Scotland and England, May 2005

[Libby]

Sorry for taking so long to report in, but I got home on Monday and since then I’ve been busy catching
up with everything that happened while I was away. I’m also back to work. Word of advice...allow
yourself a day off between returning home and going back to work. You owe it to yourself.

Now, onto the trip! I’m not sure how much detail people want in a “Just Back” report, so I’ll outline my
major thoughts and experiences and then answer any questions people might have. Let me say one
thing about the weather! Since I’ve been home people have been asking me what the weather was like.
I had amazing weather the entire time I was there. Only 3 afternoons of right (mostly light) and one
evening. We did have some wind and some hail in the Orkney’s and it was quite cool, but for the most
part I had sunshine. I only used my umbrella twice!

Scotland
Visiting Scotland has a special meaning to me since most of my family immigrated from there to Canada
during the clearances. There is such a connection between Scotland and my home in Nova Scotia
(New Scotland) that in some ways I felt like I was home. The music, the language, the stories, the
people and even some of the landscape reminded me of Nova Scotia and, in particular, Cape Breton
Island. My whole time in Scotland was amazing and I plan on returning as soon as I can.

Edinburgh: After having a bit of a wobbly first day filled with negative thoughts and worries I started to
explore the city on foot. I immediately got lost and it was probably the best thing that happened to me. I
ended up walking through a beautiful park and discovering a museum that I hadn’t known existed (the
Surgeons Museum and the Museum of Dentistry) . I also came to see what great people the Scots are.
It seemed that every time I pulled out my street map and started to look confused a passerby would
ask if I needed assistance. It was great! I ended up having a long chat with a woman about Niagra Falls
and Montreal. By lunch time I was feeling more confident about the trip. I spent the afternoon at the
Museum of Childhood and walking the Royal Mile. I returned early to my Bed and Breakfast to get a
good nights sleep and to pack my stuff before heading out on a 7 day tour of the highlands and Orkney
Islands.

Wild in Scotland’s 7 Day Skye and Orkney trip
The tour left at 8:30 from the Wild in Scotland’s main office on the Royal Mile. There were 9 of us on
the trip counting our guide Rory. I had a great group of fellow travellers! 4 Canadians, 3 Aussies and 1
German. With the exception of one minor dispute over sleeping arrangments on the 3rd day we all got
on great and had a really good time. I believe that’s what made the trip such a success. I can’t imagine
what it would have been like with a group that didn’t get along.

Each day was packed with stuff to do and a lot of time off the bus. We hiked up mountains (Quirang on
the Isle of Skye being the highlight), explored caves (Smoo caves, Bone Caves), played Soccer on the
beach, climbed a ton of stairs at places like Waleigo and just wore ourselves out! We hit all the “must
sees” including Eileen Doonans castle, Loch Ness, etc, but we also got to some places I’d never have
discovered without the tour. By the time we got to our hostels and started cooking supper we were
exhausted and most times we had an early night.

The practical stuff:
Lodging: The places we stayed were great. The Station Bunk house (known as Charlie’s place to those
on the tour) was one of the best hostels I stayed in during the month. Inchnadamph Lodge is a very
busy, but sociable, hostel near Ullapool. There we met two older gentlemen who shared a bottle of
Whisky with us. The place was very well run, clean and had a great drying room. The Murray Arms
hotel and hostel in St. Margaret’s Hope was also very good.

Transportation: The Bus was perfect for us! With only 8 passengers we were half empty and if we got
wet (and we did from time to time) we could spread our stuff out to dry over the seats. There was lots
of room to spread out or gather together depending on your mood. It also had a great stereo system
and Rory’s iPod had some great tunes.

Food: The tour had a kitty system that covered breakfasts and supper. We ate really, really well. We
all shared in the cooking and cleaning up and it was quite a bit of fun. We also bought our lunch’s at
supermarkets and places that sold cheap food like bakeries. I was really surprised by how little I paid
out while I was on the road. One day I only spent 4 pounds!

Guide: Rory was great! He was opinionated, fun and entertaining but stern at the same time. He didn’t
suffer fools lightly and we needed that from time to time. He was also very passionate about Scotland
and it’s history. When you are visiting places like Culloden that’s important.

Overall, I’d recommend Wild in Scotland’s tour to anyone but I would point out that your own
experiences might vary depending on the group you are with. 7 days is a long time and I would have
been miserable had I not had such a great group of people with me. By the time we split up I was
feeling quite down again. I was going to miss everyone and I was a bit scared of going out on my own.
Fortunately, two of the girls would be in the city for a few more days and we got together.

Back to Edinburgh for 6 days
Again, let me say how much I love this city. It reminded me a lot of Halifax, Nova Scotia. I never felt
unsafe and the people were always friendly. The transportation system was even straight forward! I
used the bus system quite a bit. I stayed at the YHA at Bruntsfield in a 6 bed room and it was a bit
cramped (and hot!). It was here that I had my first real panic attack. When I arrived the room was an
absolute mess with clothes thrown everywhere. But I had pretty good roommates and I started to feel
better after an hour or so. I was surprised at the number of people who were living at the hostel full time
since I heard YHA’s didn’t allow that. But, those that I met were great and showed me around the
hostel. They have a nice kitchen but eating out was pretty cheap in Edinburgh with tons of bakeries and
some great baked potato places. I didn’t use the kitchen once.

Some highlights from Edinburgh: The Castle (of course), Holyrood Palace, Royal Museum of Scotland,
National Museum of Scotland, Portrait Gallery, National Gallery, Edinburgh Museum, walking the
Royal Mile.

I also did the City of the Dead ghost walk and it turned me off the whole guided walk thing. I really
didn’t enjoy it and some guy named Phil from Philadelphia ruined the entire experience for everyone on
the tour. Oh..I almost forgot. I also did a day tour out of Edinburgh with a local company that went to
the Trossachs, Oban and Loch Lomond area. It was ok, nice bus and great driver, but we hardly
stopped anywhere and that’s no fun. I wanted to get out and explore but the driver had to keep to a
schedule.

That’s the Scotland part of my trip. Any questions? Comments?

[WillTravel]

Thanks for posting this. I want to go to Scotland eventually but don't really want to drive there (for reasons of both cost and my perception of driving safety issues). So I liked hearing how you managed this. I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest.

From what you said at the first in another post, it sounded like you were disappointed by your first night at the B&B. Was there something you didn't like about it?

The kitty system sounds like a great concept.

[Libby]

Thanks Will I promise to finish it off by telling you all about my English adventures as soon as I can!

Those first two days were hard. I took some medication the doctor gave me to help me get through the flight and while it calmed me down, I didn't get any sleep. By the time I landed in Edinburgh I was running on pure nerves and anxiety.

I found the B&B easy enough, but it looked nothing like it had on their website. It was just a bit more run down than I expected. But, the room itself, though small, had everything I needed and was clean. The bathroom was a different story. A number of rooms shared the one bathroom and at least one person was leaving all their personal stuff all over it. I didn't like that at all. Anyway..I got over the ill feelings and figured I had best make the most of it.

[WillTravel]

Libby, looking forward to hearing the rest!

[Libby]

Sorry for taking so long to update my Just Back report. It’s taking me some time to get back into the swing of everything. I’ve also been a way for a bit and trying to catch up on work.

Leaving Scotland

I was quite sad leaving Scotland but excited about moving into the next stage of my journey. With the exception of the time on the tour I had been HQ’ed out of Edinburgh for over a week and had become quite comfortable in the city.

I activated my Britrail Pass for the first time on the stretch between Edinburgh and Whitby. By taking a bus tour around Scotland and paying only a minimal 13GPS for the train ticket between Edinburgh and the British border (Berwick), I was able to buy an “England Only” Britrail Pass and it saved me quite a bit of money. Activating the pass turned out to be no problem and I took a very comfortable Virgin train from Edinburgh to Darlington in England. The trip was lovely! I really liked the look of the City of Durham. I think I’ll be visiting there sometime in the future.

At Darlington I had to change to a less comfortable train to Middlesbrough and there board a third train that would take me to Whitby. That train travelled the Esk Valley Railway and is considered to be quite scenic. It was pretty, but I found most of the views were obscured by very high trees along the track. That’s too bad because what I saw beyond them looked quite attractive.

I pulled into Whitby mid-afternoon and the place looked like a postcard. It’s a beautiful village with a lovely harbour that divides it in two. The hostel was easy to find (just look up! The YHA is directly in front of Whitby Abbey and that dominates Whitby’s skyline. Getting there took a bit of effort as you need to climb this steep hill on 199 stairs. It was also very windy and my pack felt like it weighed a ton. I couldn’t believe how cold it was. By the time I got to the hostel I was frozen and exhausted. I could have cried when I discovered it didn’t open until 5pm. Fortunately, a woman saw me sitting there with my pack and took pity on me. She worked at the hostel and let me stay in the lounge until they opened.

The hostel itself is in a very old building that reminded me of a barn. It’s only two floors, but it’s long and narrow. Women’s dorms were on one end and the mens were on the other. There was a nice lounge and a big kitchen. At the time I checked in I was the only woman! I had a 22 bunk room all to myself. But shortly after a young woman from Hong Kong arrived and then two women from Australia. The four of us hit it off right away and spent the night exploring Whitby Abby and St. Mary’s Church and Graveyard in the dark. This was sooo creepy it was great fun! Dracula was set in this very place and Whitby attracts a lot of Goth visitors because of the connection. Since there was a creepy guy in the hostel we were trying to avoid, it was a perfect tie to experience Dracula’s stomping ground.

[Libby]

I could only spend 1 night in the hostel since it was fully booked. I knew that in advance and booked two nights at a local Bed and Breakfast. Of my entire trip, it was this move that I regret the most. The B&B was fantastic (Grantly House! I’d recommend it to anyone), but there just wasn’t enough to do in Whitby for the length of time I spent there. Luckily for me the Aussies I met at the Hostel had rented a car and I joined them on their jaunt to Robin Hood’s Bay. The Village was a highlight of the northern part of my trip and it would have been difficult to get there without the girls having that car. I owed them big time! We had a great dinner in the Bay right on the water. They dropped me off late afternoon and we made arrangements to meet up again in a few days time in York. Before I headed back to the B&B that day I checked out the Whitby Lifeboat museum and I wanted to recommend it to anyone who’s interested in the ocean and the dangers of living on it.

The rest of the time I spent wandering around Whitby. It really is a cute town but it’s overrun with bus tours during the day and then shuts down at 4pm. I actually found it hard to find a place to eat because so many of the eateries closed so early! Also, the B&B didn’t allow any take out food (of any kind) to be brought back to the room so I had no choice but to eat at the pubs. It cut into my budget, but I was ok. If anything, I am grateful that the slower pace in Whitby gave me time to recover and prepare myself for the last leg of the trip. I even joined the local library as a visitor and picked up a book by one of my favourite authors. As a funny aside, a local seagull got me about 20 minutes after I got off the train. One of the locals saw me get nailed and tried to make me feel better by saying its good luck. I told him I lived on the ocean myself and had plenty of experience with seagull poo He laughed. Now...onto the bad. While in Whitby I experienced some hostility that I didn’t expect. I wasn’t sure I was going to say anything about this but then decided I should.

Before I left Edinburgh I cashed in some of my travellers cheques for cash. I was, of course, payed in Scottish Pound notes. The woman assured me they were legal tender and I would have no problem using them in the North of England. My B&B had no problem with them! The grocery store had problem! But it seemed like most other places did. There were signs in stores saying they wouldn’t accept them. I had to ask why and most often I was told it was due to counterfeiting. OK...fine. I can see that..I think. But what I didn’t expect was the number of people who made negative and nasty comments about the Scots. I was shocked! I expressed my frustration to a woman who worked in one of the eateries and she got angry too. She said, in her opinion, it was discrimination. But she wasn’t surprised to hear my story and it seemed all too common. It’s a real shame

I left Whitby on May 19th and made my way to York by Bus. I’ll write more about that later

[WillTravel]

I've also heard that the Scottish pound notes can be hard to use. I don't mind going to the library and spending hours there, but it's a bit frustrating when you're on such an expensive trip. It's great how you were able to meet up with people and go places with them.