Scotland: Our Highland Fling
At Loch Duich en route to the beautiful Isle of Skye
In Fiction and Film, Scotland has been portrayed as a heartbreakingly beautiful country. Traveling through it, as we did in August 2008, we saw its splendor for ourselves. A travel writer in the New York Times once wrote that in Scotland, the most redundant question is: “Which is the scenic route?” Indeed, all of Scotland is picture-perfect. A land of countless lochs (lakes) and gently rolling glens (valleys), of amerthyst heather-covered mountain slopes and emerald-green pasture, driving throught it, no matter which route one takes, brings nothing but gasps to one’s lips.
Tourist brochures present rather cliched images of the country–tartan kilts, shortbread, drams of whiskey, grouse hunting. But, of course, there is more to the country than these well-known concepts. Yes, it was built on the strength of its rival clans, many of whom lived high up on the Mountains slopes–known as the Highlands. They did test their strength against one another in competitions that came to be called the Highland Games. They did use the waters of their local rivers (the Spey and the Dee) to distill into whiskey using malt to give it a distinctive smokey flavor. They did mince the livers and kidneys of their sheep, flavor them generously with pepper and stuff them into sheeps’ stomachs to create the well-known delicacy called ‘haggis’ which is the subject of so many jokes. Few people, however, make fun of the sublime smoked salmon which is also fished out of Scotland’s rivers or of the succulence of the steaks that are cut from Aberdeen Angus beef.
On our travels through Scotland, we found scenery that enchanted us but also history that fascinated and intrigued us. Behind every ruined castle that clings to a hill top or juts out into a lake, there is a story of bravery or treachery, of loyalty and love. No wonder Shakespeare’s Macbeth still haunts and Braveheart, the story of William Wallace, stole away all the honors at the Oscars. It is a land of stories–some fanciful such as that of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, others real, such as the murder of Mary Queen of Scott’s secretary Darnley in her very presence–and of storytellers– some of the greatest literary masters of all time, Sir Walter Scott , Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns and J. K. Rowling who created Harry Potter and his friends, were all Scots!
Llew and I had a lovely time in Scotland. We stayed in modest Bed and Breakfast establishments almost everywhere, choosing farms and fields filled with cows and hay barns, and cottages overlooking the mistiest mountains in order to experience a lifestyle that is still lived and still authentic and completely different from our own. We awoke to “full Scottish breakfasts” that included kippers and oatcakes, porridge sweetened with heather honey and Dundee marmalade that we spread on wonderful home-baked bread. Yes, we did try ‘haggis’ and found it palatable if not delectable and we did enjoy the hospitality of a people that were eager to share their culture with us. We became aware of a fierce Anglo-Scots rivality even in this day and age and of the pride of the Scots’ people particularly in light of the great victories in the Beijing Olympics of Chris Hoy.
Come with us now on our travels to the country across the English border and experience with us some of the most incredible episodes of our lives–such as coming face-to-face with the entire Royal Family at Balmoral, their summer residence. And that, I promsie, is only the beginning!
To follow us on our travels, plesase click on the Edinburgh link.