Wild Weather

It's been awhile... both my brother and I feel like we were away for three years not three and a half weeks! It was kind of cool here in London, ON while we were away and we didn't feel much heat while in Scotland - the warmest days were the last couple we spent in Glasgow when it reached 15c. Now it's +21c in Scotland!!! That's ok, though, I didn't pack any shorts!

However, now that we're back we are getting another blast of summer heat and humidity. I've been out on my bike, the sun has been shining, the temps with humidity taken into account are up into the +30c range again and I've been taking Lily outside to the patio so she can check for mice - so far so good!

But now both Scotland and parts of the U.S. are experiencing some very wild weather with the potential for great damage and loss of life. Fellow blogger McVal let me know about the flooding in Oban, Scotland. We stayed in Oban for six days and while there was some light rain (more like mist) we had moved on by the time the torrential rains, flooding and rockfalls began. 

And now Hurricane Michael is battering the southern states while many people haven't yet recovered from Hurricane Florence! When will it end? 

After spending time in Scotland I now understand (FULLY AND COMPLETELY) how they say a person can experience all four seasons in one day! The fall colours are way ahead there and there's not a single midge to be seen, or felt!, snow can be seen on the peaks of the Munros and far below I can see my breath. Gentle rain can fall several times a day interrupted frequently by warm sunshine which made my rain gear steam and my clothing get soaked by sweat. I was glad we had a car as we had to carry a lot of gear and extra clothing. My boots were waterproof thanks to rubbing wax into them daily - that stuff really works! My gore-tex raincoat was also waterproof (on the outside) but underneath made me sweat profusely - I'm sure the 2.5 lbs I lost while away are directly contributable to sweating so much. Oh the price we pay to lose weight!

Village of Dollar

Our first bnb was in the lovely village of Dollar, not too far from Stirling. After landing at Glasgow airport my brother and I took a train to Stirling where we picked up the rental car. (More on that later - my adventures of driving in Scotland deserves its own post!!)

While in Dollar (seen above) we hiked through Dollar Glen and climbed our way up to Campbell Castle. Our ancestry includes the Campbells so I was excited to see the castle.

Dollar Glen

Campbell Castle

Campbell Castle

Looking out over the Village of Dollar

Dollar Glen

I hope to spend the next few days getting caught up with blog reading and writing. I'm also sorting through my photos and deleting the blurry ones. I took a LOT of photos so need to delete the duplicates and focus on the best ones.

Talk about a winter project!