Whew, it took moving heaven and hell to finally find a working internet cafe today. I swear, not having an always working cell phone or speaking the language can really trip you up sometimes. I don´t know if I´ll have a chance to add pictures until I get home, these internet cafes don´t have any connection for my camera. I´ll do what I can, but in case you don´t see them, I promise to add them when I can.
So Scotland... here we are. The trip to Scotland was insane, so many steps, some of which were planned, some of which were not. I knew that I´d get there, I believe the universe wanted me to get to Barr, I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I basically took a taxi to O´Connell Station in downtown Dublin, a train from Dublin to Belfast, a taxi from the Belfast train station to Victoria Square to get a SIM card, a taxi to the ferry terminal, a ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, a bus from Cairnryan to Girvan, and a cab from Girvan to Barr. Whew.
I was scrambling to get around Belfast with enough time for my ferry, but made it with some wiggle room. I was expecting a small quaint ferry terminal, but in reality it was basically a cruise ship terminal. The ferry to Scotland was a cruise ship. The grand scale of it certainly put me off my game. However, I did meet a charming English couple on the way over who were traveling to Scotland for the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo.
Sarah; Hi, can you take me to Girvan? I didn't buy a ticket, but I was hoping you had room.
Random Person 1: You want to go WHERE? No.
S: Um, well do you know of any other buses going to Girvan?
RP1: These buses are going to Ayr, why do you want to go to Girvan?
S: Does it matter?
RP1: [Thinks for a second] Alright, but it´s ten pounds.
S: OKAY [Quite excited, hands RP1 ten pound note]
RP1: Don´t give it to ME, give it to HIM!! [points at Random Person 2]
RP2: What are you going on about?
RP1: She wants to go to Girvan.
RP2: Well where´s her ticket? Why?
S: Sigh.
But eventually I got on the bus and I was THE ONLY PERSON ON THERE. Until the very end when an entire Irish cricket team lumbered on followed by a team of coaches. Okay, so here we go!
Driving to Girvan was awesome, I was up above the bus driver and felt like I was in a flying car, like in Harry Potter (something I commonly felt while I was in Scotland). The coastline of western Scotland was spread out underneath me, large craggy boulders covered in mussels and kelp jutted out of the sea and people´s backyards. Seabirds circled and cawed, celebrating living in such a beautiful location (or because of all the exposed shellfish, you can make your own decision).
I arrived in Girvan, the gruff bus driver seemed to really care where I got off and warned me that there were no buses or taxis which I knew was wrong, but I thanked him for his advice and he motored off. I knew there was something, the B&B proprieter had told me there was, so I looked around and realized that I was a full on, jaw dropping spectacle to a little ginger family sitting on a bench nearby. It probably didn´t help that I was in full purple from head to toe except my pants. A bit uncomfortable and exposed I decided to grab a coffee and make a game plan. That led me to an information center where Winifred, cutest little lady in the world, helped sort me out and I was in a taxi in fifteen minutes.
Once I arrived in Barr I started to relax, the Alton Albany Farm B&B that I stayed at is really the only one in Barr, it´s such a small town. I was greeted at the door by the nicest English chap ever who ushered me in and gave me tea and a little piece of carrot cake. The rest of the day was spent appreciating his wife Andrea´s lovely photography (she photographs famous gardens around the world), the grounds of their B&B, and the town of Barr.
Barr is quite small, but there are plenty of little roads to walk down. I saw a lovely old church, community center, elementary school, shop, a hotel and pub (that apparently closes every two years for two years and I just missed the cut off). I was very very lucky to jump into the shop right before they closed (at 5:31 pm) to grab some dinner. I picked up some postcards and the shop owner couldn't remember their price, looked up and asked a lady behind me in line... because she is the one who made the postcards. That is how small the town is. Very lovely, so cool to finally get here and relish being in Barr as a Barr.
Once I got back to the house and put my stuff away, I went back out and walked a bit further, finding hayfields, beautiful horses, cows, sheep, goats, trees, flowers, just completely picturesque. When I decided to return I stopped short when I realized those cows I had seen earlier were all lined up at the fence staring at me. Like thirteen cows. I started walking and they followed me... and then... they started to moo. I had never heard mooing like that in my life. This was Jurassic Park mooing, I started running until the moos were far behind me.
The next day I had my first Scottish breakfast, fried egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding (apparently blood and oats... yeah), roasted tomato, and fruit. I had a wonderful conversation about horticulture with Alasdair and Andrea because that´s their business. They recommended a bunch of gardens for me to check out around Scotland.
The cab driver from the day before came and got me at 9am. I took the train to the Prestwick Airport and wandered right up to the Avis car rental and said hello. They returned the greeting and asked who I was... which makes sense because my reservation was actually in Ayr, not at the airport, and it was with Enterprise. Serious party foul. I called Enterprise and a lovely girl named Sarah (of course) picked me up and got me all set up with the car at Ayr. My little Ford Fiesta (automatic, sweet) who I nicknamed Fessie (but it really just became Nessie). They also told me that they had no GPS systems which started to make me panic, but Sarah the awesome Enterprise lady told a nice white lie, that they had promised me one, so her boss begrudingly gave me one that they had. THANK GOD.
I get in my car and I was like, okay, let´s. do. this. And now begins the worst fucking day I had in Scotland. Driving was basically like getting a lobotomy while having my teeth cleaned. I just wasn´t prepared, for the traffic, for the car, for not having someone with me... it was just really hard. The first pull out from the car rental place I pulled into the wrong side of the road because I thought it was a one way road and didn´t realize it until there were cars coming towards me and the lane next to me which I thought were all parked cars, was the right lane and totally blocked. So I just had to be the asshole and let people point and honk and deal with it. I pulled over after getting lost a few times and made a decision, I could either turn the car back in, completely change my trip and do it by rail instead, or I could just go and do this. So I just went and did it. Here is a small transcript of that day:
Sarah: Okay, whew, okay, we can do this.
GPS: Take the fourth exit at the roundabout
S: WHAT? Are there four exits, isn´t that like turning right? What lane do I need to be in [HONK HONK HONK] AHHHHHH!!!
GPS: Take the third exit at the roundabout
S: What, I thought it was the fourth? I´m not even in a roundabout anymore. OMG a large truck is coming at me, where am I??? Where am I?
GPS: When you can, take a U-Turn
S: Are you fucking serious? I am in rush hour traffic and I don´t even know if U-turns are legal. OMG OMG.
GPS: Turn left, Turn left, Turn left
S: This is suffering, I am suffering. This is my truth and I will live it.
GPS: Take the fourth exit at the roundabout.
S: [inaudible growling sound, followed by the car stopping and parking... and munching sounds of a chocolate biscuit being devoured]
This happened through Ayr, Kilmarnock, and Glasgow. Yes, I wasn´t supposed to go to Glasgow, but somehow I got rerouted there and spent an hour and a half in pure lost hell. So at least I can say I´ve been there. The obvious question is, what did you expect? or, didn´t you drive in Ireland? Yes, I did, but I had someone with me helping with directions and we were driving on the highway. In Scotland, the longest I was on a ¨highway¨ was about 2 miles before I´d hit another roundabout. I will say though, this GPS was much nicer than our Icelandic one, I named her Lady Jane Marmalade, and just called her Jam. (¨Get me out of this JAM!!!¨)
I did take a really nice stroll along the beach in Ayr which was a great break from the car and such a nice way to spend the afternoon. The beach reminded me a lot of Avalon actually (beach in New Jersey where my family would always go). I think that helped a lot, calmed me down and allowed me to get back in the car. There were even shells to pick up - scallop, razor clam, snail shells, and of course clams. Lots of piles of seaweed that looked like clumps of hair and dead jellyfish dotted the great expanse of the beach.
I basically skipped what I was going to do in Kilmarnock because it was such a larger city than I had anticipated, more industrial with Pizza Huts and TJ Maxes. I did go to the grocery store and got some food for the car in case I broke down and couldn´t find a place to eat (now that´s mitigating your risk!). Grape tomatoes, clementines, sunflower seeds, and butterscotch biscuits (I was low on cookie supply at that point).
I drove to my destination for the night, on the southeast side of Lake Lomond in Gartocharn. I met the most adorable hostess, Hilary, from England. She showed me around and kept getting bombarded with phone calls of last minute visitors wanting loding. I was supposed to be the only tenant and when I woke up in the morning, there were seven people staying there.
Hilary recommended this lovely little hike, after convincing me it was okay to get back in the car. I cautiously drove to Duncryne Hill, nicknamed ¨Dumpling Hill¨, parked the car and walked the mile up. It was the most spectacular view of Loch Lomond. The mountains spread out before me with rolling clouds casting shadows on their slopes. The water sparkled in the patches of sun. It literally took my breath away (besides the physical exertion of climbing around blackberry bushes).
The next morning I had breakfast with a hilarious older couple from California, Bill and Patti. Bill used to work at Skunkworks for most of his career and had retired a few years ago. We talked about the driving hell and took Hilary´s advice to head to Luss, a town on the west side of the Loch (same direction I was heading).
But first I drove to Balloch and took a morning boat ride into the Loch, able to see all the old castles and homes that bordered the Loch. Really quite lovely and peaceful. Had my morning coffee and had enough rest that I was ready to tackle the driving again.
Luss was quaint and such fun to walk around in. Luss is a conservation village with adorable cottages lining a lovely drive. All of them were decorated with gorgeous flowers, flowers I had never even seen before. There were art galleries, little bistros tucked away, and boat rides into the loch. I tried haggis, neeps, and tatties for the first time and loved it. Super delicious!
After Luss I continued my drive up to Oban where I was staying for two nights. Stay tuned...
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