And We're Off… Scotland: David, Ellen and Yertle the caravan

We  had arranged through vacationrentals.com for an apartment in Edinburgh while living in Arequipa and we arrived, dragging two suitcases, two backpacks and two pieces of carry-on luggage in Edinburgh, all the while cursing the amount of stuff we had!  We loved our apartment which was right on the Royal Mile and next to a candy shop with friendly owners and a big bowl of help-yourself candy!  Even though the weather was rainy and the food was terrible, we loved the combination of old and new, city and country.  And the public transportation was great.  Here is a view from our apartment which should give you an idea of how quaint this city really is.  David loved it because they spoke English…sort of. And I loved the Scottish sense of humor…. and Arthur's seat, right in the middle of the city.

      

and the lovely Edinburgh Castle and the obligatory phone booths.

I couldn't resist this take on the U.S. Dollar Store!

We decided early on, that living in an apartment was too restrictive, and hauling two backpacks and two suitcases was too hard, So, we decided to change plans.  We a bought left hand drive car in England and a little caravan which we named Yertle (the turtle) and started our tour of the UK and Europe while waiting for our Peace Corps assignment.  After we picked up Yertle, attached him to the car and learned a little about driving a left hand drive car in a right hand drive country we were off to the Scottish Highlands.  My job was to flap my hand to the right and shriek "Stay on the right" every time we came to a round-about (very often) or turned a corner.  David did just fine and so far, after 3 months on the road we have only received 3 tickets, 2 for parking, 1 for driving!

So, off to the Highlands…what a wonderful place:  very much like Alaskan geography!  I really got a kick out of the "no snow" part of this dog sledding ad.  What are they thinking?

The scenery was just incredible and every day we went out hiking and touring around the many castles and churches. The weather was cold and not very sunny

 but great for photos!  

Our favorite islands were Harris and Lewis which were full of sheep, lots of wind and the famous Harris Tweed, which I don't particularly like but love the idea that it can only be made on Harris by cottage weavers!

 The island

is full of sheep because the farmers get a stipend for each sheep owned.  Apparently they don't do a whole lot with the sheep, but keep them for the stipend.  They mark ownership with paint splotches and apparently this guy got carried away.  We named his sheep the Sherbert Sheep. There were also the lovely Hairy Cows of the Highlands and these wicked

black goats!

 We stayed in a

crazy campground on Harris in a lovely setting but difficult to find and even more difficult to get to, around hairpin turns and down a steep driveway!  We crashed on the way out and broke the lens cap on Yertle! But lovely views

But it was the scenery that was just enchanting.

 

One of the great days was a visit to the Calanish Stones…same idea as Stonehenge, but absolutely deserted…and we were able to walk amongst the stones!  Great day.

 

We decided to leave because one night Yertle was almost blown away by fierce winds, so we packed up and took the ferry the next day (after camping overnight in the ferry parking lot) and headed for Glascow and then to Liverpool.

  s