At the pace with which we have been moving for the past few days, it’s hard to remember it all; where we’ve stayed, how many towns we passed through, how many stops we made, who we met. In the evenings I cull my photos while Elihu gives his online Mandarin tutoring sessions, so we don’t often have a good moment in which to recap together. Hard to believe we left one week ago tonight – feels we’ve had a month’s worth of adventures since then.
We’ve done so much, but sometimes we feel just a mite cheated as we often miss the classic tourist moments. When I’m driving, I’m concentrating, and I can’t really enjoy the scenery, and Elihu is often engaged with navigation duties. This afternoon we enjoyed only fifteen minutes of a hour-long bus tour, but we made our choices, and hopping off of the bus was necessary to make this perfect day happen. Elihu and I always have off-the-beaten-path experiences the likes of which very few enjoy, and today was no exception. My one superpower is being able to talk to anyone, and to engage them in such a way that before long they’re telling us their story, and an interesting conversation always ensues. We had some very lovely ones today.
We passed by the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert’s (the oldest Christian Church in Edinburgh, founded in 670 AD) and soon we were talking with an older woman who was weeding the garden. Her friend Fred joined us next, and we four had a lively chat before a younger man on his lunch break stopped by and added to the party. I slipped into the church (which was closed to the public) to use the toilet and was stopped by a church member – but when I told him that I’d been chatting with Anne, he waved me in with a smile. Perks of the superpower.
We met up with a fellow I’d been corresponding with online for several years – he rode his motorcycle up from London just to see us in person. That meeting then changed the trajectory of our plans; we are at the moment staying in a lovely mom and pop hotel near his friends’ place, rather than staying at a far more tony (and expensive) hotel we’d originally booked. Who knows what new experiences we’ll have and the new people we’ll meet as a result? It’s serendipitous things like this which make our trip not only memorable, but which enrich our lives in ways we could never have imagined.
It’s late, and I have many photos to review – plus Elihu is in the next bed giving his very animated (and loud) Mandarin tutoring session. (Btw – he is a pretty fantastic teacher. I’ve never heard him give a lesson before and it’s truly impressive to hear him in full-on teaching mode.) I’ll wrap this installment soon.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to our car, which has taken us from Inverness to Ullapool, through the Highlands and into Edinburgh (city driving was surprisingly not bad – in fact I actually enjoyed it) and then across back roads to a point somewhere in the countryside north of Perth. Although it was a real challenge to manage these narrow and twisting roads, I am a bit sad to know that the driving portion of the story is almost over. And I’m fairly certain I shan’t have another go at it in this lifetime. But how lucky I’ve been to have learned this new skill at my old age. How fortunate we have been to see the deep interior of this country as very few tourists ever do. How wonderful it’s all been until now.
And it isn’t over yet.
But first, to sleep. Goodnight, dear Scotland. We are both very happy to be here.
The Hillhouse 