It’s official; Scotland is our favourite place in the UK. From highlands to islands, across moors and lochs, at the Highland Games and sheepdog trials, we’ve had a hoot-mon!
It seems people fight over Scotland a lot. We arrived just weeks before the referendum on independence from the rest of the UK.
The polls seemed pretty evenly split until the day dawned and the No campaign won through. But the ballot boxes had barely been stored away before voices of regret began to be heard.
More than 250 years ago Bonnie Prince Charlie must have had a few regrets as his army became bogged on Culloden moor and was routed by the English – sealing the fate of a nation to this day.
We had no regrets in Scotland. The sun shone almost daily – bringing the bluest skies and gorgeous views from the Highlands and Islands alike.
We sailed over the sea to Skye; hiked up to the Black Cuillin and out to Neist Point lighthouse; met the most majestic sheep we have ever seen and much, much more.
Oban has a couple of stand out landmarks. The first is a folly – the huge Coliseum style building looming over the town and the whisky distillery that gave the town its name and occasionally gives its scent.
In Oban we met an American woman making ready to compete in the Masters International Highland Games the following week in Inverness. We couldn’t resist the trip.
At the risk of sounding dismissive – Highland games revolve around throwing unfeasible long, heavy or awkward objects around.
Sometimes the size, shape and requirements are too much to handle.
It was a Masters tournament, so that means over the age of 40. The oldest competitor was 84!
It was incredible and topped off with a world record simultaneous caber-tossing extravaganza!
Inverness is a lovely city – with the fish-filled River Ness running through it and of course the infamous monster-filled loch close by. It has a handsome castle,
the most fantastic arts centre, where we saw the premiere of the Nick Cave film, 20,000 days on Earth , took lovely river walks,
complete with mid-stream wooded islands stuffed with proper toadstools and the most moving pet cemetery. We were very taken with Inverness!
There are many more photos in the slideshow than we’ve featured in the blog – so please, raise a glass to Scotland and enjoy the beauty of the place with us. If you still haven;t supped enough of the spirit of Scotland, there are even more photos on our Flickr page – so have a peek at those too!