Frades Island, Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Well, I have not done much hiking this year as I said, but have done some lovely trips in nature that can also be considered hiking and fancied posting about them.

I’ve been to Brazil recently and been to Salvador in Bahia. From there, I took a boat that went to two islands: Frades and Itaparica.

The Frades island (picture above) is one of the most beautiful, untouched, natural and empty beaches I’ve ever seen. The island population is 60 people.

To take this picture I had to get out of the tourist restaurant and climb up a little hill, so it can be considered a hot “hike” under 41 degrees Celsius.

Hiking in Scotland 2

On the next day of my trip to Scotland we went down to the seaside. It was beautiful, nice and warm. I am amazed how such a small region can have such extreme differences in temperature.

The best thing about this little walk we did on the Scottish coast was that it was totally unexpected for me. When you hear about Scotland, especially back in Brazil where I am from, we hear about the Loch Ness, the pubs, the gloomy scenery, men with skirts.

Try to tell a Brazilian friend:

Me: - Scotland had beautiful beaches.
RandomBrazilianFriend: - Seriously?

We understand there is some seaside, but our ignorance will make us imagine a very dirty cold port or something.

Scotland in the summer – if you are lucky – can be as beautiful as Spain.

Hiking in Scotland

I did not post in a little while... busy life in London did not allow me to. Also, I've not been hiking as much this year, only a little bit in Scotland in the summer. I posted a picture. Yes, it was summer.

We flew to Inverness and drove up to a village called Ulapool, it was quite nice, full of fisherman's boats, lovely seafood. I had never been to Scotland before and I think this was a good place to start, the middle of nowhere.

In the evening I tried the "Haggis" and my Scottish friends were joking about it because I had no idea what it was, so they told me it was an angry animal that lived on the Scottish Munros.

On the next day we drove to one of the Munros. The weather was amazing, nice and warm, until we were about half way through we could only see a few meters in front of us and a neverending bunch of sharp stones to climb. Like a good experienced hiker I brought my gloves, woolen had and waterproof jacket and everyone was laughing, but I had to use everything in the end. I felt like I was in December again.

Pretty hard hike I would say, very good for those who like a real challenge.

Luckily, we also had plenty of hot tea to drink when we reached the top. We were walking along the ridgeline, but the clouds were so heavy that we could only see the beautiful and dramatic scenery for a few minutes and then everything would get clouded again.

On the way down the weather opened up and we could see a bit more. Also, I loved the tiny frogs that we saw all over the monroe.

On the next day we had an easier walk and much nicer on the coast of Scotland, I will post the pictures later.