Learning About Learning

A short video discussing the ways in which Verdant Works and the Forth Bridge information center address their subjects in a way that is relevant to their audiences:

So much Scotland, so little time

In the past week I have spent much of my time traveling, I traveled over 500 miles, spent nights in 4 different cities, and hiked to the tallest point in the UK. Most of my travel was done by train supplemented by a couple bus rides. Below is a roughly mapped outline of my travels.

Map of my travel from 6/28/14-7/3/14 (from Google maps)

I started my adventure in Dundee early on Saturday morning, I rode the train from Dundee to Inverness switching at Perth. I headed straight to the bus station and caught a bus to Urquhart, a ruined castle on the shores of Loch Ness. The castle was fantastic, and has a very rich history, but the site was a bit too touristy for my taste. Unless historical importance and a stocked gift shop are what you are looking for, I would recommend the ruined Dunnottar castle, near Aberdeen, a less crowded alternative.

Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness, taken from "Taylor Dundee"

After a 30 minute bus ride back to Inverness the clouds broke, revealing some much appreciated sun. While strolling around Inverness I found an hole in the wall book shop that was incredible, shelves everywhere, books from floor to ceiling on any subject imaginable, and of course that overwhelming smell of old pages. Then I walked along the banks of the river ness soaking up the evening sunlight before grabbing a bite to eat and heading to the Inverness Student Hostel. This place was awesome, it wasn't big or fancy but it had energy, the common room was filled with people from all over the world happy to mingle and share their experiences.

In the morning I made a quick breakfast and headed to the bus station for a ride to Fort William. Even the bus ride was beautiful, but it was just a precursor to the glorious day Scotland had in store for me. I got of the bus in Fort William and walked about a half hour to the start of the path up Ben Nevis. As I started the hike up I could tell it was going to be an amazing day, the sun was beaming through the clouds, and there was plenty of blue sky. The hike began weaving through fields of grazing sheep before cutting up the first steep hill.  

Sheep Grazing just off the mountain path (photo credit author)

After about an hour of steep rocky trails I came to a valley between Ben Nevis and an adjacent hill, here there was a picturesque lake and a much needed reprieve from the strenuous incline.

Beautiful Loch Meall an t-Suidhe, AKA the halfway lochen (photo credit author)

This is where the Carn Mor Dearg Arete path split from the mountain path, I took the less traveled Carn Mor Dearg route around the north face of the mountain. Though it is the more difficult ascent this path gives much better views.

North Face of Ben Nevis (photo credit author)

 Although the path was nearly empty I did pass a couple on Carn Mor Dearg who took a photo of me with the impressive north face of Ben Nevis in the background.

Me and "The Ben" (photo credit anonymous hiker)

Panoramic view from the Carn Mor Dearg arete with "The Ben" on the right (photo credit author)  

 After traversing the exposed ridge and making the final push up the steep talus field I made it to the summit. Standing at the top, the highest point in the UK, gives you the feeling you are on top of the world. The surrounding mountains, glens, and lochs make for stunning panoramic views.

Looking south from the summit (photo credit author)

I took a lunch break on the summit enjoying the spectacular views until I could motivate myself to start the knee-jarring, back breaking, 1344 meter descent down the mountain path. In all the hike was a 12 mile loop that gave me some of the most spectacular views of my life.

I stayed the night in the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, a higher end hostel near the Glen Nevis visitor center. In the morning I did a short hike that took me back to Fort William, where I caught a train back to Dundee. Even though I was tired there was no way I was going to fall asleep on that train ride. I continued to be mesmerized by the countryside throughout the entire 6+ hour train ride. We traveled through some bleak moorlands that had a haunting beauty, my chest still tightens when i think about them. When i finally arrived in Dundee I was pooped, but I had no reprieve as I was leaving for Edinburgh the next day.

Edinburgh is a bustling tourist mecca, but that made the stay there no less enjoyable, the first evening we walked up and down the royal mile, and stopped to eat at a fantastic burger joint called Burgers and Beer. Then we went to an awesome outdoor bar area to watch the USA vs. Belgium World Cup match, there was a huge outdoor screen that they were showing the game on, the place was packed with other USA fans, the atmosphere was perfect, and the match was thrilling, unfortunately USA didn't come out on top. After the game we called it a night and crashed at our hostel.

The crowd watching the football match (photo credit author)

On Wednesday we had a class tour at the Forth Replacement Crossing Education Center, the presentation was very interesting and I learned a lot about the progression of Forth crossings. From small stone bridges 30 miles upstream from Edinburgh to the massive steel rail bridge and the cable stay bridge currently under construction. We then got to walk out on the existing road bridge to get a better view of  impressive bridges.

The beginnings of a new bridge (photo credit author) 

The red Forth bridge in the backround (photo credit author)

After the tour much of the class joined me at Arcade Haggis and Whiskey, a small restaurant with highly reviewed haggis. I ordered the classic haggis served with neeps and tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), It was served in a beautiful tower with potatoes on bottom followed by beats then haggis. The dish was delicious, the haggis was flavorful and moist, and the turnips and potatoes complimented it nicely. After our adventurous dinner we explored downtown Edinburgh for a couple more hours before heading back to the hostel.

Delicious haggis (photo credit author)

Our final day in Edinburgh started by exploring the past in the National archives. We got to hold and read some documents relating to the forth bridge and the Forth to Clyde canal. It was crazy being able to touch such old documents, newspaper clippings from the early 1800’s, proposals from the 1700’s, and original invitations to the forth bridge opening. After our research in the national archives was complete I did the short but steep hike up to Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano looming over Edinburgh, got some great views of the city from the windy peak. Finally I caught a train back to Dundee, ending my busy week.

Trains of Thought

In the States, train travel is sometimes disregarded as the slowest and most boring way of getting from one place to another. A traveler might, for example, board Amtrak's Empire Builder in Chicago with nothing to look forward to for the next thirty two hours but the prospect of staring out the window at the cold and frozen expanse that is North Dakota and Eastern Montana until they finally pull into Whitefish, Montana bleary-eyed and half mad from the whole mind-numbing experience. The urge to go to sleep and lie comatose for the duration of the ride outweighs the novelty of the situation by an order of magnitude. This was my opinion of train travel for years, and as such was not looking forward to the plethora of train trips, both long and short, that this adventure would entail.

Now at the halfway point in this journey, I realize my opinion of train travel had been tainted by my one experience on American trains (the terminally dull trek described above) and I must revise my opinions on the subject. Last weekend I had the opportunity to make my way down to Nottingham, England. While this trip could have been made in a fraction of the time had I chosen to travel by air, the cost would have been far outside my travel budget, and I had yet to use any of my fifteen travel days on my Britrail train pass for a recreational excursion, so I sat down and planned out the route I would need to take to get to Nottingham at a reasonable hour. It would be a six hour trip, and if I caught the 6:32 AM train from Dundee I could get there with only one transfer. The early morning departure and lengthy transit time were unexpected, but I reminded myself that this was really the only way I would be able to go anywhere outside Dundee, and so gritted my teeth and committed to the early morning call at Dundee station.

The morning of my departure, I was struck with all manner of concerns: What if I miss the train? What if my pass doesn't work? How can I sit still for six hours? Fortunately, these worries evaporated as soon as I boarded the train and staked a claim on a window seat. As the train pulled away from the platform, I was suddenly struck by how ordinary this all seemed to the other passengers. Trains are not a novelty here; they are a way of life. To everyone else, this was ordinary. I calmed then, suddenly confident in their trust of this mode of travel, and settled in for the six hour ride. There were no snags, no confusing moments, and no delays. I arrived in Nottingham within a minute of the predicted time thinking how much more pleasant and relaxed the whole experience was compared to flying, or even driving my own car.

Why is train travel so commonplace here, while in the US it is often only a last resort? A large part of that, I think, is the distances involved. even the longest train route in the UK travels less than seven hundred miles- a long trip to be sure, but nowhere near the distances spanned by American railways. Air travel is so much more convenient over those distances that trains seem irrelevant by comparison. In addition, US railways have a poor reputation for reliability, which further lowers the opinions of many travelers. Trains were an important part of American culture, but as soon as something better came along, they were abandoned. However in the UK, and Scotland in particular, the railways are still embedded in the minds of the people as part of a national identity. Consider, for example, the city of Edinburgh's efforts to bridge the Firth of Forth. What started as a simple ferry system 900 years ago has become two (soon to be three) bridges that stand as a reminder of the times in which they were built, and the oldest of these is the Forth Bridge, an enormous cantilever rail bridge straight out of the height of the industrial revolution. This bridge has stood as a gateway to the north for nearly 125 years, and will continue to stand for the foreseeable future. It is a testament to both Scottish engineering and the importance of the railways that the first steel bridge in the world was constructed here so as to allow trains better access to the northern parts of the country, and that it still stands strong today.