Category: United Kingdom

Gather ‘round, my friends, for a tale full of adventure and dare I say, magic? Our main quest was to lay a 21 year old travel regret to rest…

Our journey began on the isle of Mull, where we drove our noble steed “Fifi” the Fiat towards Loch Ness. By lunchtime we had reached our first stop, the burial site of Albus Dumbledore.

Next, we made our way to Glenfinnan where we joined 30 other “Potter Spotters” above the Glenfinnan Viaduct and awaited a steam train bound for platform 9-3/4.

We broke away from the rest of the trainspotting muggles and continued to our AirBnB in Kirkhill to rest our weary heads. In the morning, we would set out to right a travel wrong…

In the year twenty and O-three, a much less seasoned traveller known as “DawnB” ventured to these very same parts of Scotland. Though she was usually quite clever, one fateful day she made a foolish miscalculation. She squandered her daily budget on a tunic instead of paying for passage out into the murky waters of Loch Ness. It was said that a monster inhabited the deep dark waters and DawnB had always wondered if she could have spotted the elusive creature when so few could. This is something that has plagued her memory for 21 years.

The next morning after second breakfast we made our way to the town of Drumnadrochit where we had pre-arranged a voyage into the great loch. With some time to kill we wandered the town and came across some magical creatures.

The time had arrived. We met our boat captain who was a bit of an odd character. He spoke with a strange but charming diction. He tended to repeat the beginning of his sentence at the end of his sentence. For example, he told us, “It is going to be a great day on the Loch, it is.” Apparently they had to cancel the previous day’s sailings, they did, due to poor weather and rough conditions. We set off on the “Nessie Hunter”, bound and determined to find a monster.

We searched long and hard for a glimpse of the beast. However, our tour came to an end with us coming up empty handed. As we approached the dock, DawnO turned around to take one final shot of the Loch… the following picture has not been altered. We only recently discovered it as we were writing this blog. Here’s what she captured:

We enjoyed our wee road trip to Oban, stopping at a couple of castles and viewpoints along the way.

Oban is a lovely seaside town but we really only had the chance to visit it for the evening as we had plans on the Isle of Mull the next day. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that we should have booked our ferry in advance. They were sold out until 6pm, so we had to pivot! We ended up getting up really early to drive about 2 hours to another ferry crossing.

We arrived to Mull in good time and had a glorious bluebird day for our drive across the island. Remember how Rob improved his left hand stick shift driving on the left side of the road? Now he can add this to his driving resume: single track roads with blind corners and surprise sheep on the road!

We’re staying in the town of Dervaig, which is about 4 miles of winding hairpin turns from Calgary! Of course we had to go there and it is (of course) nothing like our Canadian sprawling city. This Scottish Calgary boasts one of Scotland’s best white sand beaches.

We spent an afternoon in Tobermory, browsing along its colourful waterfront shops.

Our main reason for coming to the Isle of Mull was for a special boat trip. It left from the Isle of Iona which is one of the oldest religious centres in Western Europe. Its abbey was built in 563 AD.

Our boat tour took us to the Isle of Staffa, which is well known for its basalt columns and the famous Fingal’s Cave. In 1829 the composer Mendelssohn visited the island and wrote The Hebrides after hearing the sound of the waves crashing deep in the cave.

The cave is spectacular and definitely reason to visit this island, but the main draw for us was to try to see some of the puffins that nest on the grassy side of the island. We were lucky enough to see hundreds of puffins, many as close as one metre away from us. Both Rob and I fell in love with these curious little guys. They aren’t very good at flying (they’re masters at swimming and diving) so watching and hearing them land on the grass was especially endearing. Sorry not sorry for the onslaught of puffin pictures.

Tomorrow we take a ferry back to the mainland and head toward the area of Loch Ness. Could Nessie be as puffin awesome?

When Dawn told me about the Open Book AirBnB listing back in 2021 I thought it sounded like a pretty cool idea. I’m not an avid reader so it wasn’t the book store that appealed to me. I saw potential in being a shopkeeper in a town in Scotland. What a unique and thrilling way to be thrust into a community.

Now I don’t want to rehash what DawnO reported in her previous blog, so instead I’ll provide you with an update and perhaps some interesting details.

We each fell into our own separate jobs naturally. Each morning DawnO wrote a list of “Fun Facts” on one of the chalk boards we displayed outside. We found it attracted customers and fueled conversations when they walked in. DawnO was also the main small talker, though I held my own pretty well. She was the official records keeper and the “docent” or shop usher. I was stationed behind the counter and handled all financial transactions. I also kept track of the footfall/pawfall and most importantly, was the house DJ (a teenager with KoolAid coloured hair commented that I had good taste in music).
On Thursday, July 4, we had a big day planned. It was the UK’s federal election and I planned to play a mini concert in the afternoon as shoppers came in.

Unfortunately, we had a torrential downpour of rain that morning which killed foot traffic for the rest of the day. I ended up serenading DawnO for 3 hours with only 4 customers entering the shop. The bright spot to the day was when a Wigtonian, originally from the US, took us out for dinner in the neighbouring town of Garlieston. Donna had introduced herself to us a few days prior and said she was going to take us out. This type of interaction was common at the Open Book.

Today was our last shift at the Open Book. It was also the sunniest day so we planned a trip to the south most tip of Scotland called the Mull of Galloway. We also had a guest with us named Lisa. She arrived yesterday from Vancouver and was set up to volunteer for a week at what is considered to be the most famous book shop in Wigtown called simply, “The Book Shop”. All the kindness we had been given this week spurred us to pay it forward so we invited her along for the trip. The weather didn’t disappoint as we were treated to some of the sunniest views we have seen in a while.

Open Book official ledger:
July 2 – Footfall: 41, 1 dog – Sales £60.00
July 3 – Footfall: 48, 2 dogs – Sales £36.50
July 4 – Footfall: 21, 0 dogs – Sales £76.07
July 5 – Footfall: 22, 1 dog – Sales £20.50
July 6 – Footfall: 43, 1 dog – Sales £56.50
Total sales: £249.57

Tomorrow we head north to Oban. I’m feeling way more confident in the left handed stick shift/UK rental car after our day tripping. We’ll be sad to leave Wigtown but excited for what’s to come!

When we rented a car to get around Scotland I knew that there would be a few ‘speedbumps’: driving on the opposite side to what we’re used to, using the left hand for the stick shift, manoeuvring traffic circles in a clockwise direction, and, as my parents had warned us, the tendency to hug the shoulder because of the perceptual challenge. But I didn’t think it would be as stressful as it actually was. We were both white knuckling the trip: Rob at the wheel and me trying to navigate while seeing that we are perpetually centimetres from sideswiping vehicles, bridges, and guardrails.
At one point we were driving on a road not much wider than Fifi, our red Fiat, when we came up behind a tractor pulling a long flatbed. Without any warning the driver put the tractor is reverse and started backing his rig toward us, causing us to scramble to reverse into a cutout we had passed. As he straight-line backed the flatbed beside us there were moments where there was a millimeter between him and our side mirror!

Needless to say, we were thrilled when we arrived in Wigtown (pronounced Wigt’n), our home for the week.

I distinctly remember booking this holiday. It was 2021 in the heart of Covid. We were in a coffee shop dreaming about all of the travel experiences that we wanted to do. Not knowing what the future would hold we booked The Open Book on AirBnB for the next opening, 3 years away, for July 2024!
And here we are! This is an unusual AirBnB experience where we stay in the flat above the bookshop and run the bookshop during our time here. It is very relaxed. We set our own hours and decide on what type of advertising, events, and activities we fancy while we’re here.

We got an orientation from Joyce, a wonderful resident and fellow bookshop owner. Wigtown is Scotland’s National Book Town and has about 800 residents and 15 bookshops! We had some good omens right off the bat: a decorative pillow with GordO’s (our God-dog) face on it and a Canadian flag in the cupboard! We set up 2 window displays, one representing us (2 travel books, a tennis book, 1 Beatles book, Anne of Green Gables, and Chris Hadfield’s book… it is mostly second hand books, so selection is limited), and one of DawnO’s picks (fiction books I’ve read or would like to read). We also set up our display of branded pottery that I made and carried here in my backpack!

Our first day we had 41 shoppers and 1 dog (Billy, who knows exactly where to find the dog treats!). Most of the customers were book loving tourists, including a couple of Canadians, Americans, and caravaning Englanders. We’ve also met many Wigtown residents, who have welcomed us and given good tips about the area. In our flat there is a shelf of books written by local authors so it has felt scandalous to be reading the memoirs of the people that we are meeting!
This has been a wonderful time to slow down, chat with people, sit in our window seat to read, and really feel like we live in a Scottish town. Hopefully the sun comes out in the next few days and we’ll do some touring the area after ‘work’.