It’s been a while. Not that we haven’t been traveling, but I haven’t been taking the time to do this. But don’t worry, I heard the pleading of the crowd, so here we go again.

This time my travel partner, nicknamed Stretch, and I are heading to Isle of Skye in Scotland for some hiking. But that wasn’t the original plan; we had intended to do an aggressive driving tour of southern Norway. However, British Airways decided that we shouldn’t be allowed to fly from London to Oslo, so we had to reboot. At least they gave us almost two weeks notice to replan a vacation that had been a year in the making.

In reality, Isle of Skye is hardly a difficult compromise. With some rugged hiking options and plenty to see, it will certainly be a great time. What you all missed was Stretch and I really pushing our limits hiking in Teton National Park in Wyoming. We don’t intend to do another single day 24 mile alpine loop. That was a bit much.

We are looking forward to some famous locations and taking advantage of our surroundings.

We got into London on the 16th with no issues (thanks to carrying on) and spent the night near King’s Cross station. I had a challenging getting there due to the Heathrow Express being closed for a driver shortage and the train lines been jammed. So I opted for an overpriced cab ride into a traffic snarl that had me hop out and carry my brick of a duffel the last couple miles. For anyone looking for a nice hotel in that area, good luck. And for the record the Travelodge on Kings Cross Road is definitely not it. Realistically it was fine, no real complaints: clean, shower worked well, beds were okay. But it is an epic heat wave here and the windows only opened a couple inches. Fortunately our corner room offered some cross ventilation.

Looking for dinner, we walked up to Islington and had some Mexican tapas outside in a lively little stretch as the temps cooled down. Beer and margarita consumed. Ancho mushroom tacos and chick pea tomato and feta tostadas were among the items scoffed down.

On the walk back to the hotel we decided that a late night stroll was an order after the 11 and 6 hour respective flights. So we walked. From Kings Cross to the Millenium Bridge, followed the Thames to London Tower Bridge, and then back to the hotel. So between walking to dinner and that loop, we covered over 10 miles between 7pm and 11pm local time. Felt great and helped us ease into a normal sleep schedule.

In the morning, high speed rail to Edinburgh where we will pick up our car, being sure to avoid anything remotely resembling the British Open that is also this weekend, and heading northwest. Can’t wait, and there’s definitely more to come.