Isle of Skye and Glasgow

I finished up my 3 day tour of the Isle of Skye last night. Probably the best part of my trip so far. Amazing scenery. Oddly touristy, yet not. Most everything is closed on Sundays. A few tours are operated from the town of Portree, but aside from that it's a very small village. We toured the northern and northwest peninsulas, even getting out to the most western point of the island and this fantastic walk to a lighthouse. A ton of steps though (thanks to the gym before I left it wasn't too difficult).

Today I'm in Glasgow. Found my hotel almost immediately thanks to some help from another passenger on the train. Without him I would've had a long walk. He pointed me to a bus that would take me within a block for free with my train ticket. Glasgow is less of a tourist trap and definitely busier. I think it's got about a million people - at least that's what one tour guide said. He also said it depends what area they include in the population so it could be less as well. Still, it's about the size of Edmonton or Calgary so it should be fine.

I'm a little homesick to be honest. You get kind of tired of hotels, hostels and restaurants. Although the hostels have been great. In Portree, I met sisters from Finland who are backpacking around Scotland, 2 girls from Spain and a girl from Australia who lives in Berlin. The 4 German men at the hostel had it all figured out and I was trying to figure out how to share in their huge, yummy looking breakfasts! Instead I visited the local bakery (so much for low carb) to pick up breakfast for under a pound.

I've sampled whiskey (dear god, I don't know what we buy in Canada but it tastes nothing like the stuff here!); seen mountain, prairie and sea; all manner of animals (sheep, highland coos, pheasant, horses, swans, heron, sea gulls, salmon, deer) and castles by the dozen. I can safely say that I love the country here, but not the city. And none of it makes me want to stay.