Motivational t-towels, & 50p Rich Tea biscuits

I returned from a break in Scotland to find that everything had changed. Well. Perhaps not everything. But certainly the laundry system had been revolutionised. I wasn't used to a life of such advancement and luxury. Although, to be fair, sleeping in the back of a van and waking up to nothing at all but the most incredible sunrise is just about as luxurious as you can get. Plus, when there is no one else around to smell you, the need for a shower doesn't seem so pressing. The weather was decidedly un-Scottish, and there were other unforeseen joys such as a 50p packet of Rich Tea biscuits from the Spar shop in Scourie (the seagulls were complimentary). I pulled over one day to take a photo of Quinag, and before I knew it I was walking up it. I met a lady on the summit who, I found out, plays badminton around the corner from my mum's. Any notion of it being a small world was soon dispelled when I then met a couple from California who I had absolutely no previous connection to at all. It seemed to be a week characterised by meeting interesting people, and then going through long periods of seeing no one at all. The north west coast of Scotland is stunningly beautiful, raw, exposed, and an utterly terrible landscape for when you're outside and need the loo. Where's a bloody tree when you need one?!   

I was able to pick up the odd bit of phone signal and internet while I was away. This was rather lucky as I had a message from Rachel asking if it was ever acceptable to buy underwear for your work colleague. I think this was merely an afterthought though, as she had already purchased me a pair of Where's Wally? knickers (with a pirate ship theme). It was really quite tempting to abandon my holiday right there and rush straight back to Eskdake.  But, alas, I still hadn't found a suitable addition to the hostel's motivational t-towel collection (without which I reckoned they wouldn't let me back in the door). The week before, Rachel had been telling us all of her vision; a cupboard full of t-towels from all over the world. Mick had fully got on board with this, and decided that it would be a good way to inspire the workforce (and even better if they were educational). It was even declared to all the hostels across the North, that Eskdale staff were currently being motivated by place names of the Cotswolds. I have warned him however that this initiative could well backfire and cause serious in-hostel fighting - because no one is going to want to do anything other than the drying up anymore. 

The weather started to turn on the west coast, so I packed up and headed east -to Aviemore to visit family. I still slept in my van (through choice), but it was lovely to spend the evenings indoors and witness arguments as to who was the most deserving of Jarlsberg cheese. It has become a home from home for me there, and as such it was no surprise that I had the best nights sleep of the week up by Loch Morlich. It took me a while to realise that I was in a van when I woke up, and I got madly excited when a load of pine needles blew into my bowl of breakfast cereal. It was back to Eskdale not long after that, via many service stations (I'd drunk a lot of tea) and Gretna Green to get a couple of t-towels.