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Time again for our yearly trip to some where in the world we haven’t been. Last year it was sailing in Greece, this year... well it was a road trip.... in Scotland. Yeah I know I live here so it doesn’t actually count, but since JD and Scott had never been over here I convinced them Scotland is an exciting enough place to make it worth a week long trip. As with every road trip we had our share of mishaps, missed turns, close calls, and bad luck. Though it seemed almost all the bad luck fell on Scott. At least JD and myself got a good laugh out of all of it (sorry Scott).
Trip started out in London where I met up with the boys. JD was flying in from Houston and Scott from Singapore. We met up with Scott’s buddies from South Africa who were living there and Scott proceeded to relive his glory days from college at all the bars in London. After a rough next morning we boarded a plane and headed to Glasgow Scotland. Picked up my car and headed into the mountains. After a 5 mile hike (which I told them was only 3) we were at the base of a mountain called Ben Lui. We set up camp there for the night. There is a general rule with wild camping.... always check your gear works BEFORE you go on the trip. Yeah, I didn’t follow that rule when I packed. So..... that night we ate a cold dinner cause the mini stove didn’t work. (mishap #1). Went to sleep that evening.... and it starts to rain. Is this how it is going to be for the whole trip? Hope not. Next morning we wake up to sunshine (unusual in Scotland) and eat another cold meal. Our goal that day was to hike to the top of Ben Lui, a 3900 ft mountain. I had gotten some advice from a friend of mine on a route up. His route was pretty much.... pick a gully and go up it..... which me and JD did. About half way up a ridiculously steep gully we look off to our right and see a nice switch back trail going up a ridge line to the top. Yeah, mishap #2. The route I picked was too steep to go down, so we had to keep pushing ahead. It was on the verge of rock climbing with no rope. We eventually make it to the top and that is when JD tells me he is deathly afraid of heights. HA. Oh well... at least we made it. We looked down the route we had just come up and were crapping ourselves that we had actually come up it. At least we could take the easy trail down.
Next stop was Oban where we stayed two nights. Nice little harbor town that is the gateway to all of the islands on the western side of the highlands. Took an all day boat tour around Isle of Mull, Staffa, and Iona. Of course it rained the whole time.
Then it was on to Fort William for the World Downhill Mountain Bike Championships. It was a training day for the athletes, so the downhill track was packed with riders practicing for the weekend. We thought it would be a good idea to take the gondola to the top and walk the course down. Mishap #3. The downhill course is 3 km long and it is literally down the side of a mountain..... with no trail.... oh yeah, did I say it was raining too? So here we are sloshing through the mud, making our way through the trees, etc. to follow the course down. Of course, Scott wipes out and gets covered in mud.... yeah and he only has one pair of pants with him for the whole trip (did I mention Scott has bad luck)? So after a few hours we make back to the bottom of the course and move on.....
That night had us in Aviemore for some more camping (mini stove still didn’t work), but at least nothing bad happened and it was good weather. Next day we rented some mountain bikes. Got some advice from the kid at the rental shop and headed out. We had a map, but I didn’t look at it too close. For people’s future reference, when a map has elavation lines, you should take note. We ended up mountain biking up a mountain. It gained 1500 ft in 4 miles! At least we got a good view from the top. Wouldn’t really classify that as a mishap though. Then we were off to the Glenlivet whisky distillery for a tour. Good stuff. After that we were back in Aberdeen where I showed them the very disappointing night life that Aberdeen has to offer.
Next day I took them to a castle in the next town over and then that afternoon we headed to Edinburgh for two nights. Toured Edinburgh during the day and hit up the night life in the evening. Sunday saw Scott and JD taking the early flight back to the states and me a train back to Aberdeen. All in all it was an amazing trip, even if things kept going wrong. Check out the pictures below.
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