To prepare for walking the West Highland Way, I went to the gym four or five times a week, beginning last fall. Sometimes I got on the machines and lifted free weights, following a program given to me by one of the trainers, Sara. Sometimes I attended 75-minute circuit classes. They can be brutal, especially …
The West Highland Way is my first long distance path. In Spain we walked every second day for about 15 km; in Scotland I’m walking 5 days of varying length followed by a recovery day then another 4 days. The distances don’t seem bad — no more than 22 km on the longest day — …
We’re in Scotland again — a little under a year since our last visit. (Sorry to disappoint Julian’s cousin Jan who, after our trip to Spain, was hoping we were working our way through the countries in alphabetical order). This time Scotland is Niall’s choice. We wanted to take him somewhere to celebrate the finish …
In no particular order, the other things that impressed and amazed me about Scotland. The ubiquitous whisky distilleries (but you knew that). In 2014, there were 98 active distilleries in Scotland. We stopped off at this one to buy a treat for Niall to thank him for looking after the dog during our trip. Lucky …
When I think of Scotland, I think: rugged mountains, whisky without the ‘e’, men in kilts, haggis and ‘neeps’, Robbie Burns, Highland cows. I don’t think ‘beaches.’ I’d be wrong. On our first night in Scotland, we stayed in Dornoch, which is on the east coast, a few miles down the road from the Glenmorangie …