07 April 2007

A Sterling trip to Stirling


Its been a while since my last post, and people have been enquiring about when the next one will come about. I`ve been busy for a while now trying to find a balance between work and play...but lately work seems to have taken over and its been many an extended day at the lab. Thus it was high time I took some time off from work and seriously relaxed my nerves...and what better time to do it than Easter holidays.
The university comes to a standstill during these 5 days , the students have their spring break, the staff take holidays and everybody disappears.
While the weather in England has looked promising, my cousin Josi has been bragging about how it was totally amazing in Scotland. So, I decided to head up all the way into Scotland to spend the holidays with him in Stirling.
It took me a 11 hour bus journey throughout the night, in a coach packed with holiday travellers but eventually I made it to Stirling half asleep, but in one piece.
On reaching ..we decided to make the most of what looked like a cloudy sunshine and do some cycling. Josi , as you would know from some of my earlier posts is a cycling enthusiast, always up for an opportunity to head down what looks to me to be a 90 degree slope , without paying too much thought to the fact that there are 206 fragile bones in our body just waiting to be broken! I had no choice but to follow his lead!
Josi lives in an amazingly scenic locale in Scotland..surrounded by woods , hills , and streams, and there seemed to be no shortage of choices when it came to choosing a place to go, but considering my overnight journey, we decided to opt for a light route which would take us through some amazing views while also giving us a taste of mountain biking.
I must admit that inspite of my tired body , my mind was woken up by the breathtaking scenery along the way. We cycled up to a quarry and onto a vantage point which gave amazing views all around. finally we headed into the mountain tracks to involve in a bit of proper mountain riding.
That night there was little more that our tired bodies could do than a little bit of partying with Josi`s housemates. However, when we did manage to wake up sometime the next afternoon, there was more plans..this time to trek up a hill called as Dumyat. One can see the hill from most anywhere in Stirling and I could clearly see that it was the tallest point around there! The day was as sunny as one gets around here and so there was little to complain.
As we neared the base of the hill,the peak looked incredibly close and made me think we`d get there in a jiffy. We walked past loads of sheep folds, up and down gulleys , in and around little swamps, but the more we walked the summit only seemed to be getting further away!
After what seemed like ages we finally did turn around a corner and come face to face with a huge beacon which marked the summit. In credibly, just as we reached the summit, the winds picked up making it quite difficult to stay there. ..reminding me very much of a previous trek to the summit of mount snowdon.
On the way back we took another scenic route leading us past the university of Stirling to finally make it home on almost four legs....I was totally famished and had to retire early from that nights celebrations ! Infact we were so exhausted that we had to take the whole of the next day off to recover and rest!
As we lost a whole day, our original plans to do a mega cycling trip had to be put on hold, and we settled for a shorter one for the last day. This one was along a path called Darn walk; a path that is thought to have been in use since the roman times. This path is also have thought to have inspired the writing of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, "Kidnapped". A small cave along the path is also a prominent part of the novel.
I must say that the scenery along the path took me right back to the childhood memories of similar places in India. For a while I forgot we were in a cold and damp country and was transported to another time and place! Although I was soon brought back to my senses with an incredibly steep climb followed by a never ending path homewards I did enjoy the path a lot. The video below covers a fair amount of our trip along with some tricky mountain biking by josi.

As all good things do, my holiday finally did come to an end and It was soon time for me to take another wickedly long bus journey back to Bristol, but I must say that was a really good holiday that I had at Stirling with Josi;Although, it was so incredibly tiring that I think I have to take another holiday to recover from this holiday!


P.S. :
photographs can be accessed at this link : Yahoo Photos

2 comments:

  1. great and timely description of a well enjoyed holiday. keep them coming thoma

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  2. wow...u seem to have had a great time at scotland..quite tirin too, i would presume!
    the scenic drives would have been quite refeshing, wouldnt it?
    lovely pics, ur flowin hair looks cool! ..the video featuring 'stuntman Jos'(;)) was awesome! fella knows no fear!
    guess i should drop in, on my way home next time.

    take care, Dan

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