Scottish Adventurrres 2 - Not a Good Start

[jamesq]

So I get into Dundee and proceed to completely ignore zapgun4hire's directions. This led to three things:

1) I should listen to Brian more.
2) I saw far more of Dundee then I initially intended.
3) I am a yogurt head.

My plan, after a passing glance at a map was to head west from the train station until I got to Bellefield Avenue (where Brain lives). Problem was, the west road I took does not actually connect with Bellefield. So I ended up overshooting by several kilometers.

Now this would have been OK If I was just walking. It would have still been OK if I just had my big backpack (which is more-or-less ergonomic). It would have still been OK with the pack and being up for better then 24 hours. But I had the pack and the sleep deprivation and an extra shoulder bag that through off my balance and required me to switch shoulders ever block or so.

So I wandered around Dundee (coming within one block of my goal) for one and a half hours before I finally broke down and bought a map. At my usual rate of speed that means I walked around with 20 kilos of extra weight, for about 8K, when I should have only walked 2K.

And there was much harsh language.

Dundee (and by extension, Europe) has labyrinthine streets that appear to have been designed by either a madman or a committee of retards. Possibly it's a committee of retarded mad men. Also, the street signs are placed on buildings, stone walls, missing all together and the signs themselves don't follow a single style. The more I travel the more I'm convinced that Calgary had the most rational road numbering system on the face of the Earth - when they actually followed it.

Another observation: Scots don't wear hats (which is odd considering the weather). This meant I was wandering around Dundee as the only person wearing a hat. I got a lot of strange looks as well a few comments suggesting I was a "cowboy". It's not a cowboy hat fuckers!

OK, I'm a little more rested now after my mistake. Time to go out for some lunch with the Brain, as well as an opportunity to view things without the weight of a thousand black holes on my shoulders, skewing my views and attitude.

Comments

[laughingmagpie.livejournal.com]

What sort of hat were you wearing? I would have thought so long as it wasn't actually a cowboy or baseball hat, Scotland would be friendlier to the hat-wearing crowd than here... I am sad if this isn't true...

Glad you made it to your destination finally - yep, best to always trust your local pals :-)

Mmm.

[nosarious.livejournal.com]

All I got out of that was tired yogurt.

Okay, I re-read it and then got "Cowboy had fuckers"... and, well, yeah, they did, I guess.

I think I need to sleep more.

Oh, BTW I suspect it was your Tilley hat that you were wearing, right?

Scotland

[colinofcthulhu.livejournal.com]

Ah, I understand what you are saying :-)

Scottish folk are brilliant so don't be too hard on them. You'll probably be called a yank one or two times before your back but don't hold it agains them. Try going to London. You'll see what unfriendly is all about there.

Check out Stirling castle while you are there (if you took a train from Glasgow to Dundee you probably passed through Stirling/near it). It's pretty cool. Part of Braveheart was filmed there.

And do... check out the single malt. Find a decent country pub and there will be more types of scotch on the wall than you ever DREAMED existed. Just make sure you're not driving :-)

Mmmmmmmmmmmm single malt.

Have fun.

[jamesq]

It's a Tilley Hat, so I supose it's close enough to people who don't know the difference.

Re: Mmm.

[jamesq]

"Cowboy had fuckers"

Fixed.

[jamesq]

Normally I would take the opportunity to explore, but I was up for a good long time by this point and carrying two heavy packs. Not condusive to exploring.