The Highlands

From Edinburgh, we set off to see the Scottish outback, or as they prefer to call it, the Highlands. We again decided that it was more economical to trade the luxury of coach touring for a hire car, and with it greater flexibility.

Before long, the city was far behind us and we were very much in the Highlands. We drove past Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland and Glencoe, a beautiful valley. Running mountain streams and serene Lochs were everywhere.

We stayed the night at a hostel in Fort William and went to a pub where three young locals held a ‘Ceilidh’ – a 'Gaelic informal social gathering at which there is music, singing, dancing and storying telling'. They told us about Highland history, played the bagpipes, fiddle, tin whistle, piano accordion, and taught us some Highlands dance moves. Daniel is convinced that the dances were derived while sitting round one night with a few pints thinking of ways to make tourists embarrass themselves – but it was heaps of fun nonetheless!

The Highlands are gorgeous. Monique is currently reading Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson and the following quote beautifully sums up the scenery:

For miles around the hills rolled and billowed, like a shaken-out blanket settling on a bed. Country lanes wandered among plump hedgerows, farmsteads and creamy flecks of sheep. In the distance the sea, bright and vast and silvery blue, stretched away to a mountain of tumbling cumulus.