Neil Gunn : Scotland Magazine

Wanderings in Wester Ross

The area around Gairloch on Scotland’s north west coast has plenty to offer the visitor. Neil Gunn reports.

The road junction at Achnasheen leaves visitors to Wester Ross with a dilemma, do they turn south west and take the road to the Isles and the splendour of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Skye or north west towards the beaches of Gairloch and the stark grandeur of Torridon? Choose the latter option and the rewa...

Scotland Destinations from Issue 36 published on 14/12/2007

The wild north (Caithness)

Neil Gunn explores the wonders of Scotland's most northerly region, Caithness

For me the chance to explore Caithness was a chance to ‘come home,’ to walk the cliff-top paths, tramp across the peat bogs and try to imagine how it might have looked when the Vikings first dragged their longboats ashore probably sometime during the 10th century. Sovereignty over the area was disp...

Regional Focus from Issue 32 published on 13/04/2007

More important than life or death

Scotland might not be achieving much on the sports field right now, but the passion for soccer is undimmed. Neil Gunn reports

The immortal Bill Shankly when asked was football a matter of life and death replied: “No, it’s much more important than that.” There are many Scots today who would still echo that sentiment. In the late 19th and early 20th century football developed a mass following among the working class of Scot...

Scottish Trends from Issue 18 published on 8/1/2005

A great explorer

In 1799 a young Scottish borderer published his story of an epic African journeyand became the toast of London society. Neil Gunn recounts his story.

The first volume of Mungo Park’s Travels into the Interior of Africa was published in 1799 to huge acclaim. Lewis Grassic Gbbon commented that: “London and the provinces devoured the book.” Mungo Park was born in 1771 during the ‘Golden Age’ of Scottish Enlightenment, that period in our history tha...

Scottish Hotels from Issue 12 published on 19/1/2004

Britannia rules the waves

NEIL GUNN STEPS ONBOARD THE ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA, NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT THE EDINBURGH PORT OF LEITH

On a summer evening in 1997, as the torrential rain swept over the darkened harbour, the fireworks exploded and cascaded above the assembled dignitaries. Prince Charles in the final moments of British rule reminded the people of Hong Kong, “We shall not forget you … “ With the ceremony complete, Ch...

ScotMag Recommends from Issue 9 published on 20/7/2003

The Patriot

NEIL GUNN EXAMINES THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ANDREW FLETCHER, WHO FOUGHT FOR SCOTTISH DEMOCRACY AND INDEPENDENCE

Throughout Scotland’s long history there have been many who fought for and were devoted to their country. The names of Bruce and Wallace remain uppermost in our psyche as heroes of the battlefields of Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge. But only one man has been given the epithet ‘The Patriot’. Certai...