Day Four: Monday

On Monday, we embarked upon a grand adventure through the wilds of Scotland. Okay, not really. We went hill walking. Now, before someone asks, one hill walks by driving to a hill and then walking around on it, usually up to the top and then down again. Not just any hill, mind you, there are hills specifically designated for hill walks. So if you're just walking along the street and it happens to go uphill, sorry, you aren't hill walking.

Okay, now that we have that cleared up... Charlie asked us on Sunday if we'd like to go on a hill walk, and since we had, indeed, planned on doing so, we were happy to agree to go along. I have no idea what the place we went to is called, because I didn't write it down or anything. And it wasn't a hard climb, but for us who live in a very flat city, it was strenuous enough. We had a very nice view of Loch Lomond as we went up, and we have bunches of pictures of it, although since Photobucket is not cooperating at the moment, I haven't posted any of them. It was a cloudy day with just a bit of sprinkling rain now and then, but it looked beautiful with the sun almost shining through in one direction, and darker clouds on the other end of the sky. I hadn't been hill walking in six years, so I'd forgotten the feeling of going up a path-- you think the next turning leads to the top, only to get round it and seen an even higher bit of hill above you. It's actually quite funny in that way, because you wonder how the higher bit of the hill was hiding.

The trip to and from the hill was not so nice for me. I have never done well on the Scottish roads, winding round as they do, not to mention the continual up and down. I didn't take any carsickness medicine, which admittedly was a mistake, but on the other hand I didn't want to be drowsy while climbing. So I took pictures for the first part of the journey, but had to keep my eyes closed after a while. Coming back was even worse-- I felt ill almost right away. This is why trains are my preferred method of travel around Scotland, because the track builders kept the twists and turns to a minimum and it's more or less a straight shot to anywhere-- at least, it feels like it, which is the important part.

Monday evening we visited with Richard and Sharon and their daughters. Along the way to the house, we were reminded of one of Castlemilk's biggest problems-- children with nothing to do. In this instance they were teens, actually. There was a group of them standing outside, making cheeky comments about everyone who went by, and in between amusing themselves by throwing pebbles at people's windows. I don't know what the solution to this problem is, but I hope one can be found. Or at least tried.