Spring in Scotland

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Ok, Ok, I know. It has been a hella long time since I last updated but to be fair I have spent the majority of that time studying for exams. Although, I did have a few epic trips in April that I may have forgotten to write on. In my defense I had the best intentions to write about my week trip to Scotland… but on day four I may have hit my head and received my second mior concussion of the year. (Don’t worry the first was up in Boulder Junction WI this past July while cleaning the cabin… slightly clutzy accident). That incident greatly impeded my ability to write about my trip as I was doozy and dizzy. However, about three days after my head was hit I was off pain meds and feeling fine. I do have an entry written by my friend Eleanor (and slightly edited by myself) for the first day in Scotland. Here it is:

Scotland, Scotland, Scotland. For months I have been waiting for this day. No seriously, ever since Julie Fix told me about the amazing time she had studying abroad in Edinburgh, I have wanted to come to this nation and see the beautiful wilderness and glorious vistas. This is the log of night zero and day one of my ten-day trip to Scotland with the University of Bristol Canoe Club. Last night at seven p.m. Maryann, Eleanor, and I set out from Gloucester Rd. loaded down with massive bags. We made impressive time to the Union to meet the rest of the canoe club.

At the Bristol Union the 22 of us loaded kayaks, paddles, wetsuits, pfds (buoyancy aids/lifejackets), helmets, and the rest of the shit into the big red van: we were really looking forward to the loooong journey…NOOOOOOOOOOT

After a journey of 9 ½ hours, we arrived in Fort William hoping to go have breakfast in the local Morrison’s, but it didn’t open until 8am, We attempted to sleep for the next hour and a half, meanwhile the van turned up half an hour after us after having the mission of finding a replacement bulb for the tail light. Suffice to say that during breakfast in the store we all looked like zombies. We then did a bit of shopping for snacks and made our way towards Roy Bridge which was the location of our first river in Scotland, the Roy. A surprisingly warm change into our thermals and wetsuits, we headed down a grassy sloping path towards the get on, which was only slightly overgrown and tricky to traverse with our boats!

My group was led by Pross, seconded by Geordie Dan, with me and Eleanor the beginners, all helped by AJ. Unfortunately Eleanor took the first swim of the trip, being twatted by rapids – being rolled around in turbulent water is not nice and she has the (many) bruises and scratches to show for it! It was a really nice river with pretty constant rapids but plenty of eddies to pull into whilst Eleanor took another 4 swims and I only took two! It was very cold in the water, but luckily I had my preventing hypothermia kit on me consisting of coke and some pretty rank own brand chocolate! I also got to practice my ferry boating technique and am beginning to feel and look much more confident in the water. We ended up getting to the get off at around 3 in the afternoon: after the 5km paddle, snacks and warm dry clothes were very much appreciated! We had to wait for the group to arrive – we’d had 7 swims in total so were a bit later than the other groups who’d got back at half 2. At 4:33pm, the last group arrived looking absolutely knackered and cold: we went straight to the bunkhouse and they had nice hot showers while the rest of us hung up our wet kit and chose beds: the girls had two rooms of 6 and 4. I chose the former, along with Becky, Claire, Eleanor, Louise and Maryann while Dixie and Sarah got a room to themselves and the boys divided into snorers and non-snorers!

We then spent the rest of the evening bumming around and trying to not fall asleep at the table! Some people went on a beer run whilst me, AJ, Chris and Craig cooked chili (I obviously did the veggie option!). As soon as it was deemed appropriate (pretty much as 9 o’clock struck), most people went to bed as the cooks did the dishes. I got into bed at about 9:45pm and was only kept up a bit by a mystery snorer – we’re pretty sure it was you Becky!!

Note: It wasn’t Becky who was snoring. It was Eleanor. I actually had to move rooms to get any sleep. She sounded like a hyperventilating hamster that smoked three packs of cigarettes a day.

The rest of the trip to Scotland was filled with antics with the canoe club. We got rained out one day i.e. the bridge over the river flooded, and some people paddled down a small set of rapids in a ditch. Then unfortunately, our faithful van broke down, which completely stopped all paddling. Instead we biked, hiked and had a holiday in the highlands. It was a lovely trip overall!

That is all for this blog post for those of you who didn’t give up on me and actually are still reading this! Next to come is my tour of the North of England and Edinburgh Scotland. However right now I am in the amazingly beautiful country of Ireland and enjoying every second of it, so you might get to hear about that first, we will see how my muse will strike me tomorrow!

Love and Shamrock Shakes,
Anna Grilley

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