Scotland--lower Borders, Edinburgh, Dunkeld and Loch Ness

Other than Durham, my blog has been less about the specific places I have visited, and more about life in Europe and the UK, primarily in comparison to the states.

Being in Scotland, however, has changed that a bit.  What a country!  My first trip to Scotland was with my friend and colleague, David Byrne, into the lower borders.  As some may recall from an earlier post, on this trip I got to hike with the famous Ramblers.  It was also, by coincidence, the same weekend the notorious Naked Rambler was moving through our "neck of the wood," as they say.  In terms of geography, the lower borders sit just around and above Hadrian's Wall--which my brother Warren and I visited in November.

This post is about the three places in Scotland I have been over the past two weeks--starting with last week, when my wife and daughter and I made our way up to Edinburgh.  I made this same trip back in November, as well, with my brother Warren.

Why Vacation in Scotland?

 

I don't know if many of you are fans of or know about the comedy show Little Britain.  If you are not, you absolutely have to start watching it.  All three seasons are on Netflix, and some of the bits can be seen on YouTube.  It is some of the freshest and funniest humor I have seen in a while.  What also makes it great fun is that it is British humor, which is not drenched in the level of irony that post-Seinfeld, American humor is--which I also love, but do enjoy a break from.  The Little Britain stuff is good old fashioned, plain, stupid funny.  In fact, my life, as most know, and as many of you have seen reading this blog, is one big ironic joke--ouch!--so a break from that as well, which doesn't come often, is appreciated.


Anyway, on Little Britain they do a few bits on Scotland that are hilarious.  Every time the narrator begins one of the Scotland bits, he always says something like, "Scotland, Scotland, Scotland.  Oh, how I love Scotland,... where at least ten people a year visit for holiday."  ha ha ha.

So, why mention this bit of humor?  Well, because of the truth behind it; or, rather, the false sense of the reality to which it points.  When we told friends, family and colleagues we were going to Scotland for Christmas holiday, people just sort of shook their heads.  Why would we want to spend such precious time and money in such a cold place, up in the moors and lochs and mist and rain and snow?  Exactly. Why wouldn't anybody want to spend time in the land of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and Beatrix Potter and the Hobbit and Macbeth and Dungeons and Dragons and elves and dwarfs and myth and legend?  Right?  What a crazy waste of time.  Case in point: Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is one of the most haunting and yet beautiful cities in which I have ever been. There is something about the place that is so moving.

I have been here twice, now, and I still struggle to describe it.  It has something to do with the brooding weather and the turbulent sea and the spiked hills and the Gothic architecture and the Scottish people that makes it so rich in culture and history and mystery.  It has hints of Vienna and Paris, and yet is edgy with Scottish ghosts, an incredible castle (shown to the right), haunting cemeteries and a dungeons and dragons past--all of which makes it more wild and more older European than the rest of the UK.  And then there is the city's new town (one of the first modern cities) and the University.  The city is, after all, also the home to such great moderns as David Hume and Adam Smith.  Wow! 

Dunkeld

From Edinburgh we moved onward, now with my brother John and a few more friends and family, to Dunkeld.  Here is what Wikipedia says:

"Dunkeld is a small town in Strathtay, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is about 15 miles north of Perth on the eastern side of the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands and on the opposite (north) side of the Tay river from the Victorian village of Birnam.  It is also about 45 minutes from Edinburgh."

Situated in the heart of Scotland, Dunkeld feels like some sort of fairytale world.  In fact, I am sometimes so overwhelmed with emotion from this place that I do not know what to do other than freak out.  There are forests so thick with trees and pines that they are pitch black in the middle of the day; then there are trees with all sorts of fungus on and hanging from them, making them look as if they are Tree Ents in disguise.  Here, for example, is a panorama I made of the Tay National Forest.  I think it says it all.

 

Inverness and the Loch Ness

Finally, yesterday, we made our way up into northern Scotland to travel along its major lochs and glacial valleys, all the way up to the small sea town of Inverness.  It is at moments such as these I wish I was a poet or a great painter or photographer, in hopes of somehow catching hold, if only for a fleeting moment, the beauty I saw yesterday.  Here is my best shot.

Imagine driving through the million year old remains of a receding glacier, with jagged mountains beaten down into large rolling hills.  The sun is shining, but through a dense fog that sits about a couple hundred feet above the ground, never really ever leaving, with mist coming up from the ground.  Everything is green, really deep green, with gnarled trees along the mountain edges, covered with moss; and dense dark woods and lochs, deep and cold.  The temperature fluctuates between freezing and the low 40s; the air is damp, leaving you bone cold, always wanting a cup of hot tea with some scotch in it, perhaps, and you can always see your breath.  And all around you is the sea, which you catch glimpses of, here and there, and the ocean air, a smell that is almost too difficult to describe, mixed with the burning of coal to heat homes.  And, it just keeps going and going 360 degrees in any direction, as you move along winding roads around which you can barely see.  Then, as if that is not enough, through all the fog, the sun is somehow shining, but in the oddest ways, producing the wildest colors: bright blues at ground level, as if the sky was perpendicular to the ground; wild oranges and yellows; and rainbows everywhere.  I have never seen so many rainbows!  To top it all off, there are the snow peaked mountains and hills, with clouds dropping snow on them, unable to get lose, just hanging there snowing.  And, finally, there are the little towns through which you pass, lost in time, somewhere between a hundred and a thousand years ago.  No wonder they believe their major loch, the Ness, has a monster.  Actually, the better question is, why wouldn't it.

    So, that was the experience I had.  My family in the car, however, found my response a focal point for their humor.  See, every few minutes or so, as we drove, I would yell out:


"Wow, look at that!"
"Did you guys see that?"
"Have you ever seen a tree that beautiful?"
"Damn, look at those colors!"
"Look at the sky."
"Look at that mountain top and the snow, dang."

After a while, I guess, this started to get on everyone's nerves--which is understandable.  So, everyone started teasing me, saying, "Hey, Brian, look at the air; have you ever seen such beautiful air?"  Even my daughter teased me.  "Hey, Dad, have you ever seen snow that beautiful before?" Whatever.  As you can see to the right, Jay and I reenacted my hysteria for the camera.  My family is cruel.


Anyway, you get my point.  Scotland is a beautiful place.