2025, a recap - Scotland

This post is a recap of May-September last year which is the time that I was based in Scotland. I arrived home from Corsica not knowing what the next stage of my life would look like. I went to a couple of job interviews before ultimately deciding that I wasn't ready to settle down in the UK just yet and accepting a second year as an English assistant abroad, this time in Belgium. I didn't need to be there until the end of September so I then started planning the next few months. I really wanted to work at the Edinburgh festival again and so I reapplied to the same role I'd done the year before and that booked me up for the whole of August. I then had a few more months to spare which I managed to fill pretty easily!

May started off with a few days up in Dunkeld for my cousin's wedding. The weather was absolutely gorgeous which was very lucky for the outdoor ceremony. It was a very nice wedding and we had a great stay in Dunkeld with a couple of good walks.

Another exciting moment in May was a reunion with my two best friends from uni. We hadn't all been together since 2023 despite remaining close individually so it was pretty special for the three of us to be together in person once more. They both came to stay with me in Edinburgh and we had a lovely time.

I got lots of use out of my tent this year with a few fantastic trips. The first was a weekend on the Isle of Arran with a friend who I never thought I'd convince to come camping so I was pretty thrilled just to be there with her! Unfortunately we had pretty ghastly weather for a lot of the time but I don't think she's been put off completely yet! We were able to do some nice walks between showers and we somehow managed to time it so that the worst of the rain was when we were either on a bus or in the tent so we stayed relatively dry! The ferry ride was fun and we saw some ruins and looked around the shops in Brodick. It was a pity the buses round the island only went every two hours so each stop had to be carefully timed, but we made the most of it! We're hoping to go to Bute next time.

As part of my Belgian visa process I needed a medical certificate and the cheapest place in the UK (by a lot) was Winchester and so I planned a little trip around the appointment to make the journey worthwhile. I started off with a visit to a friend in London where I was able to go to two Scottish dance events with her local group and I got to see some old dance friends as well as meet some new people. I really enjoyed the dancing and seeing everyone!

After London I went to Winchester for a day to go to the medical appointment (which only took 5 minutes) and to have a wander round the town. I then headed down to Dorset as a friend was spending the summer in Swanage. I had a great time in Swanage catching up with my friend and doing all the things we used together in Biarritz. We went swimming in the sea every morning, went running, ate lots of good food and went for long walks along the South coast. It's a very picturesque location and the cliffs are stunning.

From Swanage I headed up to Bath where I stayed in a fantastic youth hostel which had a circus skills activity in the park in the evening. I really liked Bath and I went on a nice walk along the canals and up the hills which surround the city. Bath also has some really long pedestrian tunnels and I went for a long run through these since it was raining on the second morning.

After Bath I nipped over to Wales. I was keen to visit Wales as it was the only country in the UK I hadn't been to yet and I wanted do do some walking there. I spent a few days in Swansea and a few days in Abergavenny. I did some fantastic walks from both locations. I really enjoyed exploring some of the Welsh coastal path but the highlight of the trip was definitely my hike up Llyn y Fan Fach in the Brecon Beacons. There is a reservoir in the glacial cirque at the top and the landscape is very dramatic. The views were incredible. My trip to Wales also gave me a new appreciation for Welsh culture. It was cool to see how present the Welsh language still is and how different the country feels from England. I'm hoping to go back to Wales at some point to see all the places I didn't get to, especially further north.

Back in Scotland, the next camping trip I did was the Three Lochs Way which passes Loch Lomond, Gare Loch and Loch Long. My Mum decided to join me which was lovely and we took 4 days to walk it carrying all our camping gear. It was a really beautiful walk with good off-road paths all the way. We were fairly lucky with the weather although we did get hit pretty hard by the midges.

This year I went to two Pride events - Dundee and Edinburgh. The government's approach to LGBTQ+ rights has been pretty disheartening this year and it's been awful to see and hear about how the bills passed have directly impacted friends of mine. Unfortunately Pride events are more needed than ever with the way the world has been going recently and so it was great to see such big turnouts. It is always really cool to see so much of the community gathering together to celebrate love and diversity.

In July I went on a solo camping/walking/cycling trip in Blair Atholl and had a fantastic time, definitely one of my highlights of the year. I was going to include it in this post but it turns out I had too much to say so I've given it a whole blog of its own. Read about it here!

Throughout the summer I was also doing as much dancing as I could. I went to Dunedin Dancers on Wednesdays whenever I was in Edinburgh and I also joined the Dunedin Festival in July which welcomed folk dancers from Hungary and from Normandy to perform in the streets of Edinburgh and to participate in various workshops. I also went to several other dances in Edinburgh and St Andrews including one of the summer school dances which was fantastic - I'll definitely try to go to more of those in future years. I joined the Edinburgh Contra dance group which meets just once a month so I could only go a couple of times but I really enjoyed the dances I went to with them. I also went back to the Linlithgow Hop Scotch which is an open air ceilidh event in Linlithgow Palace every Wednesday of July. Basically, if there was a dance on and I could get to it then I was probably there.

I tried to get out and about as much as I could whilst in Scotland and I made an effort to explore more places in Edinburgh since I normally only really go to the centre of town. I made my way round the hills of Edinburgh that I hadn't done or didn't remember doing: Corstorphine Hill, Blackford Hill, the Braids and Craiglockhart Hill. I also went down to Leith, out to Cramond and to Swanston Farm where they have lots of Highland Coos. I decided to do the Pilgrims Way from North Queensferry to St Andrews (not all at once) which was a really lovely walk and I was able to just do a section whenever there was a day of decent weather. I really enjoyed taking the opportunity to get to know my local area better and I discovered many new places over the summer.

2025 was the year I said goodbye to my childhood home. I did lots of house clearing over the summer to help out as much as I could when I was home. Lots of stuff got thrown out or donated and I managed to sell some of the bigger things on Gumtree. It was a bit sad to leave it all behind but I've got lots of great memories there and at least I was able to be there a lot this summer to make the most of the final moments.

I was working at the Edinburgh Fringe through August as part of the front of house team. It was another spectacular display of talent and I had a blast going to see as many shows as possible. You can read about some of my favourite shows here! There were a few people I knew from the previous year and some new people too. It is always nice getting to know everyone!

A friend from Corsica also came to visit during this time and it was nice to be able to take him round some of the outdoor festival spaces with live music and lots of food options. Of course Edinburgh in August can be a bit of a nightmare with the massive influx of people but I personally think it's such a fun time to be in the city. There is an amazing atmosphere and so much to see and do.

Staff Party

In September, as a family, we walked the first half of the Coast to Coast which goes through the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. The section we did was mostly through the Lake District and the scenery was pretty spectacular. We had beautiful weather the first couple of days and then it rained just about nonstop from then on which made it rather a soggy walk but I enjoyed it a lot all the same! I'd love to go back to the Lake District and climb more of the hills there as it is such a lovely region and it would be nice to be able to appreciate it in dry weather! We started on the west coast with a lovely coastal stretch and then worked our way inland. There were some significant ascents on a couple of the days which gave great views (when there was a break in the weather). We weren't walking very long distances each day so it wasn't too challenging but because of the weather we were quite glad to reach the next accommodation sooner rather than later. There was a nice sort of community atmosphere as well as we met lots of other people doing the same walk and often saw the same people each day. We stayed in a mixture of youth hostels, B&Bs, hotels and bunkhouses which was an interesting experience. We've booked the second half of the walk for June so fingers crossed for sun!

After a very long and slightly stressful process, my Belgian visa finally came through mid-September so I was finally able to book my transport over to the continent. Naturally I opted for a 21 hour bus ride. Over the summer I'd had to do a couple of different training courses for the programme and I'd been searching for accommodation in Brussels which turned out to be a bit of a nightmare which didn't really get resolved until I got there. I was just very relieved that the visa got sorted just in time and I finally left Scotland on September 28th.

This brings us to the end of the Scotland section of my year. It was an excellent time of my life. Very relaxing but also packed with all the things I love the most. It was a time for making the most of the things that I won't always have as much time for. The final instalment of my 2025, Belgium, is coming soon!