Dropping Veronica off at Camp...

We took the only train that afternoon that stops at the Outward Bound train station. After a few wrong turns, we managed to find the path to the base camp. Veronica was thrilled to learn that they had WiFi; she promised to send us daily updates, but stay off of Facebook. One of the instructors took us on a tour. The facilities were impressive.

Since Veronica was the first to arrive in her room, she got to pick her bed. Ironically, the other two girls were both Dutch; the three of them got along great. I was lucky because I was able to catch a ride into Fort William, where I was spending the night since there were no way to get to the airport. The next morning, I took a bus to the airport; the route was different than the train and was also lovely as it crossed the mountains.

The Highlands...

After we dropped off our bags at The Prince’s House Hotel, we walked down to Loch Shiel for a picnic lunch.

Then we walked up a nearby hill so we could watch a steam train travel across the Glenfinnan Viaduct, as the Hogwarts Express does in Harry Potter. The viaduct was built in 1898 entirely out of concrete and is featured on the Scottish £10 note (side note: while the Scottish will accept British pounds, the British won’t accept Scottish pounds).

When I booked our overnight stay in Glenfinnan, I didn’t realize that there wasn’t actually a village. We had a great dinner at the hotel and weren’t surprised that the innkeeper suggested that we catch a train to a bigger town the next day. We went into Fort William, at the foot of Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain. We wandered the main street with its cute souvenir shops, then took a walk to Old Inverlochy Castle. Dating to the 13th century, it was abandoned in 1654.

The Train to the Highlands...

We left Glasgow early Friday morning to catch a train to Glenfinnan, in the Highlands. The journey took a little over four hours, which meant Veronica had plenty of time for a nap.

Scotland is unusual in that there are train stations to very remote villages. The scenery along the way was beautiful.

The reason that I chose to go to Glenfinnan was because our train would cross this viaduct, which was featured in three of the Harry Potter movies as the students rode the Hogwarts Express to their wizarding school.

Mother-Daughter Trip to Glasgow...

After researching summer camps, Veronica discovered that Outward Bound, which Jimmy attended in North Carolina during college, ran an adventure camp in the Highlands of Scotland. Originally, she was going to fly over by herself and take a bus to the camp, but then a friend mentioned that it would be a lovely train ride from Glasgow and I decided to accompany her. We spent two nights in Glasgow right in the heart of the shopping district. After our first day of shopping and an evening at the cinema, we spent the second day sightseeing. We stopped at Glasgow University to check out the Environmental Science Department, which was very underwhelming.

Veronica was happy to find a Tardis (the time machine from the BBC show Dr. Who); this version serves as an ice cream shop.

We visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which was in a great purpose-built building from 1901 that houses an impressive collection owned by the public; it is the most visited museum in the UK outside of London. We also visited the Gallery of Modern Art, shown with its statue of the Duke of Wellington that continuously wears an orange traffic cone.

Cool Abandoned Staircases...

What nice ironwork on this staircase.

This staircase actually used to be inside with a wall of windows next to it.

Now it’s just the perfect place to take photos with just a touch of M.C. Escher. Clearly Veronica doesn’t have a fear of heights.

Urbexing in Brussels...

Jimmy has always had a passion about exploring abandoned buildings. He considers urbexing contemporary archaeology. He spotted this factory outside of Brussels from the train and couldn’t wait to explore it with Veronica. When I expressed some nervousness, he assured me that there were no “No Trespassing” signs and the place was wide open. They took their bikes on the train for a day trip in early July.

The factory used to make heat exchangers. They ran into another urbexer while there. Veronica took dozens of photos and these are a few of my favorite.

Some folks have used the place to dump household trash. How sad that this photo has ended up there. 

Another Great Expedition...

Veronica’s GPS proved how far they hiked

There were over 40 students going on expeditions, so the school chartered a bus to bring them to the Ardennes. The groups all camped in separate locations the first night, but camped together next to a river the second night.

Before the final day of hiking

Veronica was the team captain and was in charge of communications with the accessors and keeping the group motivated. There were four checkpoints per day, so adults were keeping tabs on them, and several places where they could pick up additional water.

It rained on them one day, but luckily never poured.

Goofing around at the first checkpoint

Veronica is hoping that Mr. Le Heux, who’s in charge of the school’s International Award program, is going to assist in planning a Gold Expedition next summer in France. In the meantime, he’ll use Veronica’s new video to help promote the International Award for the next set of Year 10 kids.