The Trouble With Scotland is It's Full of Awesome

Note: Due to there being a general lack of readily available internet access in the Highlands region (in Drumnadrochit I didn't even have a phone in my room!), it has taken me a while to put up some new posts. This post is up to date to Thursday. I'll get the blog back up to date tomorrow.

So I took the train to Belfast. On this train I saw many sheep. Similar to Wales. Sheep every place. Upon arriving at Belfast, I got a taxi to the harbour. The driver and I discussed the economy. There’s a lot of building going on in Belfast, lots of skyscrapers going up, and the driver told me that all that was started before the downturn, so Belfast looks to weather the economic storm at least until the buildings are up. It looked like a cool town to hang out in; maybe next time.

I picked up the ferry and once again, it was as well-appointed as a cruise ship. I got a bit of sleep and checked Facebook (yes, you can get the internet even on a ferry in the Irish Sea), changed my euros for pounds for an exorbitant fee at the bureau de change JUST IN CASE, and landed in Stranraer.

The taxi ride to the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel was 100% dark (zero streetlights and only unilluminated fields of green along the roads will do that) and the road was a winding, one-lane affair that my driver was only too happy to take at top speed. The Lighthouse was a pretty great place to stay at, but since I’d spent the last two days hanging out with cool human beings, I kind of missed not having other people around. Also, it was the kind of place my grandparents would have liked, and that thought left me a bit down as well. The dinner at the lighthouse was amazing, (though I'm amazed how much lamb these people make without using garlic. They have garlic around here, they just don't seem to use it with lamb at all...still good, though) but then it was off to bed.

The best thing about the room I was in was the view from the window in the morning. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to that? After a splendid breakfast, it was back to the rails again. The taxi ride back illuminated all the scenery I’d missed the night before. And the sheep. Again, sheep and beautiful green hills everywhere. Although, my driver warned, people from London are selling their pricey houses down in England and buying big plots of land up here in southern Scotland for cheap. It’s the same everywhere.

So here I am, typing this missive at the rather spartan train station here in Stranraer, waiting for my train to Glasgow or Inverness.