And so we find ourselves back on the Caledonian Sleeper, the battered and tired old coaches creeping their way back to London. It’s with rather a lot of sadness that we do this, we both fell somewhat in love with the Scottish small isles and would happily have stayed.
Something about a life with less drive to consume. With less of a need to be connected. All very romantic in the sunshine and no doubt bloody hard in the winter. Tempting none the less.
Having made it across on the ferry which was very long because, with only the exception of the first ferry journey, we’d somehow picked an inordinately long route that stopped in other places. Then down (well, across) on the train to Banavie, we popped out to grab food and ended up looking around the castle there.
We noodled around Banavie yesterday, mainly doing laundry but also checking out the local distillery. Sadly, whether or not it’s good whisky, the people seemed meh, and while the tour was interesting, by the end of it neither of us felt like they truly cared deeply about the drink they’re making. It more felt like ‘this is the way we have been doing it for years, so why change’.
Today we hopped on the bus and headed for Fort William where we (unsurprisingly) spent an inordinate amount of time in a book shop, and also took some time checking out the museum… And the whiskey shop (and yes, I’m more than aware of the inconsistency of thinking about a life that is based on less consumption, then promptly going and consuming. Who ever said it would be easy?).
We picked up some thought provoking reading matter and are headed down on the train to London… Where we were meant to be renting an EV. But… That fell though… So sadly we’ll be in a Prius. The best we could manage on our limited budget and without trekking hours out of our way (to the other side of London) to hire. Ask me why rental companies don’t hire EVs… I have no answer but it’s bloody irritating.
Feh.