The Most Interesting Thing About Scotland – Part 1

A couple weeks ago we returned from a 10-day trip to Scotland.  Many have asked about the most interesting parts of our trip.  And by many, I mean at least 3 or 4.

Well…. the Munros, lochs, castles, history, golf courses, Highlands, burns, food, distilleries, moors, sheep, coos (Highland Cows), culture, whisky, Edinburgh, firths – these are all supremely memorable.  Pitlochry is a great little town on the edge of Cairngorms National Park – highly recommend a stop there. 

So, it’s all great. We didn’t make it to Glasgow or the Southern lowlands, so I can’t really weigh in on that.  Maybe next time.  Orkney & the Hebrides would also be excellent trips.  And a LOT more time on the Isle of Skye would be a must.

The driving around on the wrong side of the road thing isn’t really an issue since many of their roads are nothing more than single track lanes once you’re off the M90 or A9.  There’s really no other side of the road. In the cities, plan on circling a thousand roundabouts – (Google Maps”: “in 500 feet, take the second exit at the roundabout.”).  Actually, driving around is like being cut loose midway through a theme park ride.  Freewheeling fun if you don’t die.

Personally, I’d pass on the bagpipes – have never been a fan – although when you herd them all together and put ‘em in a procession down the Royal Mile, it’s kinda cool. Hearing them makes you want to storm a castle.  With pikes and shovels.  Screaming threatening clannish Gaelic jibberish.  Only to end up getting hot tar dumped on you.  I’d recommend just heading to a pub.  Skip the bagpipes.

Also, don’t even try to figure out if you have clan heritage with an associated tartan.  Your brain will explode.  Somewhere along the line Lisa’s family seems to have some Clan Douglas blood according to Ancestry.com (although it could have just as easily been about 3 other clans). So you’ll end up just “adopting” a clan and then spend hours looking for tartans, plaids and weaves to justify your inner haggis (which, by the way, isn’t too bad!).  And then you’ll soon discover that the powerful tartan guilds have developed multiple tartan patterns for each clan (kinda like in the US where Hallmark has developed a holiday for every day ending with the letter “y”).  See Exhibit A.  So, you’ll buy a lot of tartans destined to be worn once and then hang forever in your US closet, awaiting a trip to Goodwill in about 20 years. 

Exhibit A:  Click here to find your tartan on the esteemed Lochcarron of Scotland website.  This demonstrates why you’re not going to find a definitive tartan for your adopted clan. A search for our Douglas tartans yields the following results:

• Dark Douglas
• Dark Douglas Navy
• Douglas Ancient
• Douglas Modern Grey
• Douglas Modern (pictured above)
• Douglas Navy
• Douglas Weathered.

Anyway, on to the kilt thing. I gotta admit, I’m intrigued with, shall we say, a certain freedom inherent in the design.  But I’d never do it due to the stress of identifying the proper tartan (see above).

OK.  Enough of all that.

What, in fact, IS the most interesting thing about Scotland?  As you can see, there a lot to choose from. 

But now I’m out of time. 

Let me just say that the most interesting about Scotland  – in my opinion – is NONE of the things discussed above. It is, in fact, a law passed in 2003. I found out about it from the owner of a local farm store.  While eating scones (and learning the proper pronunciation of the word “scone”).  I’ll send out a post about in a wee while.

P.S. – under Scottish law, you must use the word “wee” routinely in your speech.  As in “a wee little lamb,” or “a wee dram,” or “a wee past the next roundabout.”