Has the great advantage of being very close to Edinburgh. Just jump on a train! [grin!]
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The birthplace of two very important people: Hugh McDiarmid, the poet, and Dave McKenzie, the very famous 'Guide to Scotland' writer. Apart from this there's not that much to say about it unless you happen to pass through the town on the last Friday in July, which is when the Common Riding occurs. The Common Riding is something which happens in most of the towns in the Scottish Borders round about this time of year. It's a traditional festival whose purpose is to reaffirm the boundaries of the Common Land. A local man is elected as the 'cornet' or leader, and he is presented at a special ceremony with the Common Riding Flag, which he must carry with him for the whole day on horseback as he performs his duties. He is accompanied on this errand by literally hundreds and hundreds of other people, pressing into service every vaguely equine creature for miles around! The whole day is quite a spectacle, with parades through the streets by the cornet, his left and right-hand men, and his followers. There are also all sorts of other events on the same day, including parades by various bands including the Langholm Pipe Band, all sorts of races, a fairground and, towards the end of the day before the closing ceremony when the cornet hands the flag back for another year, a chance to dance a polka in the streets with the locals. A really great day, and highly recommended if you're around.
As you can imagine, on the day after the Common Riding, the streets are a horse dung lover's paradise!
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Groan. Well, if you come to Scotland you've got to visit Loch Ness, right? Most visitors to Loch Ness come away slightly disappointed, because despite the fact they may have brought the very latest in photographic and quasi-relational dual-mode Zarkian image-intensifying equipment, they don't actually get to see the Loch Ness Monster. This, however, is only because they don't know how to look for him. There are several restaurants with an excellent outlook over the loch so that you can continue your surveillance of the Loch for Nessie in comfort as you masticate your meal. Despite this superb view of the water below, unfortunately you have little chance of seeing the monster from here. What you really need to do is select a cloudless night with a reasonably bright moon. Hire a small rowing boat from the Laird of the Loch, Angus McTavish, and row out to the exact geometric centre of the loch. Then, at midnight exactly, strip off all your clothes except your left sock and stand upright in the boat singing 'Flower of Scotland' in the key of D Major. The monster will then probably rise out of the loch in front of you and pose for photographs and, if you have a Polaroid camera, will be very happy to autograph them for you as well.
If the monster doesn't come, it's probably because he doesn't like the colour of your sock.
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Assynt area around Lochinver
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Very few visitors to Scotland make it this far up because, while public transport is pretty good as far north as Inverness, it kinda fades out a bit when you get right up here. Although, having said that, there is a company called Rapsons who I think run a bus service to Lochinver. All in all, though, it's by far the best option if you can manage it to see this area by car.
If you look at the map of Scotland earlier on in this guide you'll see that the West coast of the country has a much less smooth outline than does the East Coast. This is because the prevailing wind and hence the weather itself comes in from the West. England is sheltered from most of this by Ireland, but there's really not much west of Scotland until you reach America, so the weather comes right in from the Atlantic Ocean and blatters the West coast, giving it its rugged scenery. This ruggedness is particularly apparent in this area of the country. It's very stark, rocky country, with not very much in the way of vegetation except grass and a few trees. But if you're a fan of hillwalking or beautiful deserted beaches then this is the place. It really is one of my favourite parts of Scotland.
One of the first things you'll notice, even if you're not ordinarily someone who gets turned on by hills, is the incredible domed peak of Suilven which can be seen from miles around. It's a really unusually shaped hill and, although it's quite a longish walk in from the nearest road, makes for a great day out and good views when you get to the top.
If you're looking for a walk that takes only a few hours but has got lots of satisfying scrambly bits at the top, then check out Stac Pollaidh. (I'm not sure if I've spelled this right!! It's Gaelic, and is pronounced 'Stack Polly') This mountain is not very high, but it's right by the road and has a really excellent rugged ridge walk at the top. Very highly recommended!
Actually, it's difficult to know what to write and what to leave out on the Assynt area. There are so many brilliant places to walk and camp wild round here if you're that way inclined. I have some really good memories of camping near Achmelvich beach and having a barbecue on the beautiful white sand with a bunch of friends. We'd brought along a small bottle of whisky for the evening festivities: rather a cheap one unfortunately. The brand name was 100 Pipers, and I wouldn't recommend it for any purpose other than the one we used it for that night - pouring on the kindling to try to get a fire going!
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Glencoe is a spectacular glaciated valley, or glen. It's steeped in history, some of which I will now attempt to relate from my leaky memory.
The main story you will hear about the area is likely to be concerned the 'Massacre of Glencoe', the victims of which were the MacDonald clan, who used to inhabit the place. I think the story goes that the MacDonalds had made peace with the neighbouring Campbell clan, but despite this the Campbells swooped down on the unsuspecting MacDonalds one night and slaughtered huge numbers of people. Pretty nasty stuff. There's even a folk song which has been written about it. If you're interested in hearing this song and others like it in the atmosphere of a good ol' climbers' bar, I really recommend you phone up the Clachaig Inn and find out their forthcoming schedule as far as live music is concerned. The atmosphere in the Clachaig is really friendly and as well as listening to any folk music which may be floating around you'll have no trouble in striking up a conversation with one of the locals who'll be happy to help you out with his local knowledge. There are lots of places to stay in the area, including I think the Clachaig itself. There's also a campsite and a Youth hostel within walking distance.
A good time to visit the Clachaig is just at the tail end of the Aonach Eagach ridge walk. Start from the south edge of the ridge and you'll be able to end up in the pub for a pint! You can gauge how you're doing along the way by the point at which you really start craving that icy cold lager (or whatever you prefer) which you know is just waiting for you at the Clachaig. The Aonach Eagach can get a bit freaky in places, because there are rather long drops to fall down if you make a mistake! The skill level required varies along its length from plain old walking to a fairly easy scramble in places. But don't worry - I've been along that walk several times with lots of people, none of whom have had any pretences at being any sort of rock climbers, and they've been fine. This walk gives you such a buzz!
Even if you're not into all this walking stuff, drive through Glencoe on your way up towards Fort William and Loch Ness. It's quite a place.
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The Orcadians (which is what the residents of the islands are called) consider themselves to be more or less a race apart. Rather than saying 'I'm taking the ferry down to the mainland to visit my Auntie Aileen in John O' Groats', they'd say 'I'm taking the ferry down to Scotland...', as if it were a separate country.
The Orkney accent is a really nice soft sing-song lilt and is actually quite a contrast to that spoken by their cousins across the water in ... er... Scotland. They have quite a few of their own words as well. Much of this comes from the region's Viking history and indeed, there are quite a few interesting historical sites on the islands, such as stone circles, an ancient burial mound, and even a stone-age (I think!) village called Skara Brae on the Orkney mainland.
You can get to Orkney either by ferry from Scrabster on the north mainland of Scotland to Stromness, or by plane from Wick. The planes are operated by a small independent company called Loganair, who also operate flights to many of the Western Isles. I flew from Wick to Kirkwall, which is the 'capital' of Orkney, once on that smallest commercial aircraft you can imagine. I think it seated about six people. There was no partition between us passengers and the pilot - he just got into one of the side doors of the cockpit, leaned over the back of his seat with a friendly smile, and said 'Right! A quick look at the safety regulation card on the seat pocket in front of you and we'll be off!' It was excellent - and we got great views because it was only about a 10 minute flight and so it wasn't worth climbing up to any sort of an altitude.
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| I can't write about the island of Islay with the authority of personal experience because I ain't been there. But I'm pretty familiar with its most famous export - whisky! Pronounced 'Eye-la', the island has a particularly peaty soil and this gives flavour to the water which is used to make the whisky. |
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