After a singularly tiring and crazy week of cross-college projects, my friend and I decided to escape to Scotland for the weekend to see the Aurora Borealis. Sadly we missed the northern lights but we did eat a ridiculous amount of haggis, had the best American-style breakfast of my life (in Scotland), and hiked up a ridge overlooking Loch Ness where we later saw NESSIE. That's right. We saw her.
Just look at that picture up there. Straight out of a landscape gallery.
Scotland is just as incredible as it looked in Skyfall. It may have been missing an Astin Martin and a huge partly-abandoned mystery house, but there were at least two castles, a neighbourhood rabbit, and a slightly scary night of waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere. Inverness was the cutest town ever, and even though it kind of dashed our hopes for a London-free weekend (there was a huge Marks & Spencer and Accessorise and Lush and yeah), it did have at least four beautiful old churches, a cozy bookstore with a REAL fireplace (avec fire), and a really wobbly footbridge that moved a little too much when you sprinted across it out of fear.
On Sunday we went down to Drumnadrochit, a small town on the edge of Loch Ness. My friend and I found a windy path up a mountain/ridge thing, and we took the Red Trail because we decided to live dangerously that day. Dangerous because of the rain mostly; it was a miracle that we didn't slip and plunge into one of hundreds of mud puddles all over the place.
We finally got to the top (double points if you can spot my friend in her hiding place) and it was straight out of a BBC miniseries trip-to-the-countryside scene. And if it weren't scenic enough a flipping rainbow came out of nowhere and graced the valley with its 30% opacity.
AND THEN. We spotted her. NESSIE!!!
She was even bobbing in the water as if to say "HAY". If we had been wearing waders we could have slid on over and asked for a ride on her back, but alas. We had on jeans and running leggings.
Even though my soul-crushing love for London knows no bounds, it was nice to get out of the city for a few days and breath in some fresh country air. Even though it wasn't very Christmas-y yet, I bet it's amazing to spend Christmas there, although after mid-November you probably wouldn't want to go outside. But then there's more time to fatten yourself on Christmas treats whilst covered in blanket scarves in front of the fire. Did I mention that there are scores of Christmas baked goods here that I am unfamiliar with but have to try? There's mincemeat which has fruit not meat, and I had a really soft cookie with raisins and all kinds of spices in it and I am dedicating my foreseeable future to tracking down their name/manufacturer so I can buy ten thousand boxes and eat them until Mardi Gras.
So now the next post HAS to be a Christmas-y London post. SO BE IT.
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