A Week of Camping in Glen Strae

After two days after returning from Rum, and just enough time to wash and line dry our clothes, bags were packed up once again for a week of camping in Glen Strae, which is close to the west coast town of Oban. This course, poorly titled Land Based Competency, (a shared disagreement exists among my peers regarding the implication of a certain incompetence in our ability!) was part of the professional development content of the course. The lack of assignment or grading for this course lent itself to an overall sense of being on holiday with good friends! Sam, a Phd student at the University, who runs his own Placed-based education business and was happy to lead our week.

The first two days were spent again exploring ways in which we as educators can help people know and connect with a particular place. This involved activity after activity translating folklore, history, science and environmental issues. My favorite part was standing at the Great Glen Fault where the land masses that make up England and Scotland collided millions of years ago, closing the Iapetus Sea! We then hiked up further into the glen to camp for the next 2 nights. On the way, we encountered mommy highland coos and their sweet fuzzy babies that look like little teddy bears! We all took pictures of them that I’m pretty sure resemble many postcards sold in the high street. A close encounter with a highland coo (cow, for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about!) ticks another box in my Scotland experience!

An interesting element of the week in Glen Strae was doing my very first solo, which essentially meant sitting on my own in a secluded natural place for about 6 hours. The idea is to just be in a place, with nature as the only distraction. Some people may see this type of experience as a slow form of torture. I however, found it a rather refreshing break from the constant companionship of my colleagues I had during the previous two weeks. I found a glorious spot on the meandering river with inviting swimming holes and a bank of trees. It was a perfect spot for my 6 hours rendezvous with nature.

Unfortunately, our solo’s happened to be scheduled on the day that heavy dark clouds rolled in and rain gushed from the sky! The irony of this is that I spent the majority of my 6 hours attempting to connect with nature curled up in a bivi bag, which is essentially a glorified orange garbage bag. Waterproof clothes would hold up for about 30 minutes in that kind of rain and with 2 full days of camping left I could not afford to let all my layers get soaking wet. So I listened to rain pelt the plastic sheet covering my head, the wind rustle leaves and a cuckoo bird taunt me with its obnoxious call. What a strange thing it must be for a bird to see a human in a bag. Somewhere along the way I lost all sense of time. Some people who advocate solos say this is what is suppose to happen. But I think I may have had a small lapse of sanity. About half way through the solo I recall laughing in a maniac manner at the ridiculousness of me lying in an orange garbage bag beside this beautiful river trying to connect with nature through the veil of orange plastic.

Through the torrents of rain, I eventually spotted the red thermorest going up in a tree off in the far distance. This was the signal to come back to camp. I scooped up my plastic home, fired the cuckoo a questionable hand gesture and scuttled back. I am still computing how I feel about my solo. Experiencing nature through orange plastic with a temporary loss of sanity and sense of time is not exactly my idea of a good time. But I have to say that I really enjoy my own company and my own thoughts (as loopy as they may be!), which brings me a great deal of comfort.

It was absolutely miserable outside for the rest of the evening once we returned to camp, but we were all quite happy with our cozy community living in the tipi, sitting around the campfire, listening to Sam play the flute and telling stories of our day. It was a nice reminder how life must have been before TV's and other distractions. It was so rejuvenating and I couldn't help but wonder why we only allow ourselves this form of living when we are camping? Overall the day was a great success. Did I connect with nature in that spot beside the river? Questionable. Will I forever remember my solo day in Glen Strae? Absolutely!

We finished up the week with a very cold plunge into a swimming hole created by a gorgeous waterfall, which had doubled in volume since we had passed it 2 days previous. The five seconds of submersion in that freezing pool was enough to wash away 5 days of camping funk that tends to build up with no shower, a permanent thermal layer beside your skin and co-inhabiting in a tent with 3 other people. We celebrated our final course together with hot food and lots of locally brewed beer at a pub twenty minutes from camp. Everyone was toasty that final night in our sleeping bags!! Interpret this as you will.

Here is a short video I took the very rainy night after our solos. Make sure you have your speakers turned on so you can hear the rain, Sam playing the flute in the tipi and the Highland coos in the distance!

Thanks to Anna and Christy for a few great photos on this page!