Scotland begins!

May 2017

With an awkward gap of about two weeks between house-sits, I had decided to take a trip to Scotland - I wanted to see some lochs!!
Initially I planned to go alone, but after getting in touch with my old school friend Dani, her and I decided to go together for the first week, and then I would continue solo for the second.
Heading up on the train through the Yorkshire dales was a trip well worth it on its own, and to celebrate I bought a beer and some crisps, and felt rather like one of the Famous Five going on an adventure (except with beer instead of lemonade. And no smugglers.)















Seeing Yorkshire by train made me decide I would definitely have to return and explore, as the landscape was some of the prettiest I had seen in all of England so far.















I met with Dani that afternoon in Glasgow, from which we would be taking a train through the countryside to the seaside port of Oban, to catch a ferry the next day to the Isle of Mull. I only spent a few hours in Glasgow, so I suppose it isn't very fair to say I wasn't enamored with it, but I wasn't. It felt like a rather grey city, probably good for shopping and nightlife, but not for sites or history.
 Soon we were on the train to Oban however, and all was well! We spent the long train journey catching up and the views of Scotland had us gaping out the window, it was so gorgeous!
















Arriving in Oban, we were pleasantly surprised by the quite pretty port. We checked into our hostel with no problems, staying a place called 'Backpackers Plus' which I would highly recommend! The kitchen was large and well equipped, tea and coffee were free, and there were tonnes of comfy beanbags and sofas to hang out in! The beds weren't bad either.
Feeling like we should make the most of being by the seaside, we went to get the stereotypical fish and chips, and eat them on the wharf. Not being a fan of fish, I settled for spicy deep-fried prawns, which were surprisingly nice (the Scottish seem to have a special love for deep frying things). Of course being Britain, it began to drizzle as soon as we sat down to eat, but we persevered. 

In the morning we took a brisk walk up the hill to see the views overlooking Oban, and then an even brisker walk back down so we wouldn't miss our ferry to Mull!

Sheffield

May 2017

After my brief respite with friends, I headed to the town of Sheffield for a house-sit, and to search for a flat for September, as to my great excitement I had been accepted in the Masters of Science program in Osteoarchaeology at the University of Sheffield!
I was staying on the outskirts of Sheffield city centre, in a place called Meadowhall, looking after a gorgeous little cat called Poppy, who drooled incessantly and liked to jump up on the sofa back behind you and breathe down your neck. It was charming. She was super affectionate and lovely however, drooling aside.

I didn't spend much of my time actually enjoying the peace and quiet as almost every day I was flat-hunting and viewing prospective places. I did eventually find a flat after just over a week, which was excellent news! The second week of my stay the weather improved, and I spent most of it sunbathing and reading in the garden - there are worse ways to spend your time! The one trip I did take into the surrounding countryside was into the Peak district, the lovely national park surrounding Sheffield. The lady whose house I was looking after had a very kind daughter who took me out for a day trip to a place called Castleton, which was so pretty! It was a lovely, though windy day, and we went for an awesome hike into the hills.

















The landscape was windswept and dramatic, and very reminiscent of the countryside from Pride and Prejudice (little did I know that this was exactly the region in which it was filmed!) Sheffield itself felt like quite a grey city, but having these wonderful hikes on your doorstep sort of made up for it. I told myself I had to spend a good deal of time exploring it once I started university - if I could find the time!

















Looking just slightly puffed, here I am at the top of our hike!

















Rather than walk all the way back the way we had come, we decided to take a 'short cut' through some farmland, which actually worked better than expected and allowed us to bump into these adorably friendly dudes!

















Castleton itself was a gorgeous, quaint and quintessentially English town. It was also rather deserted so we wandered at will, enjoying the little river that ran through the heart of the town. Sadly I didn't see Mr. Darcy, though I was half expecting him to pop out from somewhere!

Our last stop for the day before heading back to Sheffield was to one of the many tunnels that riddle the Peak District, back from the mining days. We took a tour, which involved a long boat ride in narrow, flooded tunnels, while the boat driver mildly horrified us with stories of how quickly the tunnels flood when a storm hits. 

Day trip over, we returned to Sheffield, where I thanked my kind tour-guide of the day and went to feed poor Poppy, who came bounding over before I could even unlock the front door, clearly starved for attention!