Neighbor to the North

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In the morning we took the train to Edinburgh (let me give East Coast trains a big shout out for cheap prices and free wifi). We arrived in time to explore this beautiful and extraordinarily hilly town. We climbed the 200 foot Scott Memorial which was, well, high! The stairs became more and more narrow and at the very top I felt as though I was being extruded, scraping my shoulders and backpack out of the spiralling staircase. It was well worth it and gave us great views of the city and beyond.
After that we simply wandered around. The weather was cool, the people nice, and the company excellent. We bravely cooked dinner at the hostel as gas stoves and ovens rightly scare us both. I asked how to work the stove and the girl told me that they had a small problem with one, so it's constantly on. Oh no, there's no great way of telling the temperature, just wing it! So we carefully monitored our dinner and managed not to burn the place down. As for dessert; what trip to Edinburgh is complete without a deep fried mars bar?
We visited Edinburgh Castle the next day and as it was Prince Philips b-day there was an unusual amount of fanfare and gun firing in his honor. In the evening we hiked up Arthur's Seat which is an amazing place. Just outside of the city this great cliff juts out of the landscape and behind it is a haven of green space and peace from the city. It's a gentle hike to the top (when you are on the right path) and the views are spectacular. We would have stayed for the sunset, but I don't think that happened until midnight.
The next day I found myself nervously adjusting the mirrors from the drivers seat of a Vauxhall Corsa. I had not driven in nine months and felt utterly terrified to relearn in a rather large city on the cough! -wrong- cough! (excuse me) side of the road. I made the rookie mistake of adjusting the mirrors while sitting calmly. It turned out that once we set off, I was sitting up in panic mode and all of my adjustments were pointless. I talked myself through every roundabout. 'Okay, right lane, indicate right, stay in my lane, go to 3 o'clock, indicate left, move to the left, and...we're out. Oh, thank God!' C and I together drove almost 800 miles and I'd say at least half of that wasn't fraught with panic.
We headed to St. Andrews and spent just a little while here taking in the ruined abbey and lunch on the beach. Maybe it was the setting or the weather but we split a pastry that was the most delicious I'd ever had. I mean, the savoury part of lunch was rendered completely pointless compared to this manna from heaven. The resulting sugar high fuelled us on the rest of the drive to Fort William and through the absolutely enchanting Glencoe region of Scotland. We stopped liberally to take in the beautiful views and at one stop, a piper was filling the air with perfectly haunting melodies.

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