We lived and worked in Inverness for 15 years before we decided to change both what we did and where we lived.
The daily commute to and from work, rain or shine, was on foot. In fact, that was one of the reasons we chose to live where we did, so that we could walk to work. It took about 20 minutes each way, about 4 kilometres in total with a bit of downhill on the way there and a bit of uphill on the way back. It was a great way to start and end the working day as there were no traffic jams to contend with, no parking charges and we were getting the health benefits of 20 minutes’ worth of exercise for each journey.
The best bit was the stretch along the River Ness. If we were lucky there would be a dipper, a heron or an otter to watch on the banks of the river. And if it was a nice afternoon we would often take the longer route home taking in more of the River Ness and the Ness Islands. Certainly a great way to unwind from the stresses of the day.
Now we’re running Saddle Mountain Hostel work and home are in the same place. We live above the hostel so there’s definitely no excuse for being late, well no traffic related one anyway! The daily commute is now 13 steps down to get to work and 13 steps up to get home, a journey of no more than 5 seconds each way.
We do miss our daily walk so once we’ve finished getting the hostel ready for the next set of guests we’re making the most of our new surroundings in Invergarry. We have a new river, the Garry, to explore as well as walks in the Glengarry Forest and round Loch Oich.
It’s a different routine than we were used to but we’re getting the hang of it. The only thing we have to remember is to be back in time to open the hostel at 4.30pm!