September in Scotland — Part One

Ever since that vacation in Scotland, when I was 14 or so, I’ve been wanting to go back. The beautiful and multiform landscape often strikes me as slightly surreal, a quality that I avidly enjoy in nature. Not to mention scotland’s other qualities: Interesting history, lovely language, nice people, great beer (and whiskey).

Last September a dear friend and I enjoyed a week of driving on single track roads, seeing lovely vistas and lots of sheep. Unfortunately we were accompanied by persistent bad weather, due to tail lashing Hurricane Katia sweeping across the Atlantic, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rain, which made taking pictures a bit of an arduous task. The photographs shown depict our journey through Inverness – Bonar Bridge – Kyle of Lachalsh – Isle of Skye – Isle of Mull – Oban – Fort William – Inverness.

The Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides poses as the surface of Jupiter in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Outer Hebrides are also the main stronghold of Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety which developed after the 12th century. Scots is the Germanic language spoken in Lowland Scotland. Roughly 1% of Scots speak Gaelic while 85% speak Scots. If you go, bring me back some fudge, Amber beer and Scotsmac, I’ll be eternally grateful.