Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 11 on 17/11/2003.

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Rugged, remote and remarkable (Grampians)

It's a vast area to cover in one issue, but the mainland that makes up the Grampians is a gateway to Orkney and the Shetlands. Gavin Smith reports

The region that makes up the Grampians and the northern isles beyond are often neglected at the expense of the superficially more romantic Hebrides, yet anyone choosing to travel up to Aberdeen and visit the Orkney or Shetland islands will find themselves richly rewarded.

Many journeys to Orkney and Shetland begin in Aberdeen, as the port offers NorthLink ferry services to Orkney and serves as the company’s principal terminal for Shetland.

Aberdeen airport provides regular British Airways links to the islands, and BA flights also operate from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Wick.

Aberdeen is the capital of the Grampian region, as well as Scotland’s offshore capital, being the centre for much oil-related activity, and is Scotland’s third-largest city after Glasgow and Edinburgh.

It manages to be truly cosmopolitan, home to many students and incomers tempted north by the oil boom and related commercial developments.

It offers an eclectic range of exciting and imaginative eateries and sources of entertainment, yet retains its traditional links with commercial fishing and with its rich agricultural hinterland.

Aberdeen’s nickname of the ‘Granite City’ tends to suggest a grey, dull place, but in reality its granite facades are things of confident beauty, almost glittering in the sunlight.

The phenomenon is best experienced by taking a walk along the city’s principal thoroughfare of Union Street.

Named in celebration of the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801, Un.....

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By Gavin D. Smith

Section : Regional Focus

Page number : 46