Summertime in the UK Part II: Isle of Skye, Scotland

After the England adventures from my last post I trekked out to the Isle of Skye for a few days. (And trekked is definitely the right term since it took around 17 hours to get out there.) It was definitely a retreat...Google Maps couldn't even find me. But Skye certainly lived up to the high praise I had heard about it.

Over two days I hiked or walked well over 20 miles (in future, a car might be advisable). It was rather...let's say...interesting, walking on the curvy, single-lane roads but there were some adventures as a result. One was the incident involving a cow loose on the road which we assisted in herding back into its field with much difficulty. Lesson one from Scotland:  cows are stubborn and will screw with you if given the opportunity.

I also hitchhiked for the first time. Most of the time it wasn't necessary because so many people from the hostel would offer us rides. The level of friendliness kind of took me aback since I'm now used to the gruff indifference of Londoners. But the hitchhiking was not as terrifying as expected, except for the actual driving part which involves, as I mentioned, one-lane roads that require those driving to swerve onto designated pull-off areas when they spot a car coming. Not the most calming experience.

I could go on for ages about how gorgeous the scenery there is, but I really couldn't do it justice. Massive rocky mountains shrouded in mist, green hills, lochs opening to the ocean, wildflowers. Just absurdly pretty. I'll just post some photos at the end to get the point across. Given this awesome scenery, the hiking was fantastic. I didn't 'bag any munros' as they say, but I did hike through the valley of one of the mountain ranges where there was a stream with a collection of 'fairy pools' and waterfalls. A bit chilly but I still wished I had brought a bathing suit.

One of the biggest highlights other than the scenery was the hostel we stayed at because the owners were just so unbelievably nice. (Plus they had the best Scottish accents.) And there was a bonfire on the hill overlooking the loch every night. Lesson two from Scotland:  the people are fantastic. And if you get up to the Isle of Skye I highly recommend the Croft Bunkhouse.

Last but not least:  the Scotch. I mean, you can't go to Scotland and not have Scotch. Lucky for me the Talisker distillery (the only distillery on Skye) was only three miles from the hostel. And you can be damn sure I walked the three miles for that. And of course I took back a little souvenir as well. Plus, we made some friends at the hostel later and they so nicely shared some Jura Scotch with me. Lesson three from Scotland:  it's great to make friends, and it's even better if they're Scotch drinkers.

So, does anyone want to move up to Skye with me and work as a hiking guide/cow herder/Scotch sampler? This is my new postgraduate plan.

Summertime in the UK Part I: England

I haven't posted much recently because the majority of my summer has seen me spending long days at the library reading endless literature on identity, political violence, and Northern Ireland. Exciting, I know. But I have been lucky enough to take a little time off recently for fun stuff. I just returned from a trip up to Scotland, which I will write about in my next post, but for now, here are some highlights of the past few weeks.

I was finally able to see a performance at the Globe Theatre and it was well worth the wait. Not only was their production of Macbeth fabulous in itself, but I was super surprised and excited when I saw that Billy Boyd (aka Pippin from Lord of the Rings) was playing the part of Banquo. I had a nerd moment. Standing for two and a half hours in the heat watching the show was worth it for that.

The day after the Globe I attended a quite different type of show. It was an all-day concert/festival put on by Mumford & Sons featuring them (of course), Vampire Weekend, Ben Howard, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It was an absolutely incredible show and Mumford & Sons gives one of the best live performances I've ever seen. Who knew banjos could be so badass? They ended the show by bringing everyone back on stage and performing a cover of 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac. Epic. I also greatly enjoyed the shenanigans by some of the people in the crowd, mainly when one guy after another decided to climb one of the festival flagpoles, each of them becoming progressively less-clothed. The final one was entirely naked and then the pole proceeded to tip over. Not good. But he seemed to be alright. Other than the fact that a huge crowd had just witnessed him fall off a flagpole completely nude.

Another highlight of the past weeks, although not quite as exciting, was a Jack the Ripper walking tour. Morbid? Yes. More than a little disturbing? Yup. But really interesting and pretty awesome? Definitely. It was really fascinating to walk around parts of London that I knew and learn not only the gruesome details of certain areas, but also what they were like in general during that time. Plus I now know the location of the pub where Jack and his victims hung out (which is still operating).

Recently I was also able to get out of London for a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge. Bath was very pretty and a nice mini-escape from the city. But the highlight of that trip was stumbling upon a funky little reggae bar with great (water buffalo!) burgers. And because I'm a bit of a huge history nerd, Stonehenge was just awesome, in the true sense of the word.

Well that's it for now. A pretty eventful couple of weeks. And now it's back to the books for a bit. Scotland post to come soon.