Restless Prairie Girl

This morning I have done my laundry - oh what a good feeling to have clean clothes.  My room looks like a Chinese laundry as so much of my stuff is technical material.  And I have been making a fuss over an adorable little terrier named Bonnie. I decided to sit in the conservatory of my bed and breakfast.  As I sit here I know the sea is just a few yards away even if I can't see it due to things like a bowling club, etc. in the way!!!  Never fear; I shall be out and about this afternoon.  My friend Claudia is coming to get me at noon and we will walk over to Sovereign Harbour for the afternoon.  Tonight is a double Corrie and a total repack of my suitcase.  I am such a night owl - ha!  I love my little room but haven't been sleeping well for some reason.  While I am not really under the weather I am starting to feel the effects of three weeks of nonstop activity. Yesterday was superb.  Claudia and I took the bus to Seven Sisters Cou...

I'm happily ensconced in Eastbourne right now.  Eastbourne is a city of about 100,000 people situated on the English channel.  It is known as a place for the "mouldy oldies" to go but I picked it as a central base from which to explore.  The guest house I am in is situated on the main road that runs along the seafront and my tiny room has a small balcony from where I can see the sea.  Today my friend Judi and I took a train to Rye which is an ancient town that is known for having gangs of smugglers.  Lots of beautiful old houses and the lovely cobbled Mermaid St.  I hadn't been there since 1981 so was well overdue.  We also visited a local church, St. Mary's...   We then took a taxi to Winchelsea as we had just missed the bus.  I was blown away by St. Thomas the Martyr church there - I think mainly because it was partly ruins. We had tea/coffee and cake at a lovely local farm shop and then headed back t...

Well I have been very lax in doing my blog these last few days.  We have been so busy and by evening time it is all I can do to upload my photos and drink our allotted amount of wine. Seriously it's been three absolutely fun filled days.  Highlights:  visiting Sudeley castle in Winchcombe, walking to Broadway Tower and going to the top then walking over to the delightful village of Snowshill yesterday and today we walked over to Stanton, a gorgeous little village.  We got on a first name basis with lots of sheep and I was chased by a horse (ala Eilleen 2006 in the Black Hills..you had to be there...) ...okay okay maybe just followed but it totally freaked me out as while I can appreciate how beautiful horses are I am not feelin' the love, sorry.  June had to lead me away like a little girl...not one of my better moments I must admit.  I will post in more detail later...but it's been awesome.  It has been hard finding the time to blog when yo...

We all headed off in the direction of Edinburgh on Tuesday morning - June got off in Kinross to visit family and Robynn and I headed to Edinburgh.  I had booked a room at an airbnb place which turned out to be quite nice.  The only pain...the bathroom was upstairs which made for some careful nightly wanderings.  Not the type of stairs you want to fall down!!  Robynn and I had a bit of a wander around the area before purchasing some food from the shop opposite. One of the big advantages of airbnb besides the cheaper price and getting to meet the locals is being able to cook your own meals.  Makes life cheaper plus you get to try the local produce - or ready meals in my case.  I heated up a lamb casserole for supper which was nice.  Becky, the host is very nice and the other people in the house are friendly as well including Ruth, a gal who is attending university.  I love living like this. Anyway I am supposed to be talking about su...

Our guest house - Lynver - was wonderful and we felt pampered.  Sunday evening we watched a movie called "Angels Share" which was amusing.  What we could understand!!!  The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast - we took the continental option which was great.  Meat, cheeses, buns, toast, fruit and we had started with a  small bowl of porridge so we were set for the day! Then we walked over to the Tourist Info centre and got on our tour to Skye.  We had a most informative driver/tour guide.  He wasn't as funny and personable as the one I had out of Glasgow but we did learn a lot.  Now if I could just remember it!!  There were 29 of us - from all over the world. Our first stop was Eilean Donan castle...wow.  The weather was the pits so the pictures could have been better but oh well...I plan to do a separate post on this castle when I get home....it is privately owned and was a ruin until earlier last century.  What a stunn...

I am really behind with my blog - well two days but I am not getting the detail I had wanted to.  It is difficult to keep on top of even keeping a journal with the busy days.  I flop into bed at night exhausted.  The evening of Day five we dined at the Fiddlers Inn in Drumnadrochit - we had fish and potato soup which was tasty.  We were spread amongst three bed and breakfasts and I was upstairs at the Fiddlers Inn.  It was okay.  I was so exhausted I just sprawled on the bed and watched Elton John in concert on the telly.  Anyway without going into details we got to Inverness with smiles on our faces... We then headed to the pub where we got our certificates and had a celebratory drink. (and bowls of lovely broccoli and stilton soup)  We then headed over to our bed and breakfast on Old Edinburgh Road which was lovely.  We made tea and rested for a couple of hours then we walked around the shops a bit before going back to the same p...

After another yummy breakfast at the Bracarina House in Invermoriston we were on our way.  We almost immediately started a long climb and I mean long....it went on and on.  Once we got up there we kept going up and down and up and down..get the picture?  The views were stunning. We were so lucky with the weather but as usual in Scotland it was changeable and clothes were coming on and off constantly.   14 long miles of up and down...we were all tired but I must admit I was a bit of a bitch on wheels at the end as both feet hurt, both knees hurt and my right hip hurt.  We did something out of the normal walking day and stopped along the way and had a cup of tea at a bed and breakfast.  It was strange as the path felt so remote yet at times we were a stones throw away from the busy highway along the banks of Loch Ness.  However what a beautiful walk.....  through the forest and along the top of the mountain surrounded by heather with gorgeo...

Well today was "only" 8 miles.  Piece of cake!!  After another Scottish brekky we started our ascent out of Fort Augustus.  As luck would have it our b an b was right on the trail so out the door and turn left.  The ascent was hard but we did it and there were a few ups and downs that were kind of a pain in the a** at times.  Some nice view of Loch Ness and walking on a logging road.  It then turned into a smaller path and we followed that down into Invermoriston.  I must mention the fact that long distance walkers are almost their own community and we keep running into the same walkers.  A couple of fellows from Virginia - probably in their 60's who did the West Highland Way and decided to add on the Great Glen Way.  We just ran into them at dinner again tonight!  Also a couple from Australia and a couple from New Zealand who we always chat with and two young fellows from London.  Today we also met a fellow heading to Fort Will...

Okay I typed this up on word pad last night but somehow must not have saved it...it was the wine, I blame the wine... So I did write in my journal so will try to piece it from there... After another hearty Scottish brekky (once we stop walking it is back to toast and cereal) we headed off down the same horrible road back to the path.  At one point I did not have room to walk and just had to stand while vehicles thundered by me and started walking when it was safe to do so.   Not nice but soon we were in the forest and enjoying the trail.  Garnet saw a bench and thought "hmmm..must be a view" and sure enough.  There was a ruined castle on the opposite shore as well as a half sunken ship.  Garnet is a hoot and a real story teller so he decided he was Jack Sparrow!!  Well I guess you had to be there... Anyway we carried on and enjoyed the walk as it was lovely, flat and in so much simple beauty - trees, moss, rocks..lovely.  At one point Garnet...

This morning after another full Scottish breakfast - complete with black pudding - my first and last thank you very much.  Two bites were enough!!!  - we got a ride back to Gairlochy and off we went in the rain.  I got to test out my new rain pants I got in Glasgow for half price.  They performed well.  We walked through a beautiful forest and beside Loch Lochy. (yep that's it's name!!)  Today's walk was hillier than yesterday although much worse is to come!  The forest trail was lovely and the air so fresh...even better when it stopped raining.  We walked along the Loch for most of the time although the vegetation was so lush we couldn't see it for a lot of the time.  We walked mostly along a gravel road that was undulating up and down although like I said not too bad.  Gorgeous streams and little waterfalls - moss in between the towering pines.  It was like a fairy land.  The sun never really came out to play with us serious...