I know you all have been anxiously awaiting another post, and it's even within less than 10 days of the last (better than once a month!)! I have had one last great week of break before the semester starts tomorrow. It's going to be hard to get back into the swing of studying after 3 weeks off!
The week began on Sunday, when myself and 4 friends decided to walk what is known as the Fife Coastal Path, beginning in St. Andrews down to a famous little town called Anstruther. Anstruther is known for their fish and chips (that's fried fish and french fries, for us Americans). I had yet to go try these famous fish and chips which have gotten numerous awards for many years in a row. We decided that we'd start about 10:00am and get there aroudn 3 or 4. After looking on the map, we determined it was about 12 miles to Anstruther, and we figured we had plenty of time to get there. We started off that morning to trek across the seaside landscape through multiple Scottish towns. It was a gloomy day, no sunshine, and a bit of wind, with a forecast of snow possibly, but we decided that we could make it before the weather turned bad.
We started off from St. Andrews, which is by far some of the hardest terrain to conquer. Dressed warmly in coats and scarves, and most importantly, wellies (similar to rain boots) to walk through mud and sea water. We packed a backpack with snacks, water, and extra clothing just in case. It was windy, but the trip started off alright. The rock climbing up and down the coast proved to be tougher than we imagined, but we did it nevertheless. It was only about 30 minutes into our journey that our friend Andy fell in a huge mud puddle. We continued, encountering herds of cows and bulls (that proceeded to charge after us, bucking and all). We decided that the bull was a teenage bull in distress. Running away from the charging bull, we nearly feel off the coastal cliff 20 feet, but managed to get away in one piece. About an hour into the trip, the wind started to pick up. We walked beside an angry North Sea, that seemed to get more agitated as the day went on. In good spirits, we trekked on
towards Anstruther. Hours went by, and we kept following the small coastal path signs, with no markings for how far we'd come, just arrows pointing us in the right direction. We kept saying, it's just beyond this bed in the coast, yet would come up to the bend and there would be no sign of life - just brussel sprout fields, livestock, and more water and beaches. With the sun never rising that day, it was a gloomy day to say the least. The weather kept getting a little more strong as we continued our hike, at times with the wind throwing hail into our faces, snow at others, and very cold air. 7 and a half hours later, we reached the town of Crail, where at this point felt we had been battered so badly we didn't know if we could walk what we thought was 2 more miles to Anstruther. Although some of us didn't want to give up, with darkness upon us, we decided to stop at Crail, find a pub to sit by the fire with a drink and warm up, and then taxi it to Anstruther. Little did we know, we were more like 4 miles away from Anstruther, which would have taken us about 2.5 more hours to get there. We were all glad we stopped in Crail! However, the fish and chips were worth it! The fish was fresh and seemed to melt in your mouth. And we were famished to say the least! However, we have all vowed to make the 17 mile walk again, when we have more hours of daylight nearer to summer and have come more prepared with more snacks, etc. It was a great day of adventure, nonetheless!
However, I'm not so sure it was so smart to do that 13 mile journey the day before I left for my big ski trip in the Alps. I left for the train station at 5:45am, with tons of snow falling. By the time I got to the airport in Edinburgh, it was like a blizzard outside, and flights were being cancelled and delayed left and right. London was in a mess, and my friend Matt was supposed to fly out of London to meet us in Austria. His flight was cancelled and he almost didn't make it out to Austria at all. I finally got to Munich, and my friend Irene (from Germany) picked me up and we made the 2.5 hour drive down to St. Anton am Arlberg in Austria. We arrived, checked into our hotel, and got up early the next day for a great day of skiing, while we awaited Matt's hopeful arrival from London. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! Warm temperatures, beautiful bright sunshine, great snow, it was awesome! Irene and I had a great first day of skiing. Matt arrived that evening, and we all went to dinner. The next day was a great day of skiing as well, with similar weather. I've never had an apres ski experience like I did in St. Anton. The place was called the Mooserwirt, and it was halfway down the mountain. We stopped in and met up with some people Matt knew were in town. It was a full 4 hours of dancing (in ski boots, remember) and singing. I want to go back just to experience the apres ski experience that St. Anton offers. On Thursday, we drove over to the next mountain to a resort called Lech, and skiied there for the day. It was a great day of skiing as well. I think that maybe the snow was even better there! Of course, as soon as you get your "ski legs" in order, it's time to go home, so we drove back to Munich Thursday evening after skiing, and Irene dropped Matt and I off in Munich. She had to go home for a dental appointment, so Friday Matt and I wandered around Munich. It was a nice, calmer day, as we were both exhausted from skiing. Yesterday, we visited the BMW museum in the morning, which was a really cool place! We then headed for the airport, just to find out that our flight had been delayed. Not like most delays as in 1 or 2 hours....6 hours!!!!! So we hung out in the Munich airport ALLLLL day yesterday, and then finally got home about midnight last night. It was a great trip overall, though! And my life-long dream of skiing in the Alps has been fulfilled!!! If I could only afford to ski the Alps every weekend....haha! Hope you all have a great week! It's back to the real world for me tomorrow!
