Our way home lay through Glencoe, a very beautiful gorge in the southwest. A glen, if I'm not mistaken, is a valley in Gaelic. I probably haven't mentioned it yet, but one of the languages in Scotland is — Gaelic, from the Celtic family of languages, of which only Irish is otherwise widely known. There aren't that many native speakers left, around seventy thousand, but their number is at least not falling. Measures are being taken, kind of like what we're doing with Latgalian, only more serious. Radio, TV, press and websites are published, road signs and pointers are duplicated, you can study it in schools, and so on. Even the police cars have TODO written on them. The language is beautiful, but a bit tricky for native English speakers. Stefan tried to pick it up, but stumbled when he realized that word order in a sentence can vary, and the meaning depends on the order. In Russian, basically, it's the same.
I also remembered that Stefan, aside from the TV show Outlander, often drew historical and mythical parallels with The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. A tiny part of the latter was filmed in Scotland. When the producers realized how much filming would cost, they bolted to Ireland in a flash for scenes with similar nature. I mention this mostly to clarify the following. Game of Thrones has already become a classic piece of pop culture. So much so that even the Indians, when Stefan asked if they remembered this or that scene or actors, chorused: «Yeeeah».
First thing we visited was the memorial to the soldiers of World War II. It's set up in a beautiful spot. When monuments are just scattered by the handful in cities, it comes out a bit boring, there are too many of them. But this way there's some variety, and more pathos, and an excuse to get out of the car. I approve.
Next, we ended up in the town of Fort William, famous for being where the multi-day West Highland Way hiking trail begins (or ends). I walked around there a bit, and when it was already time to leave, a short girl walking nearby in a knitted beanie and with a guitar asked what language I was speaking. I asked her to repeat out of surprise, then answered that it was Russian, but I'm from Latvia. I never tire of explaining and emphasizing this. Lately, I've been bending the truth a little, explaining that I speak three languages: Latvian, Russian, and English. This would certainly be true if I had ever used Latvian in my life at all, apart from communicating with Anita.
We exchanged a few phrases, and I found out the girl was a local, right from Glencoe, and upon learning that I was heading there, she invited me to a club for a concert by a good band. She has the guitar to write songs under the pseudonym Howdo bean. I didn't really get a chance to listen to them, so let's fix that together. Alas, just as I finally met a female specimen, it was immediately time to bounce. Unfair.
I barely had time to dash into the bus when a great downpour started, and it lasted exactly until our next stop. So yeah, no luck with the ladies, but with the weather — be my guest.
It really is terrifyingly beautiful in Glencoe, although they say the Isle of Skye is cooler, and up north there are places even more beautiful!
And that, basically, is how the tour to Inverness ended. This was on a Sunday evening. I walked 13km that day, and for the next day I firmly decided to go to a doctor, since my leg wasn't getting better.
Stefan is an excellent guide, and I'm glad we got him specifically. I don't have much experience, because I had only traveled with a guide in my life when I was a teenager — to Norway and Germany.
Dima here was saying, why have a guide if all the info is online or in books. I answer that human interaction is nicer, you can ask the guide questions. Garik added that a guide also presents summarized facts about what you see around you, or a historical squeeze of what's important and interesting, whereas in books you'd have to search for it yourself. All this turned out to be actually true. I haven't become a fan of tours, but I'm less convinced now that you always have to travel on your own. You can totally use a company if deadlines require it or if there are other reasons, and money permits.
How I dealt with British medicine, and how it ended, you will find out in the next part.