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.