DavTravels

Scotland 5: Day 9

03.09.16 | 07:45 | Colonsay Flat

I tried to sleep in this morning. When my body was fully awake, I read a bit in bed. Nope, not being lazy. As much as I want to go wander, I need to make sure I’m wandering in the right direction. My wanderings need to involve food, and I don’t want to take off in the wrong direction. I’ve learned to not rely on Google maps as much as I once had.

Buyer beware: This is a nice little apartment on the third floor (or the second floor if you’re from the UK) which is very clean. The kicker: I have no internet access (!). Also, there is no shower, not that I mind taking a bath. I thought it may be great and relaxing to soak in the tub for a few minutes. The hot water happened to run out before the the tub was even a quarter of the way full. So I did a puddle bath if that’s a thing. That’s where you sit in a puddle naked and slosh the water up on yourself. I may be inventing a new term now.

I’m crossing my fingers that the office here opens at 08:00 and not 09:00 so they can point me in the right direction. I need to pick up some food. Even though I did have hot chocolate and herbal tea for dinner last night, I need something that is going to stick with me a little better. I can’t wait to get out and take some pictures. I’ll head down there in a few minutes, as soon as my breakfast has been sipped.

12:00

I walked downstairs to find out about the internet situation. The lady told me that there is a connection but it’s very week in the flats. I guess it doesn’t help that I’m up on the third floor either. I ran back up to grab my laptop. She let me sit at a table in the office so that I could check my email, etc.  Next, I set out to find the local shop to get some food. By this point, I was feeling pretty week. Herbal tea doesn’t really provide the needed nutrients energy. I took a few pictures on the walk to prove that Colonsay does indeed have vegetation.

A sheep-selfie or “sheepie” for short.

I wasn’t on the road very long when a nice man pulled up behind me and offered me a ride. He happened to be going to the general store as well. He had to be 85 years old! His name is Walter. I asked him if he was originally from the island and he told that he wasn’t, but so far, he’s been here for 58 years! He used to be a cattle farmer but when his wife passed away 6 years ago, he decided to simplify his life and he got rid off all the cattle. Now it’s just him and his dog. He has two grown kids who come to visit him from time to time.

I spent about 15 pounds at the store. Things are much more expensive here- even for Scotland. I guess you can get away with that when you’re the only store on the entire island! I just ate a couple sandwiches and I think I’m going to nap for a bit.

This is downtown Colonsay. Not really a thriving metropolis.

As you can see, today’s chocolate offering is a bit larger. This is because I have been hiking around so far with so much weight on my back. I deserve this!

Part of me hates to waste the little time I have on Colonsay because it’s so short. On yesterday’s walk I did get a bit of a blister on the back of my foot. Think I’ll have a quick nap. Hopefully this food will give me some energy and I’ll be able to go hike around. Walter told me I should hike to… somewhere north of here. To be honest, I couldn’t really understand most of the words he said with is deep accent. I’ll go for a walk and see what I can see.

16:40

I took my nap and I know I was out for at least an hour- maybe and hour-and-a-half. When I awoke, it seems that the power was out. It didn’t matter which switch I would try to turn on, there was no reaction. On my way to go for a walk, I mentioned this to the managers and they told me that they had to limit the power because some people would leave their heaters on all day, with the window open and this would end up costing them so much money.

I get that, but what about those of us who left the heater on on purpose because the apartment is so cold upon arrival that I can see my own breath? So one of the guys had to come up to reset the electricity and now I get to go downstairs and pay them some more money. What would make this work would be if I could see the actual use and know when it was going to run out or expire. So then I could decide for myself if I wanted to leave the heater on, pay the extra money, and not freeze to death in the night.

My walk was only about a half an hour and I was on Kiloran Beach. Beautiful! And beautiful cows too! I stayed on the beach for about 20 minutes and then the rain was starting again. I could tell it was going to pour down, so I started back to the flat.