Bad Knees Travel

Looking for a specific photo online led me to meet the Bald Hiker. Paul leads hikes that are mostly beyond my hiking abilities. And he reviews places and things that interest me. So when this retreat hike with shorter walks came available for Galloway during my stay in the UK, I sent him off an email.  With his assurances that I could do this one I started my Scottish campaign. Step One: Getting There: Checking with Paul, he said it was easy to get close on the train and that he would be happy to pick me up at the station. I was a bit confused about how I was going to get to Ireland from Wales on a train.  I always assumed that there was a big piece of water between them. It turns out that Galloway and Galway are different places, the first being in Ireland, the second in Scotland. The train taking was great fun.  Trains are the transportation equivalent of "hold my beer." I promise you a future blog on using the UK trains. It is not as straight forward as one might thin...

Yesterday I learned about Scotland’s Right to Roam laws or more accurately thr Right to responsible access. While England and Wales have walking paths that supersede other property restrictions, in Scotland there is broader to open land. Walking here I am coming to an understanding of how this place has had human feet  traipsing across it for a really long time and the idea of ownership is vastly different from what I have grown up with. I  know that my son in law has a hard time with all of the No Trespassing signs in California. In Scotland the law allows responsible walking and tent camping on most land. The hiker is assumed to behave in a proper way and is responsible for his own actions.  What a novel idea, that one doesn’t sue a land owner for breaking a leg on his property. That leads to a whole different idea of what ‘ownership’ means. And how an individual has responsibility for their actions. The dichotomy of individualism versus social behavior as viewed n the ...