Adventure In Scotland
I’ve just recently returned from my first international trip post-covid, from the beautiful lands of Scotland! I have always loved to travel, and I believe that I am a welcomed one for the most part. I am open, light-weight, and am never fixed on the details of the journey nor the outcome,.I simply enjoy being a witness to what different countries wishes to show me. My personal rules that I have developed are thus; travel light, never eat on the main drag of any highly touristic part, and be open to the story that particular culture can teach you. In Italy it was that perception of time is flexible not fixed, in Montreal it was listening to the music of the space, inMexico it was finding the sacred in the mundane tasks of life. For Scotland, the story it told me was of perpetuating a culture of reciprocity.
Much like the Hawaiian Islands, the people I encountered from the cities to the Highlands, were lovely and warm-natured. When traveling as a group of six on the Isle of Bute, we stopped at a local pub for some pre-dinner pints. The pub had the only beer garden in town out back and it was uncommonly sunny our entire trip in Scotland. When we arrived there was a group of three people off to the corner. As we are accustomed to in the States, we tucked ourselves in the farthest corner away so as not to bother the other group. We shared some laughs, downed our drinks, and commented on how friendly the police were as they made their quotidian rounds of the pubs just to make sure everyone was okay and offering up rides home if to many libations were enjoyed. When we stood up to make our departure an older man from the group of three commented on how we were leaving too soon without getting to know them. He went on to say that next time, “sit with us, we may be able to learn a thing or two from one another.” he cheer us, Slàinte and we were off.
In the States we are so often bothered by one another, not wanting to overstep boundaries, not wanting ask for too much, be too close, get to personal etc. We complain how there are lines with people in cities, or traffic, that our coffee is taking to long after we’ve ordered. But what I experienced in Scotland was exactly the opposite. People, even strangers there wanted to know you, hear your story and maybe upon hearing that you were American, make jests at some of our public policies the way a family roasts their own kind. The people there will go out of their way to help you.
The long sunset views from the Glenburn Hotel across the Firth of Clyde on the Isle of Bute
When my boyfriend last minute decided to begin his search for a kilt for the wedding we were to attend (which was our main motivation for coming to the country to begin with), the only shop that could accommodate us was Davison Menswear and Kilt Hire run by a man named Marty. The story of this man goes beyond what I am capable of capture through text, so I will save that for those who ask. When we arrived to the shop at its listed open hours, Marty was no where to be found. Taking the shop hours listed on google maps as law like proper Americans, we became impatient as time passed and still no sign of Marty. There were two men reconstructing a storefront adjacent to the kilt shop who had noticed us come and go multiple times in vain asked if we were looking for Marty and that we may in fact be waiting for days for him to come back. With they grace of good liasons, they offered the best option they could, that we should round the corner and go for a pint at the oldest pub in Edinburgh and when Marty did arrived, they would come and grab retrieve us. I’ve only experienced this kind of kindness from strangers in rare moments within the U.S. but it is certainly the exception and not the rule. One pint down and as promised they came to grab us when Marty arrived in a flurry.
This idea of reciprocity existed not only in the kind exchanges from one person to another, but in the Scottish Land Trust and literature and its desire to re-forrest the Caledonian forrest of Scotland. The ancient forests were depleted in the rise of historical settling populations and the deer that munch on the wood and have overrun the Highlands due to having no natural predators who were made extinct centuries ago. When you gaze across the landscape as you make your way from the urban areas to the countryside, the more north you go on the eastern side you abruptly reach the end of the tree-lines and barren green hills and shrubs replace it. Further along north you see dense and homogenous tree clusters patch-worked like tartan in the landscape. Those are the replacement trees that were planted as a first effort to repopulate the old trees of ancient Scotland. However without biodiversity and trees that aren’t endemic to Caledonia, the forest feels more like strangers living in a haunted suburban sprawl than the imperfection and messiness of a natural one. The intention is to burn down these groves in a sustainable way and replace them with the seeds of endemic trees some of which were known in Caledonia to live for thousands of years.
Longtime friends in front of the wedding venue
The first weekend of the trip was to attended my friend Lisa and her husband Neil’s wedding situation up in the Cairngorms National Park in this estate that was purchased by the Scottish Land Trust. To sell a space to be used for higher purpose beyond that of one single family and to be continuously enjoyed by many across the different climates of the year feels like a great use for what was once extravagant wealth. My friend commented on whether or not that was the way to build community. Buy the land and make it a trust in which the rules are to give to the land that gives back to you.
After the celebration of the ceremony itself and the exceptional dinner dinner that followed, we all reconvened for the Ceilidh (kay-lee) a word derived from Gaelic that meant to ‘gather’ or to ‘party’ and that we did. When you think Ceilidh, think line dancing, but more jumping, more intricate and more fun! I can’t remember the different names of the dances they presented the night of, too much Blue WKD, and drams of Whisky, but what I loved about these dances is that they were for everyone. Those experienced dancers were able to pair with the novice, the steps were somewhat easy enough to follow and the music made it so that you just couldn’'t help but bounce and link arms with anyone you could find. My favorite of the dances was when the newly weds started at the top of a column of people standing on either side. The couple linked arms and made figure eights down the train making sure that every single person had gone for at least one twirl. Linda, the brides mother, mentioned that this particular dance gets so rowdy that the bride in previous years broke three ribs sashaying with big Scottsman.
Scotland was magic. Maybe that was mostly do to the very approachable weather that we were gifted in our two weeks, but really it was the breathtaking scenery, the warmth of the people and the close ties to history perpetuated in their words and culture. Needless to say I have countless stories of why I loved my time in Scotland and this is really only a fraction of what I experience there, but I figured this would be enough to inspire others to make the journey across the pond.
Slàinte
