FIELD NOTES FROM SCOTLAND’S HIGHLANDS

 A rare Church of the Open Road international sojourn

Imagine a place where the landscape is green year round.  Where cities are dotted with 500-year-old churches and the rural hillside and dale constructs might be four times that old. 

Where smarter-than-I border collies expertly herd clusters of sheep commanded only by the sharp whistle or yip of the shepherd. 

Where rivers and lakes are crossed on 100-year-old ferries with vehicle platforms turn-tabled by hand enabling drivers to enter and exit from the same end of the vessel. 

Where rural roads are single lane and drivers patiently wait in pull out spaces for on-comers to pass. And where folks greet one another with a genuine smile and a kind hello.

This is what Candi and I experienced on our two-week relatively unguided tour of the Scottish Highlands.

  

 

Facilitated by the British travel company McKinlay-Kidd, our transportation ~ generally rail…

…and lodging was conveniently arranged. Booked into small B&Bs and boutique hotels, we were able to fill our days with walks through pastures and hillsides… 

...visits to 2500-year-old ruins…

…and explorations of the non-touristy aspects of the vaunted Isle of Skye.

A successful vacation is at once relaxing and enlightening. On our visit we discovered that the island was sculpted by a combination of volcanic uplifts and glacial scouring.  We learned that the British Isles, like the USA, is a land of immigrants dating back to the times before any Roman conquest reached its shores. 

The centuries-old sturdy rock bridges, we were told, were engineered by a military man ironically named (and this is true) General Wade. 

We were told that the tartans worn by various clans may have been more of a marketing ploy than actual garb fashioned by or for actual families ~ a bit of a jolt to Candi whose maiden name is Stewart. 

And the Scotch whisky. That’s right: whiskey spelled with no ‘e’. The nose and the flavors vary by region ~ I’ll have the highly peated, thank you very much ~ and the worst thing one can do with a wee dram of good single malt is sip it while puffing on a cigar. Kills the flavor profile and nuance. “Save the cigar for ‘yer’ Kentucky bourbon,” I was told by the fella in this photo.

While Cloverdalians were enduring 100+ August degree heat, we were rather enjoying 60 degree intermittent rain and wind.  

Complaint?  Heck no! The warmth of the people, their courteousness and their smiles prompted me to ask, “Did we really want to return to a sweltering Clover Springs?” 

With welcome sunshine evident on only two days of our Highlands sojourn, return home we did, but with profound appreciation for the geography, history and lovely people of this enchanting, far-off land. (And the whisky.)

o0o

Details?  More info on McKinlay-Kidd? (https://www.mckinlaykidd.com) They offer a wealth of different packages for folks wishing to independently explore the whole or the parts of United Kingdom. Check ‘em out!

 

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Church of the Open Road Press