York, England...memories of Dad.....on north

My train took me into the town of York, in eastern England, where Dad had spent much time in the 70s. I arrived around 9, and asked if there wa a place I could camp. No one knew of a place, but assured me there was a hostel. I found it, and knew right away that Dad must've stayed here on his travels. It was a YHA, where he was a member. The hostel had been such since 1948. I set away my things, and went down to use my computer. As it warmed up, I heard the music playing.....Billie Holiday. It was Dad. Tomorrow would be his 85th birthday. Not everyday Billie Holiday is playing. I skyped the kids, and emailed, and slept soundly again. Breakfast in the morning was the best I've had yet: coffee, tea, stewed prunes, pineapple, 2 lunch meats, Swiss cheese, scrambled eggs!, warm croissants with chocolate chips, bread, rolls, sausages, bacon, cereal, oj, milk. Wow, a guy could get fat if he didn't bicycle or something! And Billie Holiday again. Happy birthday, Dad....
More rain is forecast, so I shift gears and decide to go north, to Inverness, Scotland. I travel through the lowlands, then the highlands of Scotland. Much looks like home in Montana, and much different. In Edinburgh, it is raining, then sunny, then rain. A trainman says Typical Scottish weather! and laughs.
I find a hostel in Inverness, and haul my bike up 26 stairs of a circular staircase. I store it in the laundry room, and in the morning mail home anything I don't need, to lighten my load. A few eerreands, a trip to Dickey's Book Shop, which sports a large wood stove and piles of wood stacked all around it. Then it's off to wrestle with nessie, along the shores of Loch Ness. I dip 7 times in the lake, take a picture, and an F-111 fighter jet screams by! He banks left and flies, screams! past. I film the aftereffects, so dramatic cause of the quiet of this place. Ten miutes later as I bike on, I think a car is crashing behind me, and it's another
F-111. Man, you just never know.... I camp out in Fort William, a haven for the outdoor type, full of shops for fishing and anything outdoors.
Friday it's off further south towards Oban, another outdoor mecca town, and I stop to be sure of direction. An 80ish woman is picking wild raspberries near the roundabout, and assures me that I should go on the Glasgow Road, which just misses Oban and goes thru Crianlarich, then south to Glasgow. A few hours later, I follow a road to Bonewa. It's a single track road, with "room for passing" signs, and I eat lots of wild raspberries. At 9 miles, the road ends, and I realize I'm on the wrong side of the loch, so I backtrack...grrrrr....and stop in Taynuilt, where Highlands Games are being held the next day. I visit with Tom and Molly, who are helping out again with the games. We drink coffee and eat crumpets with jam, and visit til midnight. I love this.
Saturday morn, and we visit, eat rice Krispies, drink coffee, and then check out the vendors and contestants. This is RR Day in Alberton, so I feel an affinity for home. As I take pictures of men in kilts and contestants practising, I see a man I think is Dhani Jones, an NFL player who participates in sports around the world in order to learn about other cultures. I ask the woman next to me, "Is that Dhani?" and she smiles Yes! it is, and I'm from NY, I'm part of his production crew, he's competing in the games today. I'm probably the only one, or one of the only, who even know who he is. Amazing! later, he's putting on chapstick and I ask for his autograph, and he shows concern that I'm cycling on my own. He asks about my travels, and says Be careful, and then Oh! it's time to throw the telephone pole, gotta go! Be safe! He is a class person, so real and kind. Wow....and if I hadn't've gotten lost....
All day the sun shone off and on in the field where the men competed, and there were clouds in the background all above the mountains. It sprinkled rain a bit, nothing serious, and was such a special day, real highlands games.
I bicycled til setting up camp again, American style with 2 other cyclists and a caravan (camper) in a grass strip near a restaurant. And the midgies swarmed around my face, even in the drizzling rain, as I pitched my tent. Argh!! too busy to apply bug juice. And it's raining, they'll go away, no they don't! Little gnatlike things, all around my face, arghhh!
I eat a wonderful buffet breakfast, and feel like Georgia Pearl- plump round full tummy! But it'll be gone soon, as I later discover I will bicycle my longest day, 75 miles. I pass through Crianlarich, past Loch Lomond (no place to swim) and Dunbarton, and on into Glasgow. 5pm Sunday, no shops are open for sweaters, and each way I turn I'm in a rough part of town. It's actually a city of about a million, time to move on. I ask and get help twice, and go on past town til I find a place to camp. In the morning I visit with a couple who notice my bike-he used to have a Koga- and they ask many questions about my travels, and their daughter asks about Dad. After a warm visit I go on the Edinburgh, where I enjoy a meal of haggis, matties and meeps! D-e-licious! with hot brown onion gravy. I love it, could eat it often. I reserve a place on the 6:52 train, and spend the next sunny! warm! sun! 2 hours walking along the Royal Mile, to the Edinburgh Castle, and explore the lovely old red-brown stone buildings throughout Edinburgh. This is a beautiful classy city, lovely and pretty and old and so wonderful. I love it! There are many alleys, named a close, that stretch down between buildings, and drop down into lower streets. What a place...and then off south, to the Lake District of England. Scotland....wow....