A Solo Travellers Mind

On the 28th of June I packed up my bags again and headed to London for a highly anticipated reunion! And at approximately 5pm, I at last saw Ethan in flesh again. It was a very sweet moment.

We spent our night in London, before heading north to Doncaster, the place Ethan used to call home. I spent 3 days there, hosted by Ethans very kind friend. I’d never been to Doncaster, so it was cool to get the grand tour of a new city, I was warned before that it was a shith*le but if I’m honest, I actually think it’s quite nice. We went for walks around the lakeside, visited the highlights of the town including a cool church, and went to explore Cusworth hall where we got to see, and get close to some very cute signets! Ethan continued his Doncaster experience solo when I went off to Huddersfield on my holiday side quest.

I headed to Marsden to be reunited with the famous auntie Hayley. A long over due catch was had, discussing the many changes that has occurred in our lives. A few days were spent relaxing or hiking the Yorkshire mores before a party was had with family and friends on Friday to celebrate. Saturday was a wholesome day filled with wild swimming, great food and more discussions about life. And then on Sunday we headed to Manchester to reunite with Ethan. A very tasty roast dinner, followed by a stroll around the lake, were our Sunday morning activities before we collected our van!

We’d hired a van for two weeks to go and explore as much of Scotland as possible. The van did end up having some issues, with one breaking down and the other having a broken water pump, however with good vibes and smile on our faces we refused to let these issues ruin our holiday. And that’s the last I shall mention of our van issues.

Our first day was spent driving from Manchester to Scotland, stopping at a very cool service station (recommended by Hayley) where we got a shower, brought some nice snacks and I stupidly left my new electric toothbrush (R.I.P toothbrush, you have been replaced). We continued north in till we arrived at Loch Lomond where the hiking began. We completed two shortish hikes, the first “Conic Hill” and the second, “Ben A’an”. I highly recommend them both, they are easy enough, but also present some unreal views! We were blessed with blue sky’s and sunshine, which we would soon find would follow us right the way through our whole trip, in till the final day! We then headed north to Fort William, via Glencoe, stopping to admire the views of the mountain range has to offer. In fort William we managed to get a free camp at the bottom of Ben Nevis, looking out over a field of cows. An unreal place to call home for a couple of nights! Ben Nevis was a very cool hike, some parts were so easy, and others felt never ending, but 3 hours later we were at the top and enjoying our post hike snacks (which we did not bring enough of!). Ben Nevis also marked the beginning of our journey with the nature poo! Scotland offers some unreal spots for a nature poo, including but not limited to Neist point and the Quirang! Our next stop was the west coast, heading to Arisag where again we secured an unreal camp spot. But not before a pit stop at Harry Potters Viaduct! We spent our days on the coast taking quick dips in the very cold sea, drinking tea on benches with lovely views and walking some lovely trails along the coast. Arisag was a super nice coast line, unfortunately no basking sharks were spotted but we did see a few birds! A few days were then spent on the Isle of Sky, where we swam in the Fairy pools, and hiked the Quirang and The Storr. Coastal walks were had at Neist Point and a pit stop was made in Portree where we got to see some cool colourful balamore like houses. Leaving the Isle of Sky we headed east, first stopping at Eileen Donan castle, which is I’d say one of the coolest wee castles we saw! Before spending the day at Lochness, We did go for a dip at Lochness, where the water is 5 degrees pretty much all year round… i will not that it was a very cold experience. We spent an evening in Inverness, which was such a lovely city, a little like Edinburgh in terms of architecture and a really cool little place. Along the east coast we explored Dunnet head, where we stood at the most northern point in mainland Britain, and animal watched in till we saw a Puffin and potentially a few whales. We explored John O’Grots, a cute little town, with more colourful houses and a nice coastal walk, where we got to see some otters playing in the ocean. The Duncansby stacks was an unexpectedly nice walk, with an exciting twist with involved climbing down the cliff face with a rope to go and explore them closer. Kiess castle was another unexpectedly cool stop along the coast, originally just added to break up the drive, it ended up being a very cool castle ruin which we could walk all the way too (while I feared for my life as small cows ran past us!). We stopped in some posh towns along the way including Wick, where we took advantage of the clean public showers. We hiked down the Waligoe steps, a very easy short hike with some more unreal views! Our final days were spent exploring Dunrobin castle and its pretty gardens and attending the Highland Games in Tomintoul. We made a quick pit stop in the cairngorms national park to stroll around and swim in another much less cold loch! The Highland Games were a truely cool experience, even if the rain did find us and get me and my denim jeans soaked! We got to see a marching band and men throwing heavy objects, and even participated in a few of the games ourselves, including the tug of war and the sack race (we won!). Before we headed to the local pub for some more surprise shows from some of the marching band, this time with a beer in their hand. I also got to have a go at the bag pipes, I’m shit!

The final days of our holidays we spent in Edinburgh, this time in an air bnb and not a house on wheels! Edinburgh city was explored with thousands of steps taken, taking in all the cool building that surrounded us. We took a stroll down the canal to Stockbridge, which soon became the daily walk, and not a bad one at that! And we went on maybe on of my favourite walks to Cramond island, a little island off the coast of Edinburgh which you can walk to and around when the tide is low! It is very cool! Some unreal food was had, checking out the very famous gourmet mash bar, as well as being treated to some of Ethans incredible home cooking (which I have missed dearly, and will miss daily in till my return to Australia!). We tried some Whiskey at a famous Whiskey bar… We hated it… and we ate some unreal pies and pastry’s! We of course climbed Arthurs seat, which was a very easy hike, and subsequently very busy, but this didn’t take away from the views! Our final night soon came round, and it was time to pack ready for a long journey back to Heathrow.

The last month was a joy I’ll forever hold close to my heart.

The end of the holiday was marked with a very sad airport goodbye. Parting ways is not fun, but fingers crossed my visa arrives in my hands soon enough and hopefully that’ll mark the last of our goodbyes!