Loudoun Hill

Today we slept in and our plan was to climb Loudoun Hill (Loudoun is pronounced like Bowden ;) Go Noles). It's a big hill just outside of Strathaven. 

Laura has been wanting to make us a traditional Scottish fry up. It's a large breakfast they like to have after a night out drinking usually. When it was explained to me it didn't sound gross, but I wasn't expecting it to be my favorite thing ever either. It was DELICIOUS. 

At the bottom of the plate is square sausage, you can't get that anywhere but in Scotland. To the left of the square sausage is bacon and to the right is a fried egg. Baked beans in the center and above the baked beans to the right is a potato scone. Then there is toast and the round black thing is blood pudding. Blood pudding has liver and other things in it. I was scared to try it to say the least.  It was really good, I actually liked it a lot!! The potato scone was really good too! I loved breakfast! 

After breakfast we changed out of pajamas and headed off for Loudoun Hill. Today was very cold and even more cold out by Loudoun Hill. Luckily once we started hiking we warmed up. 

And, we are off to climb!! 

You have to weave your way up to the hill, and that was the steepest most exhausting part. There is a path where people have walked so you know where to step once you get onto the hill. 

It was cloudy and was supposed to rain today. It was misting us on our way up the hill. As soon as we got to the top the mist cleared and the clouds lightened up a bit and we could see far into the distance clearly. 

This is a Scottish thistle. Thistle is the national flower even though it is basically a weed. It has thorns on it. 

Sheep wool we found on our walk up to the hill. The walk up to the hill was uphill and was harder than the actual hike on the hill. 

The picture doesn't do justice of the actual size of Loudoun Hill. 

These fuscia flowers are called Foxgloves. They grow wild all over, I've been wanting to get a close up picture of them since we got here. 

These next pictures will be pictures we took weaving up the hill. 

This picture was taken for my family. My 17 year old cousin Ryan passed away right before we left for Europe and it is has been heartbreaking for our family. Kevin and I have been wearing our Rock on Ryan bracelets to take Ryan with us around Europe. Ryan was a drummer :) 

Pretty clover. We took a break and searched for a 4 leaf clover. We didn't find one 

This is a beech tree and those spikey things are beech nuts. They are not pokey and you cannot eat them. 

Almost to the top! 

Panoramic view from the top

Laura relaxing. She said never in a million years would she have expected to climb Loudoun Hill 30 weeks pregnant. 

Another panoramic view 

In the distance there are a bunch of windmills 

Going down the hill was the hardest part. Much harder than going up. I slipped one time but luckily just kind of slid, it wasn't painful, it was actually kind of fun. I landed on a big patch of grass, it was very cushy :) 

After we left Loudoun Hill Laura took us past her old elementary (they call it primary) school. It is being knocked down and rebuilt soon. It's called Gilmourton. 

Next we went to Laura's father's farm. This is his house/farm. He has acres and acres of land with dairy cows and sheep. 

This baby calf wanted something to suck on and Laura let him suck on her hand. It was pretty gross...very slobbery! I had never seen dairy cows in person before. 

Farm puppy :) 

Laura's dad gave us rhubarb from his farm and tonight Laura is going to make rhubarb crumble served with custard for dessert. 

On our way home from the farm we stopped into Strathaven brewery and they gave us a tour and let us taste the beers they made. It takes a day for them to brew the beer. They showed us malt (some was barley, some was wheat they had different kinds) and then they showed us hops. I didn't take pictures of the malt or hops but malt looked like oats and hops looked like potpourri or dried flowers. 

Then we stopped into Strathaven Tea Room for tea and cake. Laura got caramel shortbread (shortbread with caramel and then chocolate), I got shortbread and Kevin got malteaser cake- basically it was a fudgy brownie bar filled with malted milk balls and topped with chocolate. 

We stopped into the pub for a drink. Kevin had a whiskey, and I had a half pint of cider. Laura and Kevin played pool and I had to take a picture of Laura's pool pose, she's adjusted her form for baby Jack :) 

Before we headed to the grocery store and home for the evening we stopped to see the Strathaven monument. The monument is the highest point in Strathaven and in the center of the cemetery. 

In the very middle of the picture far off into the distance that little bump is Loudoun Hill. 

It is 7:30pm right now and it is still very bright outside. We will be having dinner soon. Tonight we are having Haggis and mashed turnips with salad. Then the yummy rhubarb dessert. Since today is so cold we will probably have a fire again tonight. I will post picture of the Haggis and rhubarb crumble dessert later tonight or tomorrow. 

It's now 8:30pm and we just finished dinner, so here it is! 

Haggis is organ meat (lung, heart, and other) and although it isn't bloody it has a bloody taste, I think that is the best way I can describe it. If you've ever had organ meat then I'm sure it's along those lines. It wasn't bad, I liked it okay, but not amazing. The turnip mash and potato mash were very good combined with the haggis. 

The rhubarb crumble with custard was wonderful. Kevin and I both have actually never had rhubarb. Rhubarb is actually bitter and sour but if you add lots of sugar it can be very sweet. It's a sweet and sour taste that combined with the custard and crumble is just wonderful and rich.