Hiking through Scotland

Oh how I have mastered the art of getting my way! A very convenient thing to understand. It is an art. While visiting Edinburgh, Scotland with some of my very best friends, we decided to do what most people do not do in that city. We were there during their rainy and cold season. The weather was not ideal, but it sure made it interesting. One friend we were traveling with had heard there was a great hike in the city, Arthur’s Seat. In hindsight, it sounded like the hike had a great view, was not extremely difficult, and something very different to experience in Edinburgh. In reality, it was freezing, monsoon rain, and we would all much rather sit in a book store or the famous castle than stand outside and get soaked.

Except, I am the friend that is always game to do the craziest, most random things. I do the dumbest things, but I’m also FUN. I always want to be different and if hiking Arthur’s seat is something few people do, then of course I am there. So we put on our rain boots and our rain coats and started on what we thought was the path. It was a lot harder than we expected but we were not wimps and we could do hard things. The rain was coming down so hard that the mountain was not grass anymore, it was mud. We were slipping and sliding every which way. After a couple hours of not making much progress to what others said was “an incredible view” we stopped. We looked around at each other and broke out into the most gut-wrenching laughter. We were more than soaked, we were freezing, and annoyed about not finding the great view but it was too funny not to laugh. We started on our trek downward and it was muddy. We were slipping and sliding and not making progress. We would slide and grab onto a near plant or branch. We found it was easier to just prepare ourselves, sit down, and slide all the way down the mountain. While doing this, one of us peed our pants, two of us ripped our pants, and all of us had rashes. By the end of the hill, we realized the plants we were holding onto was poison ivy and our hands were swollen, bloody and itchy.

The moral of this story is to do the random things! Do the things that not many people have done. Don’t sit in the book store all day waiting for the rain to stop, because you could miss out on a lot of fun things. Do what is not comfortable. Brave the rain and the cold instead of sitting in a coffee shop. Most people probably have not ever heard of the hike we attempted, but we have the best story to tell. You will NEVER regret the sporadic, adventurous things you did when you were young and had the opportunity.