The fun thing about this trip is the fact that on the trail, Jordan and Isaiah decided it would be a great time to write songs and sing songs and have Marc record them. Marc also recorded some of our hilarious conversations including one with me talking about Toothless and How to Train Your Dragon, and how I used to have guys write me on Facebook. Apparently the reason they had crushes on me was because I used emoticons while writing. At least that’s what Isaiah told me. We had so much fun telling stories and getting to know each other, while laughing and having so much fun.

Day three started out a little bad. We missed breakfast and didn’t have much cell service to figure out where we were going to sleep for that night. Plus the midges started to bite which was not fun. So needless to say, we were all a bit grumpy but tried to still put on a good attitude because we were in Scotland.

The scenery soon started out beautiful as usual. It was a partly sunny day, but still no rain, which was beautiful. This time we were hiking along Ben Lomond so it was mostly trees with the Loch next to us. Much of it was walking over large rocks and trying not to trip on tree roots. But the forest was beautiful as it was changing into fall.

We stopped for a nice lunch at this nice hotel and finally figured out a place to stay for the night. The only problem was it was in Crianlarich. According to the map, we weren’t supposed to go there until the next night. We had already hiked 7 miles, and we would need to hike 14 more to get to Crianlarich by nightfall. So we decided to take the challenge!

After a little while we left the forest and arrived in a valley where the path sort of left and we had to forge our way through so we landed in quite a bit of mud. I sunk up to my ankles (which in one sense was good because I was wearing Chacos, but I also don’t like mud so…). So trying to find a place where I would step with the least amount of mud was interesting, I sort of didn’t do a good job. I dropped my phone in the mud, and then thoroughly mad a fool of myself by falling down. Jordan tried to help me up, but I just slid more down the hill. So that was interesting. Luckily most of the mud was on my feet which was nice. I washed them in one of the many streams that crossed the path. The water was so cold and clear. It was nice.

The next part we got to was the part I wanted to see on the Highlands. The grass and heather and hardly any trees. The path was super tiny and basically wound through the wilderness. It was like walking in one of my books. And then the incredible happened. I FINALLY got unstuck in my second book of the Eiowing series. I have been stuck in that book for about 5 years I believe. The wind was blowing just right, the sky was just right, the world was just right for believing that anything was possible. It was as if I was Eiowing walking through the Highlands. It was as if the Highlands were just as untouched as they were years ago before the Jacobite rebellions. And perhaps, some of the area is. It was so quiet and beautiful. It was the adventure I always wanted, just hiking through the heather on a hill, looking at the beautiful world around me, on a quest for something. Even though I was exhausted, it was wonderful.

We kept our spirits up by singing because by the time it hit 6 o’clock we were so tired and sore. Jordan had my backpack because my shoulder started to spasm badly. But it was neat walking through the grass, looking at the cattle and the sheep while twilight descended.

It was getting really dark by the time we saw the sign pointing towards Crianlarich. We had to walk through a dark scary wood to get to the town, Marc told a scary story. It took about twenty minutes to find the hostel, but it felt so good finally finding it. It was a nice place.

We went to a Scottish pub for supper. A legit Scottish pub in a small town, complete with people watching the final Rugby match and drinking beer. Isaiah was so hungry he ordered 2 dinners (the portions were huge) and he ate them all, including some apple pie. The guy who served us did not think he could do it. After he finished, the guy came over and asked Isaiah if he was an American basketball or football player. Isaiah did play football for a little bit. The guy said: “I have to go tell him.” Apparently the cook asked.

On the way back we saw a lot of townspeople in kilts. Because of course, we were in a small town in the Scottish Highlands, kilts are a must. Also, there were several guys who were hiking the trail in kilts. Yes, Scottish people are very proud of their country.

And that is the end of day 3.