Why Sheep Are Ridiculous

Hi everyone! Claire here! Here we are in the United Kingdom. We started out in a lovely little bed and breakfast in Painswick, a town in the Cotswolds. There were plenty of sheep there, which are absolutely ridiculous animals, the way they look so white and fluffy and then make that atrocious bleating noise! How much do you love sheep?

Anyway, there were also some great hiking opportunities there, including the Cotswolds Way, a path of 102 miles that many people hike over the course of a week. We hiked two miles of it--only a hundred to go! However, we hiked about six to eight miles total on various trails, going through the towns of Cranham and Sheepscombe. We hiked three or four miles to Cranham, expecting to have lunch at the local pub there. So, of course, it was closed--because it was Monday, and why would the only pub in town be open on a Monday? Seems like we were the only people who didn't know this useful little piece of information. Luckily, the new owners of the pub drove up at that very minute, and feeling guilty that the pub wasn't open when we had hiked all that way, they gave us a ride to Sheepscombe. We enjoyed a very nice meal in the Butcher's Arms pub there and then hiked back to Painswick.

Now we are in Edinburgh, home of J.K. Rowling. (OMG!) Edinburgh apparantly has been frequented by many authors over the years, including Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle. I was tickled pink to discover that Doyle was born on my half-birthday--is that an omen or what? The owner of our B&B is also an aspiring writer. Edinburgh is a lovely city, and yes, I can confirm that when you arrive at the train station, you do indeed see a castle and hear bagpipes right away. Note to self--learn how to play the bagpipes.

Now we're off to the Isle of Skye for a few days, where we don't know about internet access availability. We'll post if possible, but if not, we'll write more when we get back to Edinburgh on Friday.