Argyll Forest Adventure!

I have always believed that I am blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. The hills of East Tennessee are always magnificent and I feel a certain peace and comfort when I return to them. However, I have visited many other gorgeous places: The Grand Canyon, the Tetons, the coast of Maine, Venice, the mountains of North Carolina, rice fields in Japan. I feel lucky to have seen all of these places, but I must say that the most breathtaking, gorgeous place I have ever been to is the Argyll forest.

My program planned this trip and so, blissfully, I was not in charge of anything but getting myself to the bus on Friday afternoon. We had about a three hour drive to the forest, and I decided to sleep the first part of it as I had already taken the drive to Glasgow a few weeks before. This was a good choice because the part of the trip past the Glasgow city limits was the scenic portion.

The bus driver got a bit lost, but I am glad he did! We ended up driving down this tiny road that we would have never gotten to see if he hadn't taken the wrong turn. It was so interesting to see the differences in the land. This little road, which I later learned is actually Emma Thompson's driveway, was through the forest and took us between two mountains, past sheep farms and by several small houses.

I am having trouble explaining what I saw so I think I am just going to have to talk about the land in comparisons and more as a whole than chronologically.

The land changes quickly here so there is not one way to describe it. Some parts remind me of the area near my Great Uncle's mountain house in North Carolina. There are fields that lead into mountains and little farms and houses dotted across the country side. However, there are distinct differences here. The land is greener, even in the winter. The trees are different too. The branches don't grow as predictably. The most shocking thing about the land is that the mountains seemingly have been placed on flat ground. The valleys are almost perfectly flat, but then suddenly the land shoots up for miles. This creates an odd feeling for me as I am used to rolling hills gradually getting taller into the mountains. I understand that land on the west coast looks a bit similar, but I have no comparison I am used to. You stand in the middle of a field and look in any direction and the mountains, each distinct, but close to others, is just...standing there.

When the driver finally got on the right road, we arrived at the Benmore activity center. The center is in a building that used to belong to a wealthy American and then a wealthy Scotsman from the Edinburgh area. The house, or should I call it a castle, is really interesting. It has been made into a hostel inside. The center owns a good portion of the land it is in and run activities, from hiking to high ropes to gorge climbing to kayaking, in the immediate area.

Friday night after dinner we went on a night hike. Basically, a guide took small groups of us out without flashlights to walk around the area. We did a few trust walks through woody areas with the help of a string. (There is a string tied to trees that you follow through the woods, and you talk to those in front and behind you about hazards.) I've done this a few times before, but it was fun and interesting as I had met most of the group only an hour before. Let's just say, it is a quick way to bond with people. At the end we walked up to an overlook area and looked across the valley. Even in the dark it was amazing. Little did I know that I would get an even better view the next morning. After a few rounds of Pictionary with some friends we went to get some sleep to be ready for a full Saturday.

We were assigned different activities without much input from our part. (I did request not to go caving as I am a bit claustrophobic.) When we were given our groups I was originally not particularly thrilled. My group went hiking and mountain biking. Having always enjoyed the outdoors and 13 years of Girl Scouts I felt a bit like I had gotten the "boring" activities. I like hiking and enjoy a nice bike ride, but I love high adventure! The gorge climbing sounded intense. They basically climbed waterfalls and up the side of a gorge. The high ropes looked fun and like fun activity. The kayaking would have been fun as I love boating, and repelling and climbing was always one of my favorite activities in scouts. Hiking and biking? I felt like I had done that countless times. Thankfully, I underestimated the experiences.

After breakfast and a cup of tea, we met with our groups to go on our first adventure. Our guide, Liz, was great! She knew about the area and was also just really easy to talk to as well. She took us to one of her favorite hikes. The trail is called Puck's Glen, and I could instantly tell why. If there is any real place on earth that Puck could find love-in-idleness it would have been there. I am also convinced that Middle Earth and Narnia are similar to the land of Scotland.
The view from the top of the glen was also amazing. We were not at the highest point on the mountain, but we could see across the valley to the other mountains. We stopped and had a cup of hot chocolate and then carried on up the glen path.

After winding our way back down the mountain we made our way back to the house for lunch. The afternoon was a bit more intense. We got geared up to go mountain biking! First we headed to a skills course out in the side yard of the house. We rode around a few loops to try to get used to a bit bumpier ground and steeper hills. When then tried a couple of balance beams and sea-saws. This was not my forte to be sure, but was a challenge none the less. We took a short ride across the valley to a few steeper, more wooded areas. It was fun, but probably not something I would enjoy doing all the time. My favorite part was later when we took a more leisurely bike up a small hill and then down to a creek. It was pretty to go through some different land and see some more of the area. When we got to the creek we had to cross through the water! This was maybe my favorite part of the bike trip, to be honest. Though a bit chilly at first, it reminded me of all the times I have gone wading in my uncle's stream (or wet launching for my crew friends). After biking back to camp we got showered, had some tea (I wholeheartedly agree with this custom, by the way) and caught up with our friends in other groups who had done different activities.

After dinner we all got together to watch Braveheart. Cheesy, I know, but for some reason, however inaccurate the film is, everyone here wants to show it to us. After watching it for the second time this semester (and I doubt if it will be the last) we hung around the house discussing everything from movies we had seen to the day's activities. A few rounds of ping-pong later we were off to bed.

Sunday was much less of an adventure. After breakfast and getting packed up we took the long and more scenic route back around Loch Lomond. The views out of the coach were beautiful! We were driving though the mountains, around lochs and past lots of sheep and even a field of highland cows!

It was a wonderful weekend, something I am sure I will remember for the rest of my life.