Week 8: I Pissed in the Minch Sea

On Monday evening I decided to make the best of the nice weather (aside from two cloudy days, it's always been sunny; wind is the only problem) and venture out to Neist Point, the most westerly tip of Skye. Neist Point is home to a lighthouse which supposedly doubles as a B&B but other than two guys fishing off some rocks nearby and several campers back at the road, I didn't see any life at the light house.

It took me about two hours to get out to the point from Living Ark and by that time my beverage from dinner had caught up with me. Oddly, the Isle of Skye maintainers didn't anticipate my arrival and have a public toilet waiting for me. So, despite there being nobody else at the point (other than two guys fishing the other side of the light house), I sought out the privacy of some cliff rocks and relieved myself into the Minch Sea. Once I had gotten that out of the way, I was able to continue my visit of Neist Point.

Being so close to the Atlantic Ocean (only the Western Isles stood between me and the Atlantic), I felt I should venture as far as I could. A certain degree of thought for my safety may have kept me from going all the way to the edge but as I strolled along the rocks I heard the unmistakeable sound of a sea mammal exhaling. My stroll turned to a clamour as I made my way towards the edge, hoping to get a good look and some photos. I peered out into the bobbing blue sea trying desperately to put an image to the sound I had just heard. Soon enough, a few hundred meters out I saw the body of a whale as it slipped back into the water. Luckily for me I had only brought my 50mm lens, which would ensure that any pictures I attempted of the whale left it appearing as a black dot in an otherwise blue photo.

I stuck around for over half an hour hoping the whale would come closer, so at least one shot might add a bit of detail to my pictures of a black dot on blue. It seems that whales must be psychic because once I had given up and decided I should head back, I heard another exhale. Spinning around, I saw the dorsal fin slip into the water only fifty meters out, much closer than before. Hopefully, I’ll head back this week with my telephoto lens to get some better shots.


In the last blog post, I mentioned that there was another guy, Pete, staying at Living Ark who had hooked up with them through couchsurfer.com. He was supposed to look after the animals until he left on Wednesday. After that, feeding responsibilities would be mine. But while he was here he would show me the ropes. On the ride to Living Ark with Den last Sunday when I arrived, Den told me how Pete was really gung-ho about staying long-term at Living Ark. Den wanted him to think it through a bit longer, though, because, come on, who wants to live in a caravan long-term with no future plans or aspirations? It seems that Pete really did. That is until Den mentioned the contract that long-term volunteers have to sign. Den left at five that day and shortly after Pete did the same (without so much as a toodle-loo). I guess he wasn’t too chuffed about contracts.

It took me the better part of Monday to realize that Pete was gone and wasn’t returning. It was also obvious that the animals weren’t going to feed themselves. Luckily, Den had left some reminder notes out for volunteers and I was able to serve dinner for the critters.

Aside from feeding and a few odd jobs, my responsibilities have been slim, so I have spent the majority of the week doing some planning for future stops on the trip. That and reading (Call of the Wild and Never Cry Wolf) have occupied my time.

I arrive at my next location, Earthworm Housing Co-op, Saturday evening. And then June 22, I cross the border into France.

Missing my Macbook and broadband Internet connection,
Kasza

Week 7: From Coylton to Lower Milovaig

I have tried to prepare myself for the challenges that I would face during this trip but obviously I can only prepare for so much. The challenge that I am faced with now is posting this blog entry using a dial-up connection from a Pentium III running Windows 98 (it's amazing how much some people can endure). This challenge has caused the delay of this post (written last night) because I have been trying for a full day to find a program to get the photos from my camera to the 'puter. No luck yet.

So, I have made it to The Living Ark Animal Sanctuary in Lower Milovaig on the western tip of the Isle of Skye. It was an amazing trip through the highlands today. I started out the day with a clear, sapphire blue sky overhead in Glasgow and took a 7am bus en route to Portree. Gradually clouds started to dot the sky as the morning progressed but they only added to the spectacular views of the Scotland countryside which frequently included a mountain steeply dropping into a still loch. The other upside of the trip north was that there were less than ten people on the bus, so I had a comfortable amount of space to stretch out. I was met by the Living Ark host, Den, in Kyle of Lochalsh and he drove me the rest of the way to Lower Milovaig.

They have several pigs, a few sheep, many hens (no roosters, thank jeebus), and one cat. Den works as a GP in Inverness, so frequently he is away and Rima is in London right now, working on research project. While they are away usually, a neighbour friend, Colin, will feed the animals but right now they have a coach surfer that is handling the feeding. He will be leaving on Wednesday, so then it'll be my responsibility to feed the animals (I see this as a perfect opportunity to test my hypothesis that chickens would prefer to eat straw like the other animals).

I've only been on the island for a few hours, so there's not much else to say about it yet. I'll finish the finish this post by relating my less than twenty-four hour experience in Glasgow (because aside from watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall on Wednesday, the past week in Coylton has only included weeding. Lots of weeding.)

So, anybody that has had an opinion on where I should visit while in Scotland, has recommended that I don't waste my time with Glasgow and that I should instead head over to Edinburgh. One of the drunks in Newcastle summed it up best for me: "You know the only thing that Glasgow is known for don't you? Heroine. Haven't you seen Trainspotting?" And he finished with obligatory "you should go to Edinburgh instead". I couldn't believe that the only thing that Glasgow had going on was heroine, though, and it was conveniently situated in my way of heading up to Skye, so I checked it out for a day. Who knew that everybody would be right.

The second that you get off your bus, train, or plane in Glasgow, a lovely welcoming party appointed by the Secretary of Tourism for Glasgow will ensure that you are stocked up with everything you need: a baggy of powder, a belt, spoon, lighter and needle. If you should lose or damage any of your welcoming package, you can obtain replacements from one of many outlets well placed throughout the city. Conveniently for me, there was one situated in the hostel that I was staying at, so I didn't have to venture far to restock.

I did pry myself away for a short period of time from that lovely local pastime to have a look around Glasgow's Botanic Gardens and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. One of the great thing about Glasgow's museums and galleries is that they all have free admission. I had a look at the night life listings in a local paper and ABC sounded like it could be a good time but it didn't seem too smart to me to stay out late clubbing when I had a 7am bus to catch the next day. So, I just loitered in the hostel lounge area browsing the internet on the iPod Touch.

- Kasza

PS. I will post pics once I have succeed in getting them off the camera.

Oooh, Robert Downey Jr., You're Such a Dreamboat

Woo hoo, I saw Iron Man on Wednesday with Andrew and Carol (Lisa isn't into Hollywood films). I realize this is not the day that it opened on, so I'm slipping in my geeky ways but I did get in for free (Andrew, the host, paid for me). There was a sufficient amount of explosions, gadgets and testosterone to keep me going until The Incredible Hulk opens next month (then I'll be saying "Oooh, Ed Norton, you're such a dreamboat").

Yesterday, I took a break from working in the gardens and went touring around downtown Ayr which is only a 15 minute bus ride from where I'm staying. Unfortunately, it rained in the morning but I was able to take cover in Carnegie Library and read World's Finest. After the rain subsided, I ventured south to the Maclaurin Galleries at Rozelle House. There were quite a few watercolours that I liked and an interesting temporary exhibit by Jacki Parry which focused on paper .

Other than Wednesday evening and yesterday, my days have been pretty routine: I get up around six (approximately 3-4 hours before anybody else), feed and walk the dogs (Poppy and Mr. Patches), shower, break fast and check my email. By that time, it's after 8 and I head out to weed. There's surprisingly quite a bit of land for this small house and the lower third of it is overgrown in weeds. We're clearing out the weeds, so wild flowers can be planted. The goal being to attract wildlife to the area (a pond will be added to the middle third of the yard to promote wildlife as well). I have been lucky enough to have access to a portable digital radio which I can listen to BBC 6 Music on while I uproot plants.

Another comfort I have here is unlimited access to Wi-Fi, either via the iPod or one of the hosts' laptops. So, in the evenings, I've wasted quite a bit of time comparing train and bus rates and planning my future destinations (or just veging out watching Funny or Die).

I have also had the pleasure of watching a couple episodes of a Scottish skit comedy show, Chewin' the Fat; I do not recommend it.



Here are the lovely pups that I get to walk each morning:


Mr. Patches (Arthritic Dog)


Poppy (Three Legged Dog)

Happy Mother's Day,
Kasza


The Rose Cottage


An Ent




Anchored

Ayrshire By Way of Newcastle

Well, I have been in Coylston, Ayrshire for a full day now.

My trip here from Scarborough had a six hour stopover in Newcastle which was something. I decided to take a 10pm train from Scarborough on Friday because it was considerly cheaper than the other trips. The downside I found out was the stopover. I had figured I could nap in the train station but it turns out that they don't allow people in the train station after hours, so at midnight I ventured into Newcastle. I quickly realized that the Geordies enjoy their night life. I might have considered going into one of the clubs or pubs and joining in the revelry but I was weighed down by my backpack. So, I wandered a bit, waited in a cafe for a couple hours, wandered a bit more and finally was able to go back to the train station and catch my train to Scotland.

Apparently, my bearded face accompanied by my backpack gave the appearance to one of the locals that I was homeless person, or homely, and I was offered £2. Pride took over and I told him I had money but in retrospect I should have taken the money, considering it's more than $4.
I've started taking more photos this past week. One of the reasons that I wasn't taking too many photos was that I was limited to only two lenses, neither of which were telephoto. On Denzil's recommendation, I ventured into Scarborough to a used camera store and purchased a lens for £90 (I almost bought a cheaper one for £70 that I liked quite a bit more but the damn thing didn't work on my camera).

I worked with another WWOOFer for the first time this past week (Simon). Up until now, I had always been the only WWOOFer at the places I was staying at. From talking with Simon, he seemed to have the same feeling about the SWP as I did, a general question of "what does this have to do with woodland conservation?"

Well, I actually got a day of work, as close to working with the woodland as I was ever going to on Wednesday. Denzil was back and he had suggested to Louisa that she get the WWOOFers, Simon and I, to work on the woodland area where he had a planted a few fruit trees and copiced some willows. Before any work could be done though, the area would have to be cleaned up. These photos are the finished product (the garbage used to be dispersed about the cleared area).

Another job Simon and I spent a good portion of the week working on was leveling and staining cold frames. Considering how muddy the area is, it was good fun leveling them.

But the highlight of the week would have to be burning the two 40 foot caravans that were dismantled by request of the planning inspector.

Well, I've stayed up until 1am, getting this post ready, so it might be a bit rough (and unedited) and I'm quite tired.

- Kasza

PS. for the Alberta boys

PPS. randomish pics from last week available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/78683190@N00/