After a
long journey up the East Coast I eventually reached Edinburgh,
where I was met by Charlie, our couchsurfing host. I wandered around the city,
climbed a bit of Arthurs Seat with lovely views of the city – great for a human
geographer! When Sam and Grace arrived we went back to Charlies and ate a
fantastic meal! He was a great host! After the meal we explored the city at
night before retiring to the couches.
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| Edinburgh Castle and a bird on top of a statue :) |
The journey
to our National Trust for Scotland Working Holiday location was long and we stopped off in Inverness for supplies –
including cocktails in a can - the classy students we are! Eventually we reached Torridon and unloaded the
shopping and luggage. I did not sleep well that night. Getting
into the bunks required some kind of gymnastic routine as the ceiling was only
a couple of foot above the mattress.
The first
morning of work was grey, rainy, cold and miserable. We were repairing a fence,
but ended up standing around and watching a lot. We were wearing midge-nets to
stop us becoming midge food, however the nets began to obscure our views when
they got wet. We retired to the bunkhouse in the afternoon where we lit a fire.
We had a pub quiz in the evening where my team came second, and I put my degree
to shame failing in the Geography round.
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| Wet but still smiling :) |
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| Grey. |
On Monday
we went Rhododendron clearing – “Rhodi Bashing”- however it was more like
weeding because the Rhodi’s were so small they could be pulled out by hand. We
covered a huge area, and got to admire the Loch the entire day. The scenery was
amazing - a geographers dream! U-Shaped valleys, corries, ribbon lakes, rivers,
meanders and oxbow lakes to name a few. This was the day the Ticks arrived – I hadn’t realized
how small they are! I luckily avoided attack the entire week!
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| Midge Nets :) |
The next
day we started maintaining a footpath. This involved moving large stones around
to provide a route across the mud and large streams. The day ended with us
performing Karaoke to a Magic FM CD we found on the minibus back to the
bunkhouse, whilst bingeing on Starbursts. In the evening we played the “hat”
game – which involved describing celebrities and then acting them out. It
provided many laughs. But, again my team lost.
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| Footpath :) |
Wednesday
was a day off for us to explore the area. Myself, Sam and Grace walked through
spikey undergrowth which claimed my waterproof bag cover, so we had to go back
and retrieve it. I won at a game of Pooh Sticks! In the afternoon we explored the loch and the beach, skimming
stones on the water. Walking along a stoney beach and trying not to pocket all
the exciting looking stones seemed impossible – but somehow I only returned
with one! We started rock climbing where we got in the firing line of an
angry/hormonal seagull protecting its baby. We had a nice meal in the pub in
the evening, however the prices are a lot more than you would pay in Hull!
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| Pooh Sticks :) |
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| Beach Selfie :) |
On Thursday
we climbed a really big mountain/hill where we discovered one small section of
fence that needed fixing. The weather was hot and sunny, which made the view
from the top amazing as Loch Torridon was glistening in the sun. However, 12
people trying to fix the fence was a bit overkill, I only hammered in 4nails
and moved some rocks about. So I spent most of the day admiring the view. Haggis and mushed veggies was for tea. It was quite tasty actually...
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| View :) |
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| Safety Goggles selfie :) |
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| Broken fence. |
On the
final working day we returned to the footpath. By the time we were finished the
footpath looked like some kind of crazy paving. We finished work early so we
could walk the rest of the footpath. 1 and a half hours we were told it would
take – 2 and half hours later we reached the minibus. There were many hills and
we were still lugging our spades and shovels about which made for hard work. The
final section consisted on a steep descent that was only possible on your bum to
avoid injury. A repeat of the hat game resulted in my team finally winning! Managed
to punch the ceiling as I rolled over in my sleep due to the lack of ceiling height.
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| Sheer drop. |
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| This was all there was at the end of the walk. |
Camp over. We
travelled back to Inverness where we spent 3hours. We spent most of it in a café
until we were asked to move by the staff - and they say that students/teenagers
get a bad reputation for loitering! When Sam and I reached Glasgow we had a brief
walk across the city between stations – another Scottish city to tick off the
list! I eventually arrived in Penrith where I was met by my cousin.
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| Train Selfie :) |
I spent the
next few days with my family just chilling on their farm and helping them out
with any tasks they needed doing. This included feeding the ducklings which were
so cute! I rode in a Morris Minor – without a seat belt or headrests which is
the weirdest experience! I went for a couple of walks, exploring areas of many
previous holiday memories. It was good to be back in a place I love.
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| So cute :) |
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| Walking :) |
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| Sky :) |
I arrived
home to what seemed like darkness after being so far north with long hours of daylight
for so long - and in need clean clothes!
