When we landed in Aberdeen from Amsterdam, we thought it was the United Nations, not a plane terminal. We overheard many different languages. Aberdeen has a booming off-shore oil business and many of the jobs are held by immigrants. A lot of them fly home for the weekend or after a three-week shift, then return on a Sunday. Talk about crazy commutes!
We decided to splurge on a taxi to Buckie, about an hour's drive north.
Why are we here? Buckie is the start of the popular Speyside Walk, a hike, not surprisingly, along the Spey River. We will also pass some very famous whisky (not whiskey) distilleries, a fact that had a large part in determining which hike we picked. It's supposed to be pretty and not demanding. Just our speed, we all thought.
We knew that among all the phones our group owned, not one could adequately be used as a phone without bankrupting its owner. So we made the taxi driver stop at a Target-like store. We bought two cheap phones and added minutes to them. Only then did we find out that the store had been bought a while back by Wal-Mart! Wal-Mart? A very friendly young man who worked at the store helped us pick out the phones and get them started up. Sorry to be such ninnies, we said. No problem, he said, we get a lot of tourists, so I do this all the time. He was so nice that it didn't even seem that he wanted to add, And all tourists are ninnies anyway.
We wanted the phones because a lot of the time we will be in two groups, and we need a way to make sure we meet up every day. Otherwise, instead of Laurel & Hardy it probably would be a lot more like "The Titanic" as we tried to figure out where everyone was.
We were the first to the B&B at noon. Matt and Kathy were right behind, after a bus ride from Inverness. They have been in Scotland for a week already, so they're acclimated and have tips and tricks to share. Jessica straggled in at 6:00 p.m., after a road trip from Italy to France, a plane ride to Edinburgh, a train trip to Keith, and a taxi ride to Buckie. And now we are six.
Spring has finally come to this area of Scotland. It was a wee bit late, the taxi driver told us. Daffodils are still in fantastic bloom here and lambs are gamboling their tiny, fluffy selves all over the hills. Snow is still heavy on the hills. Brr. There was serious cloud-cover over the entire United Kingdom today. The young guy who helped us with our phones said he liked to go to Florida where it's warm on his vacation. He didn't need to add, So what the heck are you all doing in wet, windy, and cold Scotland on YOUR vacation, you crazy Americans, you?
I spent a couple of hours unpacking my suitcase, then packing my backpack and re-packing my suitcase. If I could have thought more clearly, maybe it wouldn't have taken a couple of hours to do this chore. There was a lot of thinking along the lines of: Where is my toothbrush; oh, there is my toothbrush; now, where is my toothbrush again? I'd pack the toothbrush on the right side of my bag, then look for it on the left side. I think that's why it took two hours. And I still can't find my toothbrush. (That's because it's now by the sink.)
After much jocularity and an over-abundance of food at a great Indian restaurant, we are now more than ready for bed. Am I excited about tomorrow's start? I'll let you know after I find my toothbrush.
An arty shot of Patty and Tom waiting for one of the many airport trains in Seattle and Amsterdam.
The Seattle airport had such cool artwork, including this pillar covered in mosaic.
My suitcase before, during, and after. I can't see much difference.
Some of us gathered at the starting point of the walk in anticipation of tomorrow.
We gather next to a confusion of arrows, pouring over a map and hoping tomorrow will bring clarity.
Much of Buckie is for sale, including an incredible old stone building (in the picture above of us gathered at the beginning point of the walk, it is the building behind). Here is an amazingly artistic fence. It fences in a large desolate, unartistic lot. What's up with that?
Forbidding waters. Next stop: the Arctic.
Of course, some of Buckie is very small-village pretty as only old British villages can be.
We hope this isn't an omen of things to come. We sent Matt on a scouting mission because we weren't sure how to get back to the main road from the shore. Matt reported a dead end.
What the heck is this? I guessed a "Beware of Train Smokestack" sign or "This Way to the Scientific Beaker." Apparently it is a highly graphic picture of a thistle and a clue to where the Speyside Walk leads.
Ladies, oh, ladies! (The blue sign above the archway says, "Ladies.") Here's a nice place for you all to meet and bring your huddled masses.
