Reflections from Scotland

Enjoying the dramatic scenery of Scotland

Less than a week after our long bus ride to the rainforest, driving over a landslip and through dangerous countryside where the FCO advises you don't travel due to the drug cartels that operate there, and we were missing it...

Driving over a landslip, seeing where the previous road had collapsed, didn't fill us with confidence 

We were en route to Scotland for the last week of our four month career break. We'd been travelling for days - our first flight ended up being delayed by 24 hours, which is a little frustrating after getting up pre-dawn. The resultant delay meant we had flights on the next two consecutive nights; albeit with a pleasant interlude in Houston. A train to Evesham followed our arrival at Heathrow, to pick up Pandy (our Fiat Panda) from my parents, and then a drive to Derby to collect our stuff for Scotland. After finally getting to Derby, Pandy's hand brake cable snapped... cue checking whether a hand brake is really necessary. Apparently it is! 20 phone calls later and we'd found a garage to look at the car in the morning and our lovely friend Michelle kindly said we could stay at hers. 

Rhys optimistically set off next morning, only for the garage to have no recollection of the previous evening's exchange. A hire car it is then. Scrabbling round to find a credit card and license, we were dismayed to find they couldn't add me (Mary) without mine. Not to worry, you can add them at any Europcar location. A 30 minute detour to Darlington to get to a late opening Europcar... and it's closed. Thanks Google Maps. This is turning into quite the saga - take us back to being driven through Ecuador, we thought!

On our long journey, entirely driven by Rhys (thank you!) We had plenty of time to reflect on our trip to Ecuador, and our time off work as a whole. We concluded:

- Ecuador is an incredibly beautiful country and one of its major attractions is its diversity. It's home to the Galapagos islands, Amazon rainforest and Andean mountains, and you can travel fairly short distances to get between them. This makes it a pretty perfect destination for a tourist. 
- a downside, however, was that safety was often on our minds, particularly in large cities; we didn't feel unsafe as such, partly because we were cautious, but we were often wary. This was fuelled by what we'd read online, but also the warnings we had from police officers and locals about the risk of muggings. It was hard to know how dangerous it was, but it was something we were often alert to, which meant we sometimes couldn't fully relax. Sorry to our families who may have worried about us!
- the other less positive aspect was the rather poor air quality. This was through a combination of old cars, high altitide and lots of chugging up steep hills. This meant that whilst we could be in a beautiful place, it didn't always feel as fresh as we'd like.
- having some time away from work is fantastic. Sometimes it can feel like you're on a hamster wheel and weeks pass by in the blink of an eye. Travelling took us off the wheel and gave us a taste of adventure. We met some people who were travelling for years. We don't think it's for us - there is something nice about having your own space and meaningful connections! Besides, we actually love the British countryside! But it was certainly v welcome having some time to travel.

Our week in Scotland was just what we needed to adjust back into UK life. It took us a little while for our body clocks to reset to UK time; getting up before 8am was very challenging, despite my ambitions for a daily early morning swim. The weather was pretty changeable, with the threat of storm Agnes at the end of the week. This offered a lovely excuse to curl up in front of the fire with a Yorkshire tea (gosh, it's good to have a proper brew again), listening to the waves from the sea loch crashing against the rocks. 


During the better weather windows we bagged a couple of monros (Scottish mountains above 3000ft), tried to find our running legs again after spending two months on bikes, and went on some strolls with my family. We braved the loch a few times, though admittedly only once sans wetsuit. It was lovely to stay in one place for a week and we very relaxed. 


It was the perfect way to finish our career break. Thanks for reading our blog! And a huge thanks to all of our lovely friends and family who have helped us so much! From welcoming us when we've come home, to unexpected nights stays, and watering our house plants. The best thing about being home is definitely seeing everyone again. 

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