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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Friday, 13 July 2001
Edinburg --> North Berwick, Scotland (UK)

From Mark Southgate in Scottish Edinburgh to Sylvia and Peter Beaumont in North-Berwick...

As I had been working till 4 am this morning I woke up at noon. On the hallway of his apartment I bumped into Mark who was just preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

He woke up around 11. As an independent Internet man he's used to work late and sleep in. There is no boss to tell him not to do that.

After a nice shower I joined him at the sandwich breakfast and as I was going to prepare my ride to my next stop in North Berwick, he offered me to pay for the £ 3.80 train ticket. "Wow, thanks!"
"This will just give you some more time on the internet."

So that's again what I did. I could have been walking around to see more of Edinburgh, but as my php-administration system still not works as it should be, I need extra time to update different section of my website.

(People have all rights to complain if they've put up a link to my website and I haven't linked back to them -as I promised- for a month…)

At 3 o'clock we had 'lunch' and around 4.30 pm I got everything packed again and we hit the road to the train station.

Mark enjoyed my staying over, as he wrote on the message board. If I ever pass Edinburgh again in the future, I am welcome to pass his place again. Very generous.

In the meantime he would get to know Edinburgh a bit better. He has just been living there for five weeks. He graduated college in York and he moved up here, as his main hobby is rock climbing, which can be done very well in Scotland.

My train departed at 5.07pm and I thanked Mark for his hospitality.

The trip to North Berwick only lasted a little hour. At the little station in this town, I phoned up my hostess Sylvia Beaumont. Her husband Peter picked me up within five minutes.

They both live with their son Richard in a little cottage, just outside of North Berwick, called The Heugh Steading.

Sylvia works at the local copy shop and Peter works at the nearby power plant. Silvia calls him her own Homer Simpson…

They heard about my project on BBC Radio 2 on Steve Wright In The Afternoon. And simply thought that it would be a nice idea to invite me over in North Berwick so I'd see this part of the country too!

On the 9th day of this project, my hostess Guusje in Tilburg took me to a concert of the ex-Marillion singer Fish. He even seemed to live 10km south of here and Sylvia knows his father pretty good! It's a small world.

Just after my arrival I joined their dinner and I ate my first Cottage Pie. Sylvia really looked up as I took photographs, even of the food, and she immediately paid back by taking photos of me.

After dinner Peter took me up the big hill in their back garden, the Heugh. It is an extinct volcano from before the Ice Age, just like the one in Edinburgh. The Ice took away all the dirt and just left the hard rock mountain as it was.

The climb up there took us half an hour. And on top I really had to find back my breath again. But what I got in return was a bright and clear sky view. I could see all the way to Bass Rock, the famous rock in the water, where over hundreds of gannets make the black rock look white.

Back home at the cottage, looking out over the yellow gold grain fields surrounding their cottage, Sylvia and Peter introduced me with a couple of their neighbors - all amazed by my travel method.

The Gift from Mark in Edinburgh was a funny picture of smiling toad-stools in Scotland, together with Italian honey and an original self-made African bookmark.

With Sylvia and Peter watching television, I hooked on their internet and found my way back to my reports again. Sylvia was shocked to see me receiving just 200 emails, but I am getting used to it…

Good night North Berwick!

Ramon.


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