Ok, is everyone tired of talking about rain, I had a beautiful day – the last hour – of my hike today, the sun came out and all was beautiful. The only problem I had then was I stopped in a forested section for a phone call and the midges attacked. What is a midge, a tiny fly like insect, slightly bigger than a gnat. This is their breeding season so they swarm anything that smells of blood or body order. The females try to bite for your blood to feed the eggs. they are so small that if there is a breeze, they can’t land. But stop in a calm spot and Swarm! Some people here even wear head nets to prevent them from getting to open skin. I have used a bug spray that has worked pretty well, however, since it was supposed to rain all day, I didn’t put any on. The sunshine woke them up!!! If you are moving, that usually keeps them away, it is just when you are stopped with no breeze, they are 10 times worse that a mosquito swarm on a warm Texas night.
Back to today, the hiking was good, trails were mostly old military roads, so a small rocky surface that has been worn down over a 150 years are so. The views are still quite stunning and the landscape is changing as we move further inland into the Scottish Highlands. It seems so strange as the hills here have such a low tree line. That is because of the geology ( rocky soil ) and the climate ( windy conditions ) that keep the trees from growing, so you see this expansive pastureland above the trees.
In the following picture, I passed an old Celtic cemetery that was started in 813, the oldest identified grave dates back to the 10th century. This area has a rich history and culture. This may be part of Great Britain, but the people still like to think of this as a separate area.
Today brought a little work, but really just some mileage and trying to keep the rain gear working. the rain was continuous. But that is just another part of what makes these treks exciting, challenging and enjoyable.
The food is good here, everyone needs to try haggis (pronounced Hay-Guys) once in their life, not bad, but don’t google them if you think might get a chance to try them sometime. The lamb meat is delicious and the hamburger meat is a little gamey, but good. Everyplace also has 3 or 4 deserts, ice cream and a couple of cakes or pastries. The group I have fallen in with will usually try one or two, so I get to see them served. We ate at an Indian food place tonight, I know this is Scotland, but the guys wanted a variety.
I saw few people on the trail today, maybe they were all moving about the same pace due to the rain, but it didn’t seem as much as normal. As you can saw in the first picture, even the trail was awash from the rain.
Tomorrow I get up and start the process all over again, I just hope my shoes, socks, shirts, pants and shorts dry out tonight.
Acts 14:17
Weird Fact: It takes 2 to 7 minutes for a raindrop to fall to earth!
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