In 2004, J and I were visiting Scotland for the 1st time (not to be the last). One day, we had planned to ride the Inverness City Bus Tour to several sites that day including Cawdor Castle (with links to MacBeth) just outside of town. When we were passing through the lobby of the Scottish Youth Hostel at Inverness, a woman was there looking for a few people she was supposed to pick up for a Wilderness Tour. They were no where to be found. So she asked if WE would be interested ... We said we had plans and a budget for the day ... She made us a deal we could not refuse. We went on this Wilderness Tour for something like 8 Pounds (Normally 35 Pounds for the same tour). The only catch was that we had to be back by 2 pm to catch her mini-van down to beautiful Glen Affric.
We did see Cawdor Castle--briefly, and made if back in time for the Glen Affric Wilderness Tour. It was absolutely GORGEOUS country. I felt all my stresses melt away on that trip. The pain in my neck subsided. I'd read a card in the seat pocket ahead of me that the company started because the owners knew people (specifically world leaders) with stressful, high-power jobs needed a way to de-stress. What better way to get grounded than in Nature? It worked for me! I realized, then, too that this was something that had been missing from my life since moving to Oshkosh. In Madison, I had my favorite natural places ... and I went to them regularly, but had not found comparable haunts in the Fox Valley.
On the drive back, we stopped at the edge of a field to watch deer having their evening dinner at dusk. I used to do that at Cherokee Marsh outside of Madison just about once a week ...
To this day, J and I are convinced that this trip was a gift from J's Gramma, Erma Kerska who died a few years ago. For about 25 years, she lived alone in a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin. She had a great appreciation for the Wilderness--with a shotgun by the front door. This trip was not one we planned, but it was exactly what we needed. And Erma knew it!
This tour guide happened to be English, working in Inverness. On the weekend, she was going to be teaching a folk dancing class at Findhorn. She invited us to tag along. We had been trying to figure out how we would get there and finally gave up. We'd already made plans to go to The Isle of Skye for the weekend.
You don't have to take every opportunity put in your path. But it is certainly worthwhile to take advantage of some of the opportunities that come our way. You may be pleasantly surprised!
