God’s creation is truly beautiful. Take the time to stop and look around you. Most of us just go through life not actually taking the time to look around them at the world they live in. Not just the birds, animals, trees, and flowers, but also the wonderful people who inhabit the planet. I think sometimes we just see all the bad on the news and all the horrible things that people do to each other that we forget that there are really very kind and generous people. In America, many people go around grumpy and irritable, and it can be hard to even get a smile out of someone as you pass them on the street. In Scotland, we did not meet a grumpy person. Everyone we saw said hi (and Cheers!), and all of them smiled. People helped us find places to stay or eat, and if we had to ask for directions, people wouldn’t glare and mumble, they would generously try to help to the best of their ability. I’ve grown up in Central OH for so long, and I am so used to people not greeting each other on the street, not even making eye contact. If you do, you look away quickly instead of saying hi. Sometimes you will get a grunt, and sometimes a glare (Yes, I have gotten this from people). It was even a culture shock for me going to KY for college because people were a lot more hospitable and nice, and they smile at you if you make eye contact. I’m not saying that all Americans are horrible people and not nice, I was just blown away by the fact that people in Scotland (and in England as well), are generally nicer, kinder, and try to help. The Scots especially are very proud of their country. They all seem to have a better outlook on life. They aren’t overworking themselves. And they appreciate other people and the place they live.

The last day of the trip dawned bright. Again we were worried about where we would stay because the wifi wasn’t working (duh! We were in the wilderness) and cell service seemed to be there, and was, but wasn’t working either for some reason. But since it was Sunday, we decided to not worry and enjoy God’s beautiful creation. He had looked out for us until now by putting people and opportunities in our lives the past few days, and we were sure he would continue to do that.

The view as we climbed up out of Crianlarich’s valley was one of the best of the entire trip. (also as a side note, if you have short legs and you overextend your stride, you will get shin splints. And shin splints hurt almost worse than migraines. Don’t get them). Anyway, clouds and mist had shrouded the hills on all sides giving an otherworldly feeling to the landscape. I wish I could describe it, but the only thing I have is, it felt like we were standing on a mountain looking down at earth from the clouds and admiring all its beauty. Which in a sense, is what we were doing.

The first half of the day we were walking in beautiful woods, up and down a hill, sometimes coming out into magnificent views and sometimes staying in the wood. Towards lunch time, we ended up walking through fields and tall grasses again. We passed a small loch that has a legend around it about a lost sword. It dates back to the Jacobite rebellion. We were starting to get to the part of the trail where a lot of Scottish history and of the Jacobite rebellion were prevelant. We walked through a battleground of the rebellion which was really interesting because I had never walked through a battle ground before. It really did still look like a battle had happened because the plants didn’t grow quite so thick and it looked very desolate.

We stopped for lunch in Tyndrum. I was starting to get really tired, but we still have 7 more miles to do, and we had to get there by six because that’s when the bus was leaving to go to Glasgow (we had finally found a hostel in Glasgow for the night).

The last leg of the journey took place mostly walking among the tall grass along the hills. Every corner we seemed to turn had a different view. And there were many many many sheep. We all loved talking to them and the sheep would stare back and then run away. It was quite funny. I was pretty tired, but still enjoying the landscape so much. Right before we got to the Bridge of Orchy, our last stop, we met a man called David Seagrave. He is a photographer and puts together model railroads. He has Aspergers and loved to tell us stories about himself and the surrounding area. He was so knowledgable. Also, look up his work, it is quite good.

The bridge was so neat and reminded me of the bridge in the Doon series by Lorie Langdon and Carrie Corp (look it up, it is my favorite!).

And then we left the highlands. It was quite sad to be in the bus retracing all of our steps the past 4 days in a matter of 30 minutes.

The last night in Glasgow we went to another Scottish pub. This time a guy was playing guitar and singing. He was quite good. They had football (soccer) on and American football on another screen (apparently people over here are obsessed with our food and also really like American football? Oxford has an American football team. Who knew that the Scots and the Brits liked America so much. I just found an American food section in Tesco. That was funny). The bartender actually put American football on the screen by our table because he thought he would like to watch it. We didn’t so we kept watching football on the other screen.

Also, just as a side note, do try sticky toffee pudding. It is one of the best desserts ever.

It did not rain until we pulled out of Glasgow bus station.

And I read most of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the way back.

Scotland was amazing. I can’t quite believe I had the opportunity to hike in one of my favorite places on the planet. It was so much fun going with Jordan, Isaiah, and Marc  because we were all so happy to be there and were all geeking out over the beautiful scenery. It is truly a trip to remember. No wonder Harry Potter is set in Scotland. No wonder so many authors (including J.K. Rowling) have gotten ideas from the Scottish landscape. It is so perfect for that. And now I want to go back so that I can write books in the Highlands.