PART I:
1st highlight: DISARMING THE PIKEY behind Loch Earn
OK... so my journey to St Fillan was a total fluke. It all started when I was in Edinburgh, I had planned a 5 night stay. The first 2 nights at a hostel off of Blackfriar Rd (right in the middle of all the action), and then 3 nights at the Artroch Hostel (not too far from all the action). The stone buildings are carved with such detail it takes your breath away~! Streets were flooded with people from all parts of the UK and other countries to participate in the fringe festival. There was barely room to walk without having to turn and twist!
On the second night, it was lightly sprinkling while I walked around the flabbergasting town of Edinburgh. There were many little and big shows on the streets... I saw a one guy doing a fire show, a group of amazing dancers from Nigeria ( I stayed watched and danced around by myself with the crowd for a good 20 minutes), and what looked like a older flapper lady doing a puppeteer act with a penguin (no idea....). I strolled along still feeling the couple glasses of wine with dinner at Deacon Brodie's when I started hearing a faint beautiful acoustic guitar being played from somewhere ahead. As I got closer I saw this old guy sitting on the street with his guitar case open hoping for some tips. No one was watching his show :( so  I reached into my pocket to throw some change in his case and sat on the ground alongside him for about 45 minutes. I just sat in thought as I watched people continuously walking by. In that moment I realised, I didn't want to spend anymore time in Edinburgh. I didn't want to spend 5 days of my vacation seeing people and buildings, I can do that in California or other states of the US. I wanted to see mountains, rolling hills, animals, I wanted to breath fresh air and bask in the sunlight.
The following day I was to check out of Smart City Hostel on Blackfriars and relocate to the ArtRoch. I was hoping ArtRoch would cancel my reservation with such short notice and not charge the card I made the reservation with. I walked in and talked to the reservations desk, thank goodness they managed to cancel my reservation without any fees. I walked out feeling SO relieved. I had NO idea where I was going, all I knew is that I was headed North anyway and would eventually find a place to stay.. and if I didn't I could just sleep a couple hours in the train, or perhaps even sleep outside by a tree somewhere with my small luggage until the next day when I had energy to search for somewhere to sleep. I really didn't care about finding a place to sleep.. I just wanted to be away from people and the city.