I have been back in school now for five weeks, and I guess I started to get a little stir crazy. I went online to look for a run to sign up for, a 10k or maybe a 1/2 marathon, thinking a good long organized run would get my head clear and focused again. I originally planned to pick one nearby (maybe on Arthur's Seat or in the Meadows) but couldn't find one I wanted to run that was close. Instead, I found one in Rannoch, which is in the Highlands, about a four hour train ride away. The event was five days from the day I was searching, but I decided to sign up on a whim and take a trip to the Highlands. (For a race re-cap, check the "events" page. This is the story of the trip). Rannoch means "the Fern" in Gaelic, and it is located in almost the exact center of Scotland. The area surrounding was red and orange with fall, spindly trees and grasses all turning with the season. The village is made up of houses surrounding Loch Rannoch (which the run circled) and extending up into the woods nearby, where a few houses are pocketed away. It is probably the smallest village I've ever been to.
picture from the train window
"onward travel information"
When I arrived at the station, I got off the train, looked around, and walked up and over a small bridge above the tracks, searching for a way to get the 18 miles into the town. There was no bus stop that I could see, and the place was almost empty. The helpful "onward travel information" sign said that basically without a car you can't travel onward. I wandered aimlessly a little more until I found a pamphlet advertising a taxi service, newly established on October 13, 2015. It was now October 17 2015. Armed with this method of departing the station, I pulled out my phone to call the cab - no service. So I turned around and walked back over the bridge and down to the station.
Just so everyone knows, in case you are planning on taking a trip to Rannoch anytime soon, the Rannoch train station has no ticket booth (there is, however, another helpful sign saying:
ticket office -
Monday-Friday: closed
Saturday: closed
Sunday: closed)
Although you can't buy any tickets, the station does have a fully operational tea room, where the friendly woman behind the count lent me their landline to call a cab. Once I dialed the number, I found out that the driver was coming to pick up "a lad from the tea room" at 4:00pm, in a half hour, and so would just get me at the same time. The driver wanted to have a chat on the phone, and after I hung up the tea room lady asked if I'd gotten a cab all right, where I was from, why I was visiting...before walking outside to chat with the farmer in the house just across the rail tracks. Very friendly people here.
Rannoch Train Station
When the cabbie picked me up, there was an old couple already seated in the back who he apparently knew quite well. He also, it turns out, knew "the lad from the tearoom" very well and drove them all back and forth daily, as well as all the school children on the island. He also explained that he was the bus driver for the new bus service, which is what the taxi service starting October 13 really is. The "bus" seated five people, including the driver. The whole 45 minute drive cost £3.50, whereas a week ago, before the new bus service was put in place, it would have been £30 each way... I timed my trip perfectly it seems.
the view of the loch on the first night
When I left Rannoch Sunday night after the run, the same bus driver came to pick me up and drive me back to the train station. He told me some interesting stories, one of which was about his 96 year old gran slapping a taxi driver. She is from Shetland and had spent the day turning peat for fuel. On her walk home, it was raining so hard "it was bouncing up to the bonnet" of the car, so a taxi driver driving past did what many kind people might do upon seeing an old woman walking in the rain: he pulled over and asked her if she wanted a ride. She, apparently scandalized, slapped him and shouted, "I'm not useless!" So he, abashed, apologised and offered her a pint.
The bus driver also told me about the frequency of accidents on the tiny, seemingly single lane roads of Rannoch. According to him, it's because "the foreigners drive on the wrong side of the road, and the English think they own the road". I guess the Scotland / England rivalry is still quite strong out here.
That collection of buildings past the sheep is the start of Rannoch village, and these two roads are a walking path and the main road - notice they are not much different in width?
This was my introduction to the tiny village of Rannoch (really tiny - the bus driver stopped at the only store in the village to see if I needed to buy groceries). It's small, but everyone is extremely welcoming and friendly. It seemed that everyone knew about the run the next day as well, and everyone I talked to wished me good luck.
That first night, I checked into the hotel, had an early dinner, and walked around the village. The air smelled of woodsmoke and damp sheep. I walked around the whole village, not including the houses tucked up into the woods, in about thirty minutes (at a slow walk), chatted with a few locals about the run, took some photos of the sunset, and gazed at a few sheep. There seemed to be more sheep than people.
I also found a little cafe, which was closed for the night, but I decided that it would be a good place to go after the run for a post-run meal.
Another view of the village, taken on my evening walk.
a blurry picture I took on a trail I found through the forest
The only negative of the trip was the hotel, and even that wasn't really too bad. In fact, it was a perfectly nice hotel, just very expensive for what the value is. The food was pricey and the service, though friendly, was quite slow, and the room I had was very expensive considering that it was rather small, the TV didn't work, and, (the worst offence by far, I thought as I came in for a warm shower after a cold evening walk), the shower transitioned rapidly from boiling hot to freezing cold, staying on freezing so long that I eventually gave up. After my run the next day, I used the pool shower because I had to check out of my room early. Those showers were tiny little cubicles set up in the shower room facing the door leading out of the room, and the shower doors were glass - how's a soul supposed to get any privacy? If anyone walked in the room, the first thing they would see are the showers, and whoever happened to be using them at the time. I guess the idea was that either you'd be in your bathing suit or wouldn't care if everyone saw you naked upon entering the room...I was forced to go with the latter. This would have been ok, but, again, the water was cold at best - not what I really wanted after a cold run. The only redeeming factor for that experience was that the locker room was heated to a sauna-like mugginess, so it almost felt good to be under cold water. That all being said, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, (they knew exactly who I was when I checked in and had a personalised welcome/info sheet for me) and the location, right on Loch Rannoch, couldn't be better, so I guess it's worth a stay. I spent the time I wasn't running lying on the shore of the loch enjoying the view, hiking on sheep dotted trails, and enjoying the warm food and friendly atmosphere of the Riverbank Cafe, where it seems every other runner also went to eat following the event.
Loch Rannoch
All in all, it was a wonderful getaway trip, and I would recommend Rannoch as a visiting destination for everyone, individuals or families.