Globetrotting Gal

There are 7.5 million people in Scotland. And 5 million sheep. I’ve grown very fond of the sheep — standing on these evergreen hills in all their warm and fluffy glory! Yesterday, from the comfort of the sunlit side of the train, I watched two of them running across an open field. I’d never seen sheep run so fast… it was more of a hop really. Like two giant bunnies. As I watched them, I reminded myself to never eat haggis again.

Tonight I’m sitting at a pub in Inverness called the Hootenanny. (I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on my laptop ;).) I’ve just ordered fried Haddock and chips, and I’m waiting for the live Scottish music to start playing…

My afternoon was spent half-heartedly looking for the Loch Ness monster while sipping on hot chocolate and whiskey (which, by the way, mind = blown). At the end of our little boat tour, we came to the most beautiful castle I’ve seen so far in Scotland – Urquhart Castle. It was first established as a fort by the Picts in 500 AD. The castle was built by Scots between 1200 – 1500 AD.

All that’s left of the castle is what remains of stone and cement – the kind of cement we don’t make anymore, full of pebbles and dark earth. No fake walls were constructed in the 60s to turn it into a gaudy museum. No minimum wage employees dressed in period attire offer you a story. Just the weathered stones. So perfect in its deterioration next to the Loch (where surely the remains of Nessie lie beneath).

Stories happened in this castle. Norsemen waged war with the Scottish. Households came and went. And their cooks and their horses. Their poets and their priests. As I stood in the ghostly emptiness of it all, I felt the fragility of my own existence, destined to pass, as well. With the wind whispering through my coat and a little umbrella covering my new Canon, I capture what I can. I capture what I can and I lose myself in the framing of photos. This quiet little life.

And with that, it’s time for dinner. Another fish and chips awaits me (and a disappointed fitness trainer back in Thailand ;). But for tonight, I’m in Scotland. Just trying to stay warm. Dreaming of sheep.

This post was originally published September 20, 2017.