winner of beautiful Fife, silver award... what on earth has the gold?!) and the North Fife coast. We parked up on one of the three main streets and stopped for a spot of lunch before wandering the streets... it seemed like many of the buildings were home to divisions of pretentious university courses - moral philosophy/classics, that sort of thing. Definitely no sports science department :(

The castle claimed to be closed - despite this there were people in there, but it was silly expensive anyway so we weren't going in. Not much of it is still standing anyway so you can actually see into it from the outside - I'm not sure of course but I doubt there can be much more to see close up.





A few hundred metres around the coastal path was the St Andrews Cathedral - again, pretty badly ruined, pretty good for me to walk around and get photos from all angles...









We walked down to the harbour pier and looked across the North Sea to Denmark/Norway? And Mum announced that we had "done" St Andrews - that was all there was to it. Obviously we drove past the golf course on the way out... Well I thought it was quite lovely anyway - reminded me of Bath, always a good thing.

On the way back to Edinburgh we had time before it got dark to go for a walk around Loch Leven at Kinross - Dad kept announcing it was going to rain to try and get us to pack in the walk early, but we managed to get a good 40 minutes of traipsing around the Loch, meanwhile the sun even came out.

In the evening we went for a great meal at a Nepalese restaurant in Edinburgh - I was too stuffed even for cake :O Happy birthday Mum! You are the best xxxxx
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Peebles, Scotland, United Kingdom

A two day conference in Peebles (Scottish Borders) encompassing muchos quality food, and my birthday on the Thursday. Add to that a plush room on the first floor overlooking the Moorfoot Hills... the view as the sun was rising, and the view as the sun came up (a little nap later)... slightly tainted by my reflection in the window... I think it makes it looks a bit cool though!



Pretty much the whole of my time was spent in the hotel, so no comment on Peebles itself unfortunately. Good conference though...
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Troon, Scotland, United Kingdom

My brief trip to the west coast was highly spontaneous - I thought I was only going to Glasgow, but instead my friend Adam picked me up and took me out into the country. We went past the largest wind farm in Europe (apparently!) on the way to Troon... and yeah, it was pretty impressive (my photos for this entry are rubbish and don't represent that at all - sorry). Then he drove past a whole heap of LA style mansions on the way into Troon... I think this is Scotland's celeb coast.

We went for lunch at Scotts Restaurant/Bar at the Troon harbour, which was buzzing with a yacht festival. It was a lovely place, and the food was awesome too... amazing cheesecake :D

That's it for Troon... I did see Arran off the coast though, definitely want to go there at somepoint.



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Linlithgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

On a little drive back from Edinburgh I decided to pop across to Linlithgow to have a sneak peek at the palace there, which I was told was nice... it was another decent day up here aswell (translation: no rain) so why not? Linlithgow Palace was the birthplace of James V and Mary Queen of Scots, and although its technically "ruined", all four walls are still standing, and only the roof appears to be missing. It stands atop a grassy hill, looking out onto Linlithgow Loch to the north and west...



I walked clockwise around it, starting at the north face...





And then to the east face, which was once the main entrance, drawbridge and all.



The south side is where the visitors entrance now is. Unfortunately there's also a car park, which kinda obscures the view a bit. Nevertheless...



The west face is less impressive really, but bolstered by the handy appearance of a proud flag of two.



Right next door is St Michael's Church, a 15th Century "burgh kirk", which now has a modern spire, which surprisingly isn't at all cringy.



The road up to the palace/church combo has a grand gate, and plaques adorning the walls, showing the succession of royalty from Mary Queen of Scots to the present day Queen Elizabeth II. At the bottom of the road was the town hall, once a tolbooth, and the Cross Town Well, both from the 17th Century.





I then abandoned Linlithgow for another local treasure, this time on the coast at Blackness Castle. Except it wasn't that much of a treasure - more of a war castle than a residental, picturesque castle...



It didn't really look like my cup of tea, so I left the sightseeing there for today, and drove the 5 min stretch back to Bo'ness. A nice little excursion on the way back from the gym... couldn't do that in Warrington!


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Falkland, Scotland, United Kingdom

Another day off = another day out. Taking advantage of my new location in Bo'ness and hopping across the Forth Road Bridge for the first time, over to the Kingdom of Fife. Some brief internet research revealed to me that it was destined to be a clear and sunny day across most of Scotland, and I wanted to climb something relatively close, not too challenging or busy, and with decent views to exploit the weather. A quick google search threw up the Lomond Hills - the highest points in Fife, and less than an hour away from where I am.

True enough, I woke early and the sky was blue as anything, and the gale force winds from yesterday nothing but a distant memory. The roads were clear (there is no traffic in Scotland!) and I made it up to Falkland in 50 mins, and cut off the road to Craigmead, the access point for both West and East Lomond Hills. I was following an itinerary of a walking club I found on the internet, and therefore went to climb East Lomond first, the smaller of the two (424 m). Naturally my first views as the track pulled up out of the woods were looking back to West Lomond, and looking out onto Fife below.



No-one else was around, unsurprisingly, and the track up to the foot of East Lomond was undemanding. Following my route, I took a right instead of climbing it from the West. I took a mini de-tour around the Limekiln trail, which featured, you guessed it, a limekiln...



Then I circled around the south of the hill, in order to climb up it from the East, which didn't really make any odds, it just extended the walk and was maybe a more gradual ascent than going up from the West. Anyway, it gave me a good perspective on East Lomond before the climb...



The actual climb was really easy and short, I was quite surprised. I got to the top and was sort of like "Is that it?" (then I realised I still had West Lomond to climb, so it was all good...). It was a bit windy up there and I got a bit cold so didn't end up staying too long. To the south-west was Miller Loch, to the west obviously West Lomond hill, and to the North I could see out to Dundee and St Andrews on the coast.





I descended down the west face which was steep but short, and less well trodden than the one I came up. I was now headed back towards the car park and my ascent of West Lomond...



And so after a brief rest in the car park, the West Lomond track began, obviously with views back towards East Lomond and North Fife...





The track to the foot of West Lomond was far longer than that to East Lomond. Mostly flat with a slight incline, it took maybe 45 mins. The hill loomed ever closer...



Again, I circled around the back of the hill, to climb it up the North face as opposed to the East face, which I had read was slippy underfoot. I was overtaken by a keen fellrunner who paid no attention to this advice... as he was making his way up the hill, I wondered if simulating the action of running at a slower pace than normal walking actually still counts as running? A deep philosophical question yet to be answered.

Once on the proper climb this one really was super steep, but again, quite short, so overall not very taxing. At the summit (522m), the views were brilliant. To the west was Loch Leven, the largest loch in lowland Scotland, to the north again, Dundee and St Andrews, to the east was East Lomond Hill, and to the south-east was Miller Loch and another couple of small lochs.





I found a suitable spot in the grass and lay back for a spot of lunch, looking out over to the East. It was such a beautiful day, but cold up there, and by the time I left I put my scarf on and an extra layer even though the sun was still out!



On the way back there were lots of people climbing up - I was glad I missed them and got to be at the summit on my own... The walk back to the car park was mainly flat again and uneventful. Back at Craigmead it wasn't even 2pm so I decided to take a mini de-tour back home and go down to the banks of Loch Leven. The boat that takes you over to the castle in the middle of the loch wasn't running, and I couldn't be bothered to walk round it, so I hopped back in the car for the short drive back to Bo'ness.



I really enjoyed the day out/climbs in Fife, even if they weren't too challenging. I was slightly gutted that I hadn't had such nice weather on my previous climbs @ Loch Lomond and Arthurs Seat, but then I reasoned that I shouldn't be complaining about clear weather in Scotland, so....!

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Bo'ness, Scotland, United Kingdom

A little assortment of pictures from Bo'ness, where I'm staying at the moment, probably for the next few months. It's mainly a commuter town with an industry/coal mining back ground (hence the wonderfully industrial views across the Firth of Forth and the 'Memorial to Coal Mining'!). Nevertheless there are a few nice little buildings, and the fact that it's a bit of a hillside town means you can see right across the Firth to Fife. I wouldn't really call it beautiful but it's not bad!

According to the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, sections of the Antonine Wall (built by the Romans across the central belt of Scotland can still be seen in Bo'ness (I may have walked past them and mistaken them for decrepit housing!). Futhermore there was allegedly a once great battle between the Romans and some locals on the hill in Bo'ness. Wonderful. Although, shame there's no beach...!

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Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Today I'm off for a mosey around Edinburgh, the plan is just to wander around and see what I come across, and then to meet up with Joey at some point. As I was driving over to the Park&Ride there were signs up on the motorway saying the Forth Road Bridge was closed to high vehicles due to strong winds... and didn't think much of it at the time, but then I didn't know about this... Gale Force Winds in Scotland ...and how it would come back to haunt me later!

The Park&Ride was brilliant - free parking, and then £1.20 single into Edinburgh (30 min journey), and the bus was literally there straight away. I got off at Princes Street and went into the Tourist Info Centre to get a map. Then I walked back up Princes Street - past the Scott Monument - and cut across past the National Gallery to the Royal Mile.





I drove up the Royal Mile a couple of weeks ago, at 5.30am... it was a bit different this time, just a little busier!



I took a right up to the Castle, and walked through the esplanade to see how far I could get without having to pay to go in! It turned out it was super busy inside anyway, the queue was massive.



Up there you could see right down onto the Royal Mile and to the right out over Edinburgh City Centre.



Walking down the Royal Mile there are loads of little quirky things to catch your eye, and some neat views through the little alleyways protruding from the main street...





Just before it became Canongate I took a left to grab some sneaky photos of Princes St Way again...



Then back down the Royal Mile it became much less busy - people filtered away, but all the little whisky/kilt making etc shops were still there. At the bottom is Holyrood Palace, and Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament.





Just round the corner from there is Holyrood Park, an array of volcanic hills, lochs, ruins, and pathways to climb. What they didn't tell me at the bottom is it was about to get horrendously windy. And there was a bit of patchy drizzle thrown in there for good measure... though that wasn't too bad as it meant the appearance of a rainbow over St Margarets Loch :D



I wasn't very high up now, but already there were decent views back over the city of Edinburgh and Holyrood Palace...



I took a little detour on my route up to Arthurs Seat, over to St Anthony's Chapel... or the remains of it anyway, only the north wall is still standing.



From there on out the climb was stupendously windy - thankfully the wind was behind me so it was propelling me forwards :D It was so strong when I emerged at the top of one mini-peak that it took my map out of my pocket and blew it away... I was happy to hold on to my scarf!



The last little scramble to the top was a bit of an ordeal, trying to stay on my feet. Plus my face was being sucked into a vortex. Photo attempts were a lucky dip - I couldn't hold the camera straight for toffee. Saying that I'm surprised some of them have turned out like they did... These two are my absolute favourites...





Here are a few more from the rocky summit (820ft)...





And then I made a pathetic attempt to descend via a different route - only to encounter some sort of cyclone blowing me back the other way. So down I went, back the same way I came!

The winds hardly died down back in the city... but anyway, then I went to see Joey and his halls, and then we went for lunch in a nearby cafe... baked spud with beans and cheese, and a mango/banana/pineapple smoothie... nice! Lunch with Joey...



He then showed me the wonders of the Chinese supermarket - fried tofu, mega bottles of soy sauce and massive packs of noodles... all cheap as chips and a random guy trying to educate me on the health benefits of buckwheat noodles (following me round the store...) thrown in for good measure :)

I departed at 5 and was home by 6 for a quality tofu and veg stirfry thanks to the punctuality of the Park&Ride buses... much better than the 48 ;)

And I quote from Wikipedia, "In a 2009 YouGov poll, Edinburgh was voted the "most desirable city to live in the UK"... and now I see why... minus the wind of course.


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Snowdonia National Park, Wales, United Kingdom

I don't know why we'd decided to climb Snowdon. It all came about quite quickly, and suddenly one day later there we were, waiting for a bus at the bottom to take us up to the start of the Pyg Track, a supposedly "moderately difficult" route up. Mum had previously climbed it up a ridiculously hard/drawn out route, so if she managed that one then this one would be easy, right...?

It was a classic day for it. All the clothes/scarves/hats/gloves I'd packed for it were utterly useless, it was downright boiling. Although this meant we were unfortunately drowning in sweat for the entirity of the climb, the plus side was it was clear as anything.

We began the Pyg Track @ ~12.45pm, and very soon we were high up enough to take in some decent views of the start of the climb, which was fairly steep.





The track pulled round the back of one of the smaller peaks and flattened out a bit after that. To the left a beautiful lake suddenly appeared...



...Which was soon joined by another. Stunning...



Actually, come to think, I forget how many lakes there were, and I'm not sure I can figure it out from the pictures.





The last part of the Pyg Track was steep and we were glad to see the top of it, and our first views out across the other side of Snowdon.



The track then joined the Llanbaris track for the final 10 or so minutes up to the summit.



As promised, views were spectactular, 360 degrees...





We spent a good 20 minutes at the summit. It was busy - shouldn't these people be at work on a Friday?! (I know, I should too...) FYI, there is excellent mobile phone reception up there. Anyway, as we had parked in Llanberis car park, we could either get the train back, or walk the Llanberis track. IMO, the train is a rip off, unless you have problems walking, so... 7 mile track it was! Apparently this is the easiest route up. It was still pretty steep to me... and almost worse ground, a lot of loose stones. The one we came up had quite a lot of defined stone steps and so was sometimes easier to navigate, if steeper.



All in all, I'm guessing it took ~3 hrs up, and 2-2.5 hrs down. Down was actually quite bad - big impact and not the best surface to walk on = blisters galore. When we were at least halfway down, 5pm ish time, there were still people going up. I hope they had torches, otherwise... The worst was one guy jogging up with a massive backpack. As he ran past me I wondered if he'd just lost a bet and was having to do this as a forfeit... What was that about??!

Anyway, we were home by 8, in time for a well deserved foot bath or two. It was hard, and hot, but so worth it, I had such a great time... can't wait to climb more things in Scotland :D :D

*2/10/09 - Just uploaded my heart rate trace for the climb to Garmin Connect (think I switched it off half way down, so its not the full trace). Anyway, cracking interval session - max HR of 181, average HR of 130... so definitely tough in places, but not maximal, it can be done :)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15042210

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