sexta-feira, 30 de junho de 2017

Boas Notícias




Lamento de novo usar-vos para tirar o pó dos dedos. Mas estava por aqui a pesquisar as minhas entradas nos blogues e a perguntar-me como raio é que eu tomo a decisão de escrever num ou noutro. E por estes lados aparece a determinada altura uma referência, repetida, a livros do Gonçalo Cadilhe. 

Penso que da última vez me referia a "O Mundo é Fácil". Tenho-lhe muita estima. Foi-me oferecido por uma vaquinha entre amigos, na última festa de aniversário que tive e que posso chamar pelo nome. Foi um bom momento reunindo amigos e família. A ver se me lembro de no final deste ano fazer uma coisa do género, mas maior. Mas por mais estima que tenha ao livro, não foi o que me prendeu mais dos poucos que vou acumulando. Trata-se de uma coleção de conselhos para viajantes. 


E por mais que essas sugestões que me apanhem de surpresa, eu leio-o com a mesma vontade com que leio o livro de instruções do armário do IKEA. É útil, sei que me safo muito melhor, mas mete-se no caminho do meu Ego de viajante. Esse tipo (ego) pensa que sabe bastante e gosta pouco de intervenções mais experientes. Apanhou pouca estalada na vida e acha-se arrogante o suficiente para dizer que prefere aprender com a experiência. 

" A Aventura inicia no momento em que o plano falha" - diz ele a peito cheio. 

É então assim com alegria que gostava de anunciar que ao voltar a Portugal e no trabalho árduo de recolher os meus pertences daqui e dali, me dei com um livro do Gonçalo ( sim, temos uma relação já antiga e tratamo-nos pelo primeiro nome). 




Nesta fase em que as viagens que nos são permitidas são limitadas pelo plafond e pelos planos de vida, encontrar um livro deste calibre no "bolso de trás" é de uma felicidade incalculável. Tenho dois livros à frente deste para terminar ( além daquele que me predispus a escrever) mas está já na calha e com a senha na mão. 

São estas as boas notícias. Viagens aproximam-se. Adventure is out there!! 

Abreijos

terça-feira, 28 de fevereiro de 2017

Scotland - Highlands gone wrong. Or right. Or whatever.


This should not be the place to start writing about our stay in Scotland. Nor should be the time to. But even if I am keeping my writing material a little closer to my heart than I probably should, this was the adventure that kicked off the new chapter on the blog.

And here goes nothing.

It has been 4 months and almost 2 weeks since we first landed. And for all the daily adventures we endured so far, little could have been written of. Not to begin with at least. We're staying in Aberdeen for 6 months and it would not be fair to show it to you all as I did minor places before. Places in which I have stayed for a couple of intense but otherwise scarce hours.

This idea of a trip started to develop as a celebration for my better half's birthday. As it is becoming a tradition since my birthday was celebrated with a trip to Stonehaven of which I shall write later.

We had three days and the Highlands in mind. But as lovely as the Glens are, they are far and spread between and we would have to narrow our choices down to what we knew was possible. And maybe to a few suggestions and opinions of friends that have been before. The Lochness stands out. Maybe not as our first choice of call, but having stayed for six months in the north of Scotland we could not really go back home and say we haven't visited, could we?  So we had a place to start.

Also on a tight budget, renting a car was out of choice. And the whole idea could have died right there were not for Alice finding this amazing this "poor people - bicycle fan" heaven. With a couple of (self-proclaimed) hard working afternoons, we got two bicycles that would extend the trench of land we could cover over those two days. I shall write later of the bicycle recycling project but for now, in the case you can not wait, google for Becycle ( recycle with a B). Just in case, we checked with the bus company if we could take our humble wheeled companions on the bus with us. We could. Please remember this because you will need that piece of information later on.

Having united all the ingredients and necessary tools, we decided to make around 32 miles a day, starting early morning in Inverness. The first day we would cover half the Lochness until Drumnadrochit ( spelled right, yeah!) and head inland until the Tomich Hotel, where we would spend the first night. Hopefully, and according to google map's indication, we would have enough time to check Glen Affrick that first day. Maybe not the whole thing, but enough for a few teasing photos.
On the second day, we would make our way back to Drumnadrochit and head to Fort Augustus. The very bottom of Lochness for the night. That would leave the third day to our way back up.

And this was the generalized idea set no our minds when we first started pedaling. Here's also a list of things we underestimated:

- Distance: we had absolutely no idea how hard it would be to cycle 32 miles a day. It sounded alright, but it was not.

- Wind: now that is something we did not plan for. Doing 32 miles it's one thing. But 32 miles against the wind? There were parts of the path we could not even keep a straight line, so much for moving forward.

- Our Butt: Oh my god our butt. Having made a 30 km friendly bicycle ride a couple years ago with one of my best friends I should know better by now. Alice had no idea, but I should know how hard it is for your butt. I decided to blame my previous event on the (very hard) seat and even decided to present my better half with a gel-filled cover. It is not enough. If you ever consider doing something of the sort, equipment that will make your trip it is, in fact, important. But please do what we did not: get used to being seated on it before you actually go.

And having enlisted the major reasons for our failure ( don't pretend to be surprised, I've put it in the headlines) I shall cut to the chase and tell you all that we were, by 2:00 pm of the first day, very sore and proud of the 17miles we have done. But that would be enough and we had to find an alternative to transport us and the bikes to Tomich. But then again we were careful enough to make take this decision in Drumnadrochit ( cannot get enough of the name), wich is a civilized little village from wich buses go either back the way we came, or where we wanted to go. So far so good.

Now, remember me saying that StageCoach would allow the bicycles on the bus. Well... it happens that they do, just not in all the buses. We were told by the bus driver on the 17A  that for the long distance ones, it is alright. They are equipped with boxes underneath where the bikes fit more or less comfortably. But the local ones, not only do not have the luggage space, thus the bus drivers are not allowed to let anyone carry bicycles onboard. And this driver was no exception. He also happened to be driving a totally empty double decker bus,  from the middle of nowhere, to somewhere further down the nowhere road. And he was kind enough to let us in under the condition that we would be holding the bikes for the whole ride. A condition we gladly agreed before boarding.

Before pulling off he also made a point of saying this would be an absolute exception and we should be careful no to let any tire marks visible on the bus.

" A few days later and this bus would be crawling with kids you see?" - we also learned that the so-called kids were on a 3-day school interruption. And again, providence was on our side. And just to prove it, the bus stop was L.I.T.E.R.A.L.L.Y in front of the Hotel. And don't suppose this would be a normal thing. There are like 5 houses you can see from the Hotel, and one of them is the post office. It's quite literally nobody's land ( one of the reasons we decided to stay there). There is not even signal. But the bus stops at the front door, and we can do with that!

This was also a turning point of some sort. Ever since we boarded that bus, a feeling crept over us that our trip would be nothing like we had planned. The winds have changed. But wherever they were blowing, we had no chance but to go with it. So for the first night, we decided to pass on the five hundred protein bars we had left and fed in the Tomich Hotel's Restaurant.  Quite surprisingly the Hotel had a vegetarian menu, one we savagely attacked. From the point of full belly until next morning I ran a fever like Alice has never seen. Tha whole thing; shivers, a dozen runs to the WC, the proper thing. Again to the rescue, the Hotel came with a very nice heating system, as well as a nice working shower to start the second day. I should not forget the marvelous continental breakfast the following morning. Of wich, the scrambled eggs are still dearly missed (I've been trying to copy their softness until today, but with no relevant success).


Second day and we still had a few challenges to solve: 
- We were in Tomich;
- There was no way we would sit our sore behinds on the bicycles for another excruciating ride;
- We had a room booked for the night in Fort Augustus. For which we would be charged for in any case.
- We spent all of our day getting here and no time properly visiting.


Over breakfast, we figured we would ask the Hotel if we could leave the bikes back for a day. We figured it would be easier to go to Fort Augustus spend the night and come back for the bikes rather than try and convince every bus driver both ways.  Which would not be impossible, but highly improbable. Therefore, as we were checking out we decided to explain our predicament at the desk.


This would be a good time to explain that this specific part of Scotland is crawling with tourists during the summer time. But in the middle of winter, as we are, there are not many tourists to be found and the extra staff members also leave, to come back a few months later. So for now, the only people to be seen running the Hotel (Reception, Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast, Cleaning etc.) are the owners. The blessed couple that 14 years ago decided to buy the property and make it their life's project.


And again, it was the providence's will that this lovely, lovely couple would be struck by what I felt as a paternal overdrive. We could see that they were suffering almost as much as we were from having to leave, sick and not having seen much of Tomich. And in a matter of seconds, we had in our hands not only a discounted price to stay for another night ( for just a couple pounds more than the transportation down and back would have cost us) but also the phone number of an acquaintance who would take us and the bicycles the following morning to Inverness. Again, for roughly the same price as we would have paid on the bus. If we would have been able to convince the bus driver that is.

It took us a fraction of a second, a glance and a smile for us to say yes. I roughly recall we saying it a few dozen times. Almost as many as we said thank you. Just before we decided we could not thank them enough. And after a few awkward seconds, we went back to the room, unpacked and got on our way to the Ploda Falls. 


There's little to tell about the falls. They are beautiful and hidden in the middle of a forgotten Glen just a few miles from Tomich. We took a few pictures but none of them I think it makes any justice to the real size of the thing. We would have liked to go all the way down but the rain had made the path slippery and dangerous. We felt it would be highly ungrateful to disrespect all the luck we have been having so far. If luck we can call it. 

The rest of the day went smoothly. Still recovering and drowsy, we allowed ourselves a power nap and a try to the oldest version of the English version of Trivial Pursuit. A mistake we will not be repeating anytime soon. The extra time also allowed us to explore the rest of the Vegetarian Menu and elect a definite favourite: Vegetarian Madras Curry. Hand in hand with the White Chocolate Cheese Cake... drooling over the keyboard.

I will be short for the last part of it and just say that we promised to come back. Bought a couple postcards, dispatched the bikes and were taken to Inverness. Warm, grateful for all the hospitality and for all the extra miles these lovely people have gone for us. Thankful mostly for the idea we now have of how warm people can be in Scotland. The very best demonstration so far.

And for the couple hugs we got on the way out = )

Bernard and Jackie,
We can never thank you enough.