Beautiful Ben Ledi

I'm not sure why yet but many of the hills in Scotland are named Ben Something. Last weekend I hiked Ben Cleuch with the University of Stirling Mountaineering Club but this weekend was Ben Ledi.

We got a pretty early start, leaving from the downtown Stirling bus station at 8AM (which involved a 7:20AM bus for those of us on campus). After a forty minute bus ride from Stirling we arrived in Callander which neighbors Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. This may be recognizable to you if you have heard the folk song.

 

 On the hike up

To begin we were all covered in many layers to avoid the chill morning air. As we hiked up and the sun shone brighter layers were stripped off. Once at the top all the layers came on again as we stopped for lunch with no protection from the breezes. The wind wasn't nearly as bad today as it was last week but it was still there. The weather though was great! Not often there are sunny days without rain around here.

That's a decent lunch view

Another view from the peak of Ben Ledi

It's a good day when a mountain is conquered before lunch

A quick look back 

(Ben Ledi is off to the left, not really visible)

Hiking Scotland

Stirling is beautiful! Scotland is beautiful!

Now that I have my bearings pretty well set the weekends are beginning to fill up with adventures. Some of those adventures are organized with the new friends I have made while others are with the groups I have become a part of.

During our first week here several of us on the floor put together a bucket list. This list had various places to visit or things to do in the UK and Europe while we are here. Only a few of those things have been accomplished thus far but many will be in the coming weeks. One that we have accomplished is "Climb a motherf***ing mountain".

Other accomplishments include: "Draw a dragon on the bucket list" and "swim in the loch"

There have been two hikes up Dumyat Hill (our residential "mountain") made by the residents of our floor. There was much rejoicing had by all when we reached the peak and all of Stirling lay before us.

Success! The peak of Dumyat marked by the stone on the right. Stirling spread out below on my left. 

Hiking being such a great way to get out and about, get some exercise, and have fun I have joined the University of Stirling Mountaineering Club! They are a great group of students who enjoy hiking and climbing around Scotland. There are hikes most weekends and climbing excursions most Wednesdays. The climbing is mostly indoors at this time of year.  

On Sunday we hiked Ben Cleuch. We took a bus to the town of Tillicoultry about 15 minutes out of town, wound our way through town and then just headed up. Starting at the valleys between the hills the temperature was good and there were trees and shrubs. When walking along the ridges the wind was enough to unbalance us on occasion and make every layer necessary to keep warm. 

In the valleys...

Along the ridges...

  

Windy at the peak!

On Saturday I am going on another hike with the club. This one will be all day and about 9 miles round trip. I debated signing up for the longer hike but I worried about whether or not I was prepared. I will know more of where I rank as far as hiking preparedness after this weekend. 

Paralympics 2012

During the three day orientation I had in London a few weeks ago for GlobaLinks, the program I came here with, we had the opportunity to go to the Paralympics!

Street flags with the London Olympics symbol were decorated like participating countries' flags

One night we went to Olympic Park to see some of the Athletics (aka Track and Field) events. 

Events were interspersed with awards ceremonies. Most everyone decided to leave after the biggest events were done. I stayed until the last event - women's discus, was finished up for the evening. 

Olympic Stadium!

Me with my ticket outside the stadium!

On my way back to the hotel I got into two separate conversations with Londoners amazed that I was here. They couldn't believe I had come all the way from Seattle. I think they thought I was here for just the Paralympics. While the Olympics was very international the Paralympics was viewed by many Londoners as the better event to go to as it was cheaper and easier to get into. But still! I was quite surprised by their surprise. 

The next day we had a day pass to the Olympic Park which allows access to any spare seats in the buildings in sections that aren't prepaid. We wanted to see wheelchair rugby but it was too full. We watched football (soccer) instead. Caught the last half of Ukraine v I Don't Remember and then saw the first half of United States v. Great Britain! 

Team USA on the left aka Team Waldo

The stadium was packed with Team GB fans. The six of us from GlobaLinks were a small pocket of American pride among the GB horde. We sang the national anthem when it came on but there was only so much we could do. Not many Americans were around so it sounded very quiet. The British folks filled the stadium with sound as they sang God Save the Queen.