"When God made the earth..."

...the most beautiful part of all creation was Scotland. A garden of Eden without equal among all of the lands known to man. God explained to the Scots that the air would be clean, the water clear, the women beautiful, the heather sweet, the oxen healthy and the whisky strong in their chosen land. And all for free?!?

One dubious Scotsman (who indeed was only born yesterday but was, none the less, a true Scot) asked, "What's the downside, Lord?"
"Well, nothing..." God explained slowly, "...just watch out for your new neighbors, lad."

So I went to the Isle of Arran with the International Student Center this weekend. I'll just try to run through a chronology and bore you to death... I'll have loads of photos in a few days though.

Friday night was miserable; my external backup hd had a head crash and so I not only have nowhere to backup my laptop, I also have no movies, tv, or ST:TNG! *tear* It was a sour night, I stuffed myself with comfort food and got to bed very late... too late, nearly.

Saturday morning, rise and shine at 5:45 am, already packed with only an iPod as an electronic companion. Rushed out the door without eating and stood in ice air waiting for the bus to arrive... Damn thing didn't come until 6:45, and we didn't leave until quarter past. I planned my morning such that we'd leave at 6:45, I'd sleep on the bus until 9:45 and get on the ferry. But no... leave late, arrive an hour later, stand in ice air until the ferry comes at half nine. >_<

Well anyway, enough bitching, right? I really wasn't in the mood to go on a trip (at all, especially this weekend) but I decided to make the best of it, if only as a wee distraction from the head crash and a rough week.

{actually, Friday I got back my first practical from parallel programming... 97%! I easily outdid the rest of the class... since A's are the range of 70-100, most people are happy to get a second-class grade (60-70). I rule. Onward...}

The view of Arran from port Ardrossan looked like the harbor in Long Beach... except for the island with snow-capped mountains being an hour by ferry. Yeah, that. I sang sea shanties the entire boat ride. Got it out of my system (Moxy Fruvous would take over shortly, though). I also ate most of my food -- no breakfast and I was up for 4 hours by then -- not good. The weather was AMAZING -- and uncalled for, considering that there were loads of rain and sleet expected. Truly un-Scottish weather, just for us, this weekend :)

We got to Brodick, the west of the island; immediately ran to the bus leaving for Whiting Bay, in the south. I was raped by the cost of a ticket... $12. But there is no other transportation available on the tiny island (~30 miles top to bottom maybe half that side-to-side). The bus was quite an experience though! First off, there really are no formal bus stops; rather, there are locations that the schedule quotes a bus will run past at a certain time, and you flag it down like a taxi -- actually, you can flag a bus anytime you see it anywhere, and they will drop you off anywhere too -- really amazing service! The ride itself is like a dangerous roller coaster -- memories of the bus ride I had in Amalfi, Italy. Terrifying at times, but fun!!!

At Whiting Bay we took a walk to the Glenashdale Falls through the most beautiful, lush, new-growth forests. Apparently, trees are an industry on Arran... so there are lots of them, but also tracks of sliced/diced forests :( The terrain was constantly changing though -- the smells, the soil, the weather -- a minature Scotland. The whole island was like an amusement park, each part representing a different "land" -- in this case, the deep forests. The waterfalls were beautiful and refreshing -- and there was sunlight! I basked in it as long as possible. And I was terrified to see how pale I have become -- I'm going to have to spend a week on a beach in LA before the locals will talk to me. We visited a Pictish fort -- aka pile of iron age stones. Neat because I know their history -- one, and only one, point for Celtic Civilisation. Double-backed to see the Giants' Graves which forked at the road. Climbed what felt like forever (336 wooden steps, plus much more) and walked upwards through corridors of forests and mini-swamps into a quiet, hidden, enclosed clearing. There were enormous marker gravestones with dates in the BC on them. Continued a bit more and suddenly this forest turns into a beach with a brilliant view of adjacent islands and coastline. Here was the first picture of me in forever taken.

Back to the bus and to the west of the island: Blackwaterfoot. A long walk down a golf course (practically all of Scotland is one big golf course -- the sheep keep the grass cut and neat, and very cheaply), hunched over in a hilarious angle trying to beat the wind from the coastline. Anyone who didn't know it was windy would've thought something was wrong with us. A dodgy walk through a field of sheep and down to another coast (recognizable by the picture with the steep face of rock and water, taken from the beach)... and faaar down the coast. We hit no less than ten types of land -- sand, soil, mud, clay, etc... Arran has it all. Eventually arriving at the King's Cave. Whilst Robert the Bruce was king, he and his army made a stop on Arran before invading the English. Legend has it that in this cave, exhausted and doubtful he sat and watched a spider spin its web, and it gave him the inspiration and energy to move forward and win many more battles. My LiveStrong bracelet does the same for me at times... when I am worn out and lazy, especially this weekend on some of these hikes where I just couldn't do it anymore, I think 'live strong' and push myself. I've been learning a lot of discipline lately, I have never felt or looked better physically.

The Caves are normally locked up; the gate was suspiciously open and we went in and I took a bunch of pictures of the carvings on the wall. Almost immediately I saw Ogham Script on the walls! You have a line cut in stone and use a series of tally marks to denote certain letters of an alphabet -- particularily ancient Gaelic and Pictish. Pretty cool! Dork-ily used my night vision on my camera to see how deep the cave went before trying to explore it -- fortunately for our safety it didn't go more than 50/60 feet inwards, otherwise we'd have gone caving.

Walking down the coast and the landsape changes to a brimming forest along a rocky coast -- reminiscent of the Oregon coast. Went inland to catch the bus somewhere along its route in the near future... and I was freezing to death. Night was nigh. I got brilliant pictures of the sunset though.

Arrived at the hostel in the north of the island -- Lochranza. Pretty nice place, though of ancient building standards when single glazing and timber walls were an acceptaptble building style in Scotland... frigid. My room was warm though... I was starving though... when dinner was ready, I was served a portion of pasta and instantly knew what it would be like to grow up, scared to ask for 'more'. Ended the evening chatting with a fresher girl from Denmark who speaks perfect *American* English, with the most amazingly neutral accent. She could say she was from anywhere in the States (except some of the south) and I'd believe her... but Denmark!? She even used *perfect* slang. Anyway, we had a heated discussion on the idiocy of parts of the UK uni system. We spoke for almost three hours! Fun fun.

I then spoke for almost the same amount of time (after 'doors locked and lights out' in the hostel) with a theology postgrad from Aberdeen talking about our respective research areas, and our theories of AI, God, the universe, and everything. Dead tired, drifted to sleep with my iPod.

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8:30 barely got out of bed... put on Bowie's Under Pressure to get the blood moving. Downstairs, STUFFED myself with brek of all kinds -- sandwiches for the day -- loads of coffee. I helped clean up and left last with three of the ISC staff to join them for the day. It was late in the day, and the busses only run every few *hours*, so we decided to do a walk in the north (now having seen the entire island, excepting the interior).

The Cock of Arran is the name of the trail. The cock walk. It never got old. We decided to try for a shorter route, and left at what is normally the end of the trail. Planned to go out for 45 minutes and decide whether to press on, or head back to Lochranza and visit the Arran Distillery, catch the 12:45 bus, and see the brewery in Brodick (Arran Dark is one of the best dark, bitter ales I have ever had!). After walking up a fairly unimpressive hill forever, and being boiled by the sun and body heat, we were ready to turn back when we hit the ridge. True to Arran's diverse geography, just over it lay the ocean, vast and splendid. Gorgeous. Pictures a-plenty! It was too tempting so we decided to press-on. [one of us being an aspiring Canadian politician, we spent quite a lot of time in bureaucratic meetings to discuss travel plans -- maybe a total of six during the day.]

Downhill for a long time, my feet were killing me. My knees were ready to give, and we cross extremely steep hills. There were many ancient ruins and settlements, and a special rock formation called Hutton's Uncomformity (I love that word...). Well, I was sure that we had been walking too long and called a general meeting of the assembly. Being the navigational geek, I tried to estimate our location by the sun and tangental curviture of the island. Everyone thought I was full of it... (turns out later I was on the dot -- most unfortunate). Keep walking and it starts snowing an hour later -- such bizarre weather. The temperature outside was perfect, sun was perfect, no wind... and snow!? I took this as a sign that another meeting had to be called on Where The Fuck Are We? I noticed there were caves marked on the map, and after the committee decided to continue, I noticed that the map caves resembled the ones 10 meters away... oh no. We were completely off trail, by a long way -- and well off from the turn for the shorter trail.

Ate lunch in the cave (picture provided)for shelter and double-backed in what is the most painful hiking I have ever done in my life. I am extremly glad I did it, but I was so ready to give up! We had to push though, to make the last bus to Brodick, to make the last ferry home.

I nearly made it the entire trip without so much as a little mud on my boots -- 10 minutes left in the trail and a mud monster attacks me (photo omitted for fear of causing arhythmia). So sad, got my new jacket all muddy. Granted, there really wasn't much I could do when the wall of water came, other than submit and sink in the swamp.

Cutting through someone's backyard (this would be tresspassing in the States, but the Scots fought for freedom to roam, and therefore love it) we made our way to the Arran Distillery with a bit of time to spare. Took the tour of this tiny place, only recently opened in 1995 (their 10 year cask won't be opened until June -- most whiskies begin to mature 10-12 years). It was a great tour -- wonderfully nice man talked us through the process and I learned quite a bit. Over 2300 casks are stored, equating to almost $30 million in taxes to be paid to the government eventually (excise taxes). This distillery is run by only two men! Output in one year is often less than most other distilleries in a week.

Had a dram of their eight year single malt -- and was struck by easily the finest whisky I've had in Scotland! Shocking, considering how young it was! This place is going to produce some fine whisky as soon as their stock begins to mature. As it was I bought a liter of their Robert Burns' 4/5 year, 40%, Arran Single Island Malt. It had an extremely spunky, spicy start (if you take it neat) -- peppery -- and quickly tapers off to a smooth, maritime and honey taste. Just fantastic. The Burns' is basically the same, but a bit younger (too young?) so it has more spice to it -- which is why I chose it. I'm saving that bottle for a souvenir -- so if you want to try one of the world's top island malt whiskies, find me in September!

Crazy-Taxi busride back to Brodick on the ISC bus (i.e. almost everyone on it was from Edinburgh U) and back home. I couldn't have been more tired ever... even now I'm aching to sleep. I'll never be able to get up in the morning, nor be able to walk to class... but it's gotta happen and it will :-/ I didn't write this quite as intended, but figured now or never.

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Again, pictures tomorrowish -- over 100 of them! I need to sort through everything and that won't happen tonight. Though now I am nice and burned out of travel for a while; I have enough pictures to safely leave my camera at home for a while. And with that, it was the best weekend I've had in Scotland, worth every penny, every drop of sweat, every hour spent, every treasured memory I will look back on when I'm eighty and orbiting Saturn (because in 2045 it becomes the new Florida).