We spent our last few days in Scotland visiting the Isle of Skye. On the way there we stopped at the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. The Isle of Skye is a majestic place with mountain peaks towering over lochs and fields of
green grasses. There are very few trees on the island. It is unlike any place we
have ever hiked before. On our first day
we were there we hiked for nearly 9 hours. The trek ascended into the Culliens
and we hiked until we came to the ocean on the other side of the mountain
range. The wind was so strong at the top that we felt that we would nearly blow
right off the mountain. The next day we hiked the Fairy Pools; a trail along a
beautiful crystal clear blue stream cutting through fields of flowing green grasses with
waterfalls every few feet. To sleep each
night we pitched our tent on what appeared to be unoccupied land. In Scotland
it is legal to camp anywhere and we decided to take advantage of this. 
On our last day in Scotland we visited the Falkirk Wheel.
The wheel is a marvel of Scottish engineering, using principles discovered by
Archimedes. It allows 4 or more boats at a time to transfer between the Forth
and Clyde canals, lifting or lowering them 35 meters. The Wheel is the only one
of its kind and it takes approximately the amount of energy used by 8 electric
kettles to lift and lower tons of weight. 
The next day we left the safe haven of the garden walls and
ventured out to catch our train from to London. We ran into some difficulty
when the drop box at Enterprise was locked and we couldn’t drop off the keys
(even though we had been assured that we would be able to do so), causing us to miss our train.
We lost our nonrefundable tickets and ended up taking multiple taxi rides,
almost ran out of gas, spent the entire day driving in busy traffic, and the
list goes on. We were getting a taste of the inevitable stress we knew we would
need to endure at some point on this kind of trip. However, despite the stress
we were so inspired by several people in Edinburgh that went out of their way to
help us. Edinburgh has to be one of the friendliest cities in Europe. We just
found out that Enterprise is going to reimburse us for the extra day of car
rental, the fee to drop off in another location, our gas, and our taxi fare. I’m
not one to plug companies or organizations often but YAY Enterprise!
We were so relieved when we finally arrived in London. We stayed with Tony’s cousin’s Roger and his
lovely partner Simone in their beautiful flat from the 1830s. The first day, they
provided us with a very informative tour of most of the major sites in London. We
were particularly amazed by the Victorian architecture and of course the
vast history of the city. The next day we did a little sightseeing on our own and
ventured out to the annual Caribbean Carnivale. We had no idea that this event
would be going on while we were in London and also had no idea that second to
Rio, London has the biggest Carnivale in the world. It was quite the spectacle!
Dancing at a drum circle and meeting some very friendly Spanish and Portuguese
friends were the highlights of the festival for us. Each day that we were in
London we ate gourmet food which Roger prepared for us. We are feeling very
spoiled and so grateful for the hospitality. Now we are off to Paris where we
will be couchsurfing with a couple of Parisians. Last summer we had excellent
experiences with couchsurfing and we hope that the Parisians will be friendly
and hospitable.
We are about to move through the Chunnel soon and emerge in
the City of Light!
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