ThanksTravel. Experiences. Travel Writing Prompt.

The Art of Quitting

Finding Gratitude in Disappointment.

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Sometimes (well, many times) when you are traveling, things don’t turn out the way you envisioned them. I had such great plans to visit some parts of Scotland and for the whole year before my journey I had even visualized myself there: The Isle of Skye, West Highland Way, Eilean Donan castle, the Jacobite Steam Train.

Well, the day before I left home, I sprained my ankle — BADLY. The first thing I thought as the initial pain subsided and I tried to get off the ground: “My HIKE!?!” I had trained all winter for it — I was up to carrying 20 pounds for almost 10 miles, for gosh sakes. I deserved that hike!

So, I changed my itinerary so that the hike was at the end of my stay in Scotland — just to give my ankle plenty of time to heal. It worked! By late July, ankle was strong… I was ready.

THEN… it was the rainiest July in many years in the UK. Cold rain and wind everywhere. AND… I had forgotten to consider that July/August is holiday time in Europe and the UK. It was about impossible to find any kind of affordable accommodation on Skye. Also, I learned that the West Highland way is a veritable highway in the summer.

So, I turned inward — or inland, actually. I looked to the heart of the Scottish Highlands where there might be less rain and fewer people, and found the lovely village of Pitlochry which is at the end of the Rob Roy long-distance trail.

I did a test day hike up to Loch a’Choire and was rewarded with such a lovely day and flowering-heathered hills that I scattered some of my daughter’s ashes at the wee loch where I had lunch.

It was still rainy, but I looked at the forecast and chose a few days to tackle part of the Rob Roy Way and set off.

In two days I was drenched and dried off six times. There were no great Highland vistas — just clouds, mist, fog, and the slosh of my wet shoes.

Near the end of the second day, I reached into my pack and found that the pants I had planned to wear to sleep in were DAMP! It would be a cold night.

I happened to be at a crossroads and there was a bus stop and a bus was coming in 40 minutes. I thought, “I’m not doing this to prove that I can… I am doing it to SEE the Highlands.” I bailed on the hike and tried not to cry.

Of course, about that time, the sun came out to tease me into continuing on. Sure enough, though, when the bus arrived, it began raining again — I had made the right decision. The next day, I made plans to move on to England after six weeks in Scotland.

I felt let down.

I wrote in my journal:

I did not see: The Isle of Skye Castle Eilean Donan The Knockando Woolen Mill Knitters on North Ronaldsay

But I should make a list of things I have done and seen that have been special:

• Collecting hintelagets and spinning them on Bressay Island
• Knitting with the women in Haddington
• Whiskey-tasting with Elspeth Berry
• Visiting the New Lanark Heritage Site
• Camping alone by the Falls of Leny
• Lots of kinds of ferries
• Managing at midnight in Kirkwall without a room
• Cream Tea at Victoria’s Vintage Tea Room in Unst
• Walking on the beach at Scapa
• Watching seals watch me on the beach of North Ronaldsay
• Taking a ride in a tiny plane
• Eating Cullen Skink
• Meeting Antje at the Yarn Cake
• Meeting Catherine Henry and her husband, the wool broker for Jamieson and Smith
• Riding REAL trains
• Making a cool hat out of Icelandic Lopi yarn that I bought in Reykjavik
• Sleeping near the Arctic Circle at the summer solstice and listening to birds singing all “night”
• Meeting my “almost boyfriend”
• Scattering Rachel’s ashes at Loch a Choire
• Seeing the places that inspired JK Rowling
• Photographing puffins

Okay, I was discouraged about not doing four things, but I listed 21 AMAZING things that I did experience.

On to England!

#unplannedadventure

I had planned to spend six months in Europe. Find out how this plan turned into two years and 3 continents at CathleensOdyssey.com.

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