Glasgow

Glasgow

We caught the bus to Glasgow, which mostly brought jealous views of windmills compared to the bullshit "I care about the environment but I'm also invested in the massive gas and coal corporations" of 45. (Per the 4th grader in me who finally grasped foreshadowing, that aspect only got worse)  anyways, veronica slept and I drifted between windmills and rolling hills until we got to the subway in city center (fun fact: the oldest continuously running subway in the world) we met chloé on the way to her flat, and holy wow, was it a sweet reunion. Chloé and her roommate (also chloé) made dinner and veronica and I gratefully scarfed it down.

The next day, we trekked back to city center and explored a super old church, where we met a goofy tour guide who gave us the next 2 hours of fun facts, theories, and laughter. He was lovely, and recounted sweet stories of his love Carol, who also volunteered at the church. It was very sweet.

That evening, we joined chloé's international barbecue, mini grills in tow with backpacks of veggies and meats slung across our shoulders. It was so beautiful I could've cried. Several folks from France, one Scotland, 2 Spain, 1 Morocco, and 2 Americans laughing and navigating "what is it like in..." questions. It was wonderful and reminded me of things I dearly love; food, hospitality, and sharing life as the sun sends itself onward. Ugh, my favorite.

 

Veronica and I had talked to chloé about trying to get to Skye, largely without a plan... Naturally we asked chloé if she wanted to join and she said yes. We booked a rental and then at the bbq mentioned it, and several of the attendees raised their eyebrows to our ambitions, since it was tourist season. But still, they offered sleeping bags and pads, so after the bbq ended, we walked through the Glasgow streets to collect some camping gear, in case it came to that. Spoiler, it definitely did.

We woke up Friday morning, anxiously reaching out to gumtree users (like craigslist) who'd posted about cheap tents. Our plan was to leave around 3, with chloé and myself nervously splitting the drive. Both of us can drive stick, but I'll be the first to confess that the thought of driving stick with my left hand AND on the opposite side of the road ANDDDD in a foreign country with narrow roads made me wowzers nervous. But we were willing, and that was enough to take the plunge.

AND THEN A HERO SHOWED UP

With boatloads of anxiety and very little in the way of solidified plans, we were about an hour out from leaving when blessed Matthieu messaged chloé on Facebook to see if she was still going to Skye because he too was heading that way. The 3 of us checked in with each other and i happily took a hammer to the ice and said I would feel much more comfortable with Matthieu driving and having a guy who had been to Skye on our journey. And thus began a truly infinite and adventurous weekend.