Loch Ossian

I really am making the best of my current situation - living in Scotland with plenty of time on my hands. Somehow, I had persuaded Katharina to come visit me again and for some reason she kept extending the duration of her planned stay, so that I didn't know anymore how to fill the time with Edinburgh sightseeing and day trips and therefore suggested a trip to the highlands instead. She arrived on a Saturday and, after six hours on trains already, was willing to go on two more right away to travel via Glasgow to Corrour. In Glasgow, after less than three hours in the country, Kat already had had her IrnBru, pink Guinness, and Haggis, while we were catching up with Paul in a pub. We then set off to the highlands on a grand three hour train ride along firths and lochs, passing a few towns we had walked through on the West Highland Way two years ago (*link*), reminiscing. 

On our arrival in Corrour it was dark and the prospect of the one-mile-long walk to the hostel daunting, but the path turned out to be an easily visible dirt road, and the only one around, as Corrour, which consists of a rail station building and a restaurant, is only accessible by train. We didn't get lost, and after a few bends we saw the illuminated window of our hostel.

Old

So I put cornflour in my hair to see if I can use it instead of dry shampoo. I'm not so sure about the result, it seems to be working alright, but I got a pretty good impression of what I'll look like when I'm old and grey :)

(I'll look youthful and wise.)

Pentlands in August

After the massive birthday dinner my flatmate made for me and friends with mackerel in rhubarb-ginger-sauce, tatties, runner beans, roasted courgettes and orange-courgette cake I put all these calories to good use the following day by doing another half-day trip to the Pentlands. Scotland in August is tinted purple with blooming heather everywhere. The weather was a warm, light drizzle with intermittent dry spells and one or two heavier showers - fine Scottish walking conditions.

Fringing

This week is a sociable one. Having won free tickets for a book festival event, on Monday I went with a friend to a reading by a Chinese author who wrote a novel about Chinese women experiencing the one-child-policy (click here for The Dark Road by Jian Ma reviews). I didn't know a whole lot about the topic and what I know now is very gruesome and brutal, and I won't get into details, but it was a good event, and I liked the vibe of a book festival. The crowd wasn't that different from the Jazz&Blues Festival crowd - less hipsters and more seniors than expected - but the whole thing happened on Charlotte Square, a nice little green park in the city where I sat down at a tree in the sun to read a book since I was early.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge Update

After all the travel and birthday excitement I got a little bit behind on the job challenge front. But since I started the challenge I have already had plenty of feedback. One rejection, one note that I missed the application deadline (oopsi), one invitation to an interview, and one email by my flatmate's friend who might help me get a job at SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).

Also, it's August, and no one in Edinburgh in their right mind actually works in August. It's festival season after all, and in that spirit, I'm gonna go out tonight to enjoy a pint and some free performances.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 3

On day three of my job hunting challenge I applied for the position as

Affordable Warmth Advisor

Glen Affric Walk

I set out to walk through Glen Affric, the finest of all Scotland's glens, and while the walk was truly fine it was also truly wet. So finally, you get the whole picture about Scotland: sometimes it does rain here!

Click here for the map.

Happy Birthday Me!

I was DELIGHTED by all my mail! Thank you!

The Finest of All Scotland's Glens

Taken from walkhighlands.co.uk:

By common consent, Glen Affric is the finest of all Scotland's glens. It features a fabulous variety of scenery and is deservedly popular with walkers. The glen begins amongst the steep, bare mountains of Kintail far in the west.Further downriver is beautiful Loch Affric, at the foot of the highest mountains north of the Great Glen. The middle part of the Glen is a National Nature Reserve, magnificently wooded with Scots Pine - one of the last remnants of the original Caledonian Forest.

And this is where I am spending a few days with my boots, my backpack and a tent.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 2

On day two of my one day one job hunting challenge I applied for the first time for an applications engineer position. And the only reason that I did that was because it is in fact an

Applications Engineer (Infrared Spectroscopy)

A Short Dictionary of Scottish Hills

Sorted by height in descending order.

• Munro: The munros are Scottish mountains over 3000 feet (914.4 m) high. Nowadays, there are 282 munros, but that can change if heights are newly measured with modern and more precise technology. The name comes from Sir Hugh Munro who first listed them in 1891. People climbing munros to check them off their lists are called "munro-baggers" and their ambition is to climb them all because they are there.

• Corbett: Corbetts are hills in Scotland between 2500 and 3000 feet high, and there are 221 of them.

• Graham: Grahams are hills in Scotland between 2000 and 2500 feet high, and there are 224 of them.

• Donald: Donalds are hills in the Scottish Lowlands which are higher than 2000 feet. There are 89 of them.

All this and more can be found on my currently favourite walking website: Walkhighlands.co.uk.

Another Walk in the Pentlands

Should I ever need to remind myself again why I moved to Edinburgh, a walk in the Pentlands usually does the trick.

It was another fine hot Scottish summer day (20°C and sunny) and I took a few buses toward the south east corner of the Pentlands National Park. With good connections the trip should take a bit longer than an hour, but I missed the final bus by seconds and had no idea when and if there was another bus coming. Sitting at the bus stop and mulling over my options

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 1

I do not love job hunting.

Five Magpies Are Sitting in front of my Window

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.