Scotland

There are sometimes places you visit that surpass what you expected and because of the particular time in your life that really means something special.

I’d never been further north than Carlisle until this week. Now the furthest north I’ve been is Portree on the Isle of Skye. I’ve seen parts of the last true European ‘wilderness’ area and it was almost a spiritual experience. Really! The mountains in Scotland are amongst the oldest in the world (in fact, they may be THE oldest). Mountains get worn down by the ravages of time, so those mountains of the Highlands were once gargantuan, as they still look impressive today. They wouldn't be there, otherwise.

It was all so awesome. Driving through Glencoe my friends found it highly amusing that the chewing gum dropped out of my mouth. That was a very poignant and stirring place, not least because of the memory of the 1692 massacre.

We all stayed in Fort William, which is where we celebrated Halloween. I like Fort William, actually, although the presence of a MacDonald’s restaurant seemed inappropriate some how! The reds and golds of Autumn literally seemed to glow in the late October sun, and the soul lifting sight of shadows of the clouds skirting over the mountains made me wish I'd come here sooner. Shit night life though! No, seriously, there are some nice pubs and everyone is really friendly. In fact we visited a few far flung pubs and had a right good knees up chatting to amiable locals in the middle of nowhere. Really in the middle of nowhere. One poor barman on Skye hasn't been to the cinema in years, as the nearest one is 75 miles away!

Loch Ness was great to see, and I was really impressed with the ruins of Urquhart castle. A new visitors centre has been put up and it all very informative. The loch itself is very bleak and lonely looking and I can respect the ancient fear of the lake and the belief in the ‘Kelpie’- the lake monsters that dwelt there…. and perhaps still do…

The rocks and pebbles I could see through the water near the shore soon disappeared into blackness, as the depths plummet steeply into a cold abyss, supposed to be around 1,000 feet at it’s deepest. There’s more water than all the lakes in Britain put together. It’s deeper than the North Sea too. Even at around a mile across I wouldn’t swim a width! A length would be over 20 miles, so don’t even consider that one.

Eilean Donan castle was the best, on our way to Skye. I tried unsuccessfully to re-create the title sequence to “The New Avengers” with my friends, but no one was having any of it! It was in “Highlander” too, I believe. We went it and it was all very posh. The family there were preparing for a wedding so us visitors all felt a little bit in the way to be honest.

Skye was breathtakingly beautiful. It was bleak and remote with hardly any traffic and buildings. Words cannot do my feelings justice. I was truly humbled. To see those kinds of sights is to feel humbled and thankful to the universe for giving you eyes. If I hadn’t seen the sunshine, I wouldn’t mind the rain as the song goes. But even the rain creates some wonderful sights of it’s own up here anyway. The Misty Isle is Skye’s other name. I'm not sure I should go to Arran, by the way. There's stone circles everywhere. I'd never leave! I did get to see a burial cairn this time round, though.

On the way back I went shopping in Glasgow and had lunch in Wetherspoons. Really nice city, Glasgow. Remarkably stylish buildings of course, and I love Mackintosh’s stuff. I like the red brick houses too. Is it James or Pam who live there? Very lucky anyway…

I do remember looking at the vast uncompromising and bleak face of a mountain and feeling that perhaps we are more resilient than even the hardiest looking rock face. I felt more eternal than the sun to light my days and the moon in the night. And if I can feel that, there’s always a chance to overcome the odds and aim for a brighter tomorrow…. and perhaps far beyond that too. Nature always does this to me, especially when I see it in its untamed beauty. That's true Power, echoing at you from millions of years past and tempting you to unfold it’s secrets- and your own. It feels bittersweet, but joyful. My cup runneth over! These British Isles of ours never fail to surprise me.

So I left Scotland with a smile on my face and belief in a personal promise for tomorrow.

And you can’t say fairer than that.

PS I did see the shitty side of Glasgow too! You guys have some seriously seedy looking bars and nightclubs up there!