Scottish Highlands

I loved Scotland – the cities, the castles, the tall stone buildings, the hills, the lochs, the heather, the sheep and the accent.
Edinburgh was fascinating with its maze of overlapping streets and tall stone buildings, the turrets and towers on ordinary buildings and the masses of chimney pots. The place oozes history – battles, plague and witches. JK Rowling comes from there and we saw where she used to sit to write the first Harry Potter book. The view she took in and places she created are just what she could see and the inspiration for the Hogwarts School. Sean Connery, Ian Rankin and Muriel Spark the authors, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also come from there.

But further north through into the Highlands to the heart of Scotland you get to the untamed hills, moors and lochs. It is like stepping onto the set of Monarch of the Glen. It is very picturesque - every view is a pattern of purple heather, moss covered stone walls, lush green fields, blue lochs and dark green forests. It is wild, unchanged and beautiful. There are distilleries everywhere and unique Scottish ales in the pubs. I could stay there much longer. The villages are stone, small and quaint, and the people are friendly and just a little crazy which probably comes from living in such an out of the way and extreme place – who else would have national sports of caber tossing, hammer throwing, haggis tossing and wellie tossing – all wearing kilts!