'Where is your favourite place in the world?' My answer without hesitation, is Scotland. No matter where I'v been before, New York City, Jamaica, Africa, nowhere comes close to Scotland.
I've been coming to Scotland for... aslong as I can remember. Every holiday whether it be Christmas, Easter or Summer we would spend them in Scotland. Sitting on aeroplanes as early as two, looking for the care-bears hiding in the clouds, I remember it as if it were yesterday. Perhaps its because we (me and my two sisters) basically spent our childhood growing up here, that i feel so.... Patriotic about this country.
I'll start from the beginning. My mamma, Angie, was born and grew up in The Outer Hebrides, on a tiny little island called Eriskay. Having to learn English at school her first language is Gaelic. Talk about Scottish right? As one of nine children, i have aunties and one uncle a plenty! My mum was the only one to move South so natrually we have more than enough places to stay when we go to visit.
We would usually visit Edinburgh, were most of the family live, and it’s the one city in the world to make me feel so alive. A city bursting to the seams with character, the charming dated look of the city and the delightful accents are just a few features that contribute to this beautiful city. Every time I book my flights and I know im headed to Edinburgh I feel a surge of excitement I cant explain.
This holiday was different however. Just a stopover in Edinburgh provided us with just enough time to cram all the family into one afternoon (it was a miracle!). From there we hit the road and travelled north. And boy do I mean north. After travelling through ‘The Kingdom of Fife’ and ‘Perthshire’ we hit the Grampian Mountains, and I was hit by a view I had never in my short 20years seen before. The sprawling mountains into the distance, the hilltop houses standing alone in a field of wilderness, the sun setting into the distance, it actually for once, rendered me speechless. For I wondered how on earth I had never seen such natural beauty before. My book lay untouched next to me as I struggled to take my eyes off my surroundings. Little did I know what lay ahead waiting for me, for 1 hour north of Inverness we eventually reached Sutherland, our home for the next week. We had finally reached the Highlands. Here roads are not roads, they are little bendy lanes sprawling through the scenery, every corner you turn you come across a Loch, every second you are surrounded by cows and sheep (never in my life have I seen so many), everything about this place is different to the South. Everything is better.
From spending my days exploring Loch Ness (no, as hard as I looked I couldn’t find Nessie), to taking in the beautiful golden sands of hidden beaches and travelling to the most northern point of the United Kingdom (John O Groats) and taking the ferry out to The Orkney islands where we spotted the cutest seals in the world, everywhere I went I was fascinated. Pictures of these places just do not do it justice. You have to be here, to see it, to smell it, to really see its true beauty. The hidden waterfalls just a ten-minute walk from the cottage, the most beautiful little stream just outside my window, the baby Calves playing in the field across the stream, everything was perfect. I was even woken one morning by a cow moo-ing outside my window!
For me it was so exciting to experience this kind of life for a week. For I would never have realised it was here if it wasn’t for my mum bringing me.
The entire week has just made me fall even more in love with Scotland then I was before I left.
So there you go. Now you know my secret. That I am indeed having a secret love affair with Scotland and you know what? I don’t think its ever going to end.
