Deb’s thoughts on Scotland and our adventures here ???????

I have really enjoyed our 18 days in Scotland.  

When booking the holiday we didn’t have much of an idea of where to go, but knew we wanted to see as much as possible, so we chose to do a loop and spend time on some of the numerous Scottish Islands that surround the coast.  

Greg did a great job doing most of the driving.  At times it was hard work especially on those two lane roads with only enough room for one car. ?.  But it all seems to work!  

We were on the go most of the time, it would have been nice to have a bit more time to relax along the way. 

I was really looking forward to seeing the Highlands and the North coast, it looked gorgeous in the photos I had seen.    They didn’t disappoint.  The Mountains are magnificent and the scenery along the coast stunning.  I had no idea there were so many freshwater lochs (lakes) 31,460, in Scotland.  But when you look at the map especially of western Scotland, there is a lot of water.  All adds up to beautiful scenery.

I don’t know why, maybe it seemed more remote and adventurous, but I was also looking forward to spending time on the Orkney Isles, they did not disappoint, so full of interesting History, I loved being there.

We loved St Andrews too, it is a great town, would have loved a bit more time there.  We had two nights in Edinburgh but they were at the beginning and end of the trip, so didn’t get to see much, fortunately we have been before.  It is also a great town, much more touristy than Glasgow.  I had read that there was a lot of renewal going on in Glasgow.  You can see that it would once have been very grand in the late 1800’s early 1900’s so many gorgeous buildings that now desperately need a good clean.  It is a working city, from what I have read more attractive to young people than Edinburgh.   On our way out of Glasgow today, we drove to the West area of Glasgow that we had not seen.   Where the Glasgow University is.  It was a lovelier area, better roads, footpaths & gardens, glad we saw this part too.

Loved the Highland cows, we saw many on the Isle of Mull.  And the sheep, but I have loved the sheep in every country we have been, so different from ours.  

Also loved the Scottish place signs in Gaelic especially on the Isles of Lewis, Harris & Skye.  They were only in Gaelic, making it very hard to know where we were going, often having to retrace our steps.  In most other places they were also in English.   In a few places on the Isle of Skye, the poles were there but the signs had been broken off.  All part of the fun.  ?.  It also made it harder for us to remember place names.  Shame we don’t pick up languages quickly like Europeans do.  

There are many European tourists here, especially 20-30’s years old.

I was looking forward to talking to some people with broad Scottish accents unfortunately we only came across a few people who were more difficult to understand.  People tended to find us more difficult to understand than we did them.  

We ate Haggis and enjoyed it, I had Cullen Skink a few times and loved it – a thick soup of smoked haddock, potato and onion/leek. We had neeps with our pie, (neeps are swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed).  Tonight we had  Skirlie with our mains, an old-fashioned savoury oat dish from Scotland made with oats and cooked in butter or dripping, ours had herbs added, never tasted anything like it, was fabulous. Greg has enjoyed drinking the local beer and I the local Gin.

My favourite encounters with people here in Scotland were both in Laundromats ?  The first woman, Yvonne the owner of the business was quite obviously having a bad day, as it turns out she was having a bad 18 months.  I asked her if she was ok, she told us her story and it was obvious she was struggling.   I was relieved when we went back the next day that she was brighter and had put steps in place to hopefully make life a bit easier.  She is often in my thoughts.  

The second person, Nas I met 2 days ago.  She was also the owner of the laundromat, she is from Pakistan and been in Glasgow for 13 years.   I told her I would like to visit Pakistan, she told me it is beautiful.  Nas helped me get the washing going, then she asked me if I would help her fold a sheet, which I happily did.  Then we moved onto fitted sheets, she showed me how to fold them.  No idea why I didn’t  know there was such a simple way to do it.  We did about 4 together so I am somewhat hopeful I will remember when we get home ? she also showed me how to iron a quilt cover, much easier than the awkward way I do it.  I enjoyed the laughs we had, we hugged when we said goodbye ? These connections with people are some of my most enduring travel memories. 

There is no doubt Scotland has some amazing history and scenery, but it doesn’t have the infrastructure for tourists.  It doesn’t have enough parking, has no toilets at tourist sights.  Out of the towns up north and on the islands the roads are one lane, but for both directions.  But it is also charming and unspoilt because of this.

Scotland appears to be England’s poor cousin. I would think Billions of dollars would need to be spent here for the buildings and infrastructure to be of a similar standard to that of England.  I can understand why they want to secede from the UK.  Will be interesting to see what happens.  

Have loved Scotland and the Scottish people, so glad we came. ? ???????

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