03.04.16 | Fort William, Scotland | 07:57

Good morning from Scotland! Last night didn’t go very well at all. There was this mad combination of having had that three-hour nap and being jet-lagged still, developing a cough, a snoring roommate, and having far too much on my brain. The result was that I wasn’t able to fall asleep until about 04:00. The only good news is that as I sit here typing this, my cough has seemed to die down, at least for now. I just drank another cup of Emergen-C and got ready to heat up some water for my ginger lemon tea. Or maybe it’s lemon ginger tea.

08:16

I’m wondering what the weather is going to be like today. My weather app on my iPhone is obviously lying to me. It tells me that it’s a sunny day in Fort William. It’s obviously not. My AccuWeather app tells me that it’s overcast and that the rain will start in approximately 18 minutes. And then I have a gal sitting near me on the next couch over telling me that according to blah blah blah, it’s supposed to be sunny soon.
If it ends up cold/windy/rainy today, then I should probably stay put. I was going to hike some trail, and with this cough thingy that I have going on, I don’t think that’s very wise. I think I’ll venture down to the town and find some breakfast and decide from there. It may be a day of hostel chilling.

09:47

One of the hostel mates, a guy named Andrew, from Aberdeen, Scotland, told me that the best place to get breakfast around here was at the train station. It was good but about as good as any full Scottish breakfast I’ve had thus far. However, this one was totally different because it came with half of a tomato and some kind of pancake-ish thingy.

12:59

It seemed like the weather was going to agree with that gal. The morning clouds had parted, and the sun came out. It was beautiful! Even though it was only 42° outside and very windy, I decided to hike a trail called The Cow Hill Circuit. This is a trail that was made initially by grazing cows on the hillside. It felt so good to breathe the fresh mountain air!

After walking for about an hour, it started to sprinkle. Looks like the Accuweather app was right, and the dumb girl who told me it wasn’t going to rain today was wrong. She went hiking, so I imagine she’s going to get soaked. On the way back, I stopped to take a look at the small graveyard around St Andrews Church in town. I wanted to see if I recognized any of the surnames from the names I’ve found as part of my Scottish genealogy. I didn’t recognize any, sadly.

I just sat down to a lovely tea. I’m so “U.K.” now! There’s coal in the fire (yes, they’re burning coal in the house), and I’m going to read.

19:25

Dinner tonight was at a freaking fantastic lochside restaurant called Crannoc Seafood Restaurant. The restaurant is on a dock, so you’re literally over the water. When I saw the place, I was worried that I wouldn’t get in without a reservation. The greeter told me it wouldn’t be a problem, and they took me to probably the best table in the room. I had a great view of the setting sun and the water!

I just got back to the hostel and am getting ready to indulge in my nightly chocolate ritual. The chocolate of the day is a Galaxy Ripple. I’m pretty sure I’ve had at least one of these in years passed, but I am looking forward to it.

Some of the Germans invited me out to have drinks. As much as I would love to go sip on water while they get drunk, I think I’ll have to pass for tonight. I’m already yawning and coughing up a lung-just like I did last night, so I look forward to a great night’s sleep tonight. That is if the snorer has gone.