Loch Affric

Couldn't really sleep last night. Woke up at 4am thinking it was like 6am. Too much light out there for my liking. Went to Loch Affric today to walk around it. The surrounding munros were partly hidden in the fog but the walk was very nice on a gravel road most of the time. There was still snow on some of the munro's slopes. Views were nice but I'm looking forward to proper hillwalking the next few days.

Hello Glen Affric

Arrived 3 hours later than intended in Sheffield due to a change in my flight connection and several delays including a cancelled train. What a start! Had a very nice conversation on my flight from Düsseldorf to Manchester with an old Greek who's been living in Great Britain for more than 20 years now. That's what I like about traveling. You meet people and get a short glimpse into their lives without ever seeing them again.
I was collected by my friend Jane at Sheffield only to be taken directly to the location of our gig. My original plan had a nice dinner at a great Indian restaurant involved but that was denied to us. Next time.
Wow, directly from the airport right into the pub with my luggage. Sheffield you are not good for my health,  haha. The pub - The Red House - was really nice and cosy with a rather big stage and some small tables cuddling before it. Very nice young guys operating it.
Met some of my friends' friends and had  few drinks and quite a lot fun. Think the few were one to many for me, because I was supposed to play  a gig of like 30 minutes at tonight's "Bolan - Bowie Alliance" event to raise funds for the British Red Cross. Gig was fun and I really seem to be a decent entertainer. Didn't play and sing as good as I know I can but was never shy for a cheeky chat in between songs.
My friends Anthony played with his band as well and that was very cool as well. We even went up stage together to sing two more songs. By that time the audience was luckily as drunk as we were.
Had to leave 11am next morning to go to Edinburgh by train. Sadly I had spent only 17hours in Sheffield. There goes another "next time".
Met group and guide for the following week's hike and had a long drive to beautiful Bearnock Lodge near Drumndrochit via Aviemore and Inverness. There were still patches of snow to be seen on the slopes of the Cairngorms mountains. It's almost July! But it was nice to see the area since I had planned to walk here for two weeks in August to bag some munros, but had to cancel that.
Bearnock lodge is a great and cosy manor house and I share a room with a very nice woman. Group is very nice again and we're going to have a great time I believe.
It's grey,  cloudy and quite windy this morning, so the walk later on will be quite what I am used to, haha.

Going home

If home is where the heart is, I'll be going home tomorrow. I've been traveling to the British Isles for roughly 20 years now. Countless times to England, twice to Ireland and Saturday I will step onto Scottish soil for the fourth time. Every time I hear that short squeaking sound of my plane's wheels touching the ground a faint smile creeps onto my face and I hear one word ringing in my ears: home.

It's like coming back from a long journey. My heart aches with joy and that ache is strongest when I arrive in Scotland. It always feels like I've been under great pressure and realize that only now that it is lifted off my shoulders at last.
Language is music and as I sit in the bus or train I listen to people's voices as they soothe my ears with their beautiful melody and finally nothing's out of tune anymore.

So yes. I'm going home tomorrow. First I will visit dear friends in Sheffield and have a solo gig at a Red Cross charity night. Take the train to Edinburgh Saturday and head off with a group of hikers to a fantastic manor house near Drumnadrochit to go hillwalking for a week in the area of Glen Affric and Loch Ness hopefully bagging some munros.

Bags are packed, my mind's already there. Actually been there ever since I left it last time I was in Scotland.

Homesick.