From: Myranya Subject: Barefoot in Scotland Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:48:51 +0200 I just got back from ten days in Scotland, fully barefoot as always. First of all I flew into Glasgow, had no problems on the flight or anywhere (flying from Schiphol airport, Netherlands). I didn't hide my bare feet, but I wore a long skirt & full cloak (for other reasons -needed those clothes for the World Science Fiction convention and since it's a heavy, full-length velvet cloak it was much easier to wear than to carry, it needs about a whole bag by itself!) so I suppose my bare feet weren't *that* noticable. Still a lot of security people saw me and no one said anything, except one or two wondered if I didn't have cold feet -it is quite chilly for the time of the year with temperatures that don't even reach 20C/68F most days. Well, of course I answered I didn't wear shoes in winter either so no, I wasn't cold :) I was mostly concerned people might think I was hiding stuff under my cloak, in light of all the terrorist attacks & threats, so I made sure it didn't hang over the bags I carried, which it tends to do. Boarded just fine, I was very early (my mom tends to worry I miss my plane :)) and I was the only one in the waiting area when the security guards came to check us for boarding. At Glasgow we had to get off by stairs and take a bus to the terminal building instead of using one of the covered walkways, first time I'd ever done anything like that (I don't fly much and I'd only flown major airlines to large airports, was my first budget flight to a smaller airport), no problems however. Was sorta fun to see the plane that way. Then it was almost three hours before my bus to Drumnadrochit left, so I hung around Glasgow airport for quite a while, got something to eat and then sat outside in the sun (yes, it can be nice weather in Scotland :)) and finally the bus, CityLink, came. Boarded that, changed at Fort Williams, and finally got off at Drumnadrochit. Drumnadrochit is a touristy place right on Loch Ness, close to Urquhart Castle, where people have been searching for Nessie and where most reports of sightings come from. I had a room in the Clunebeg Loch Ness guesthouse, a small but very nice guesthouse a little under 1 km out of town (just a little over 1/2 mile). I'd definitely recommend it. Very friendly people, no problem with bare feet or anything, and neither did they have a problem or charge extra for me being alone, which the Lonely Planet guide book claims quite a few B&B's and guesthouses in the area do, in the summer season. The first evening it was already past seven when I arrived so I just put my bags up and then walked around just a little, found raspberry bushes along the path so I never made it any further than that :) The next day I walked into town in the morning, went to visit the Loch Ness 2000 Exhibition Centre, where they have a presentation about Loch Ness and the many ways they've looked for the monster. Then bought some souvenirs, ate lunch at the Loch Ness hotel, and took a boat trip with the Deepscan Cruises, leaving from the same hotel/exhibition place. It was a small boat, they take a small group of people and you go out for an hour trip, right near the castle. They have sonar and you can see how deep the loch is and also see some tiny dots that are small fish. Unfortunately no large blop indicating Nessie! Had dinner (my first haggis, great food, don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise!) at Cobbs Restaurant, then I walked out to Urquhart Castle, which was closing already but I got some nice pictures. Next morning I did quite a bit of hiking, first I walked up to Divach Falls, which are pretty close to Clunebeg's, then I walked back to Drumnadrochit by way of the Woodland Walks and climbed up to Craig Monie, an old iron age fort on top of one of the hills. It was quite a nice hike, even though it rained a little. It was almost three before I was back in town, ate at Cobbs again, then went to the castle so I could get in this time! Since it was already so late in the afternoon I took the bus out. I wandered all over the castle's visitor centre and then all over the castle itself. You could actually get all the way down to the Loch there -in most places you can not get all the way down to the water, since it's very, very steep right on the shore- and I walked around in the water for just a few moments, but before I knew it, it was closing time again. Went back to the hotel, and the next morning took the bus back to Glasgow. Had a longer wait at Fort Williams this time so I went into the cafe area of a grocery store, sat there for over an hour with just one can of drink, reading a book (I had bought sandwiches for lunch at the Drumnadrochit post office/small general store that morning) but they never complained either about my feet or my rather long stay for such a small purchase. In Glasgow I attended the 5-day World Science Fiction convention, did not do a lot of hiking, and while it was a lot of fun I don't think there was much that was interesting from a barefoot point of view. Walked into town one morning to buy some food from the grocery store -I was trying to keep the expenses down :) but other than that I just walked to the SECC (Scottisch Exhibition and Convention Centre) every morning, went to several panels and other program items in the SECC and the Moat House Hotel, did some volunteering mostly in the Artshow, and went back to the hotel (Travelodge Paisley Road) in the evening. Ate sandwiches and such but also went to the Drum & Monkey pub twice, good Scottisch 'pub' food (haggis, sausage, fish & chips etc) for little, and friendly service although the kitchen is small so once I had to wait for a bit while the cook tried to get caught up! This morning I flew back, we had to walk to the plane and board using the stairs again but apart from having to hike up my long skirts there was no problem. Never had any problem barefooting. Very few comments, although especially on the Glasgow streets I got a few remarks from passers-by, especially near the hotel. The Travelodge itself is quite nice, very friendly people and clean and all, but it's not in the best part of town... lot of closed businesses, construction sites and such... I walked to the SECC in the morning but I took a cab after dark! Still nothing really bad, I mean I often get comments like 'hey, wear some shoes!' and the like here in the Netherlands too. No one who told me to put on shoes and only a couple people who sorta warned me or expressed concern for a bit, either about the cold (sorta funny when you know I go barefoot all year round and built a snowman barefoot last March) or about stuff like glass or whatever, but when I said I'd gone barefoot for 8 1/2 years it was all okay. Even when I helped clean up after closing, in Artshow, where this involved not only taking down the art but also taking apart the plywood panels and iron pipe framework. Did a lot of lugging heavy stuff around, and I was glad to notice by that time no one thought it necessary to warn me about the hundreds of little plastic ties that were laying around (you know those tie-things you use to fasten stuff but that don't come loose, you have to cut them off). Of course they weren't a problem, but I think a lot of shoddies would worry about stuff like that. Scotland is not really a place for beginning barefooters though; the SECC was quite clean & had smooth floors, the city centre was pretty much okay but there was quite a bit of glass on the streets on the south side of the river, and also they have a pretty rough type of asphalt. Drumnadrochit, of course, had lots of rocky trails and also quite rough asphalt in many places, no glass but some thorny shrubs and thistles too. Although the old cemetary had softer and thicker grass than I'd ever walked on anywhere! I had no problem with any of this, I was glad to notice (and a little proud too :)) but those who just go barefoot at home & hiking on dirt trails may get sore feet pretty quick... Oh, one more thing, in Drumnadrochit there was one nice place to wade a small stream, all rock and pebbles, found that my first day out and of course I used it since, rather than walk around to the bridge! Myranya.