Don't take the easy option

Dominic Roskrow argues that there's nothing like a good dose of nature to get the emotions stirring

Regular readers of Scotland Magazine will have noticed a pattern emerging in recent months. For some time now the two most important words when deciding what should go in to the magazine have been ‘travel' and ‘history'. Virtually everything we publish is designed to encourage the reader to visit Scotland, and as heritage is a key reason for making the journey, many of the features include a historical aspect.

But in the last year or so we have been on something of a mission – to encourage visitors to leave the safety of their hotels in Edinburgh and perhaps Glasgow, and to venture further afield.

And not just in terms of geography either, but in terms of activities and events. We've been encouraging people to seek out some of the lesser known parts of Scotland and to enjoy them not on a tourist coach but in a hire car, by bike, by train and by foot.

One of the fundamental mistakes that visitors to Scotland make is to fly in to Edinburgh and look up to the Highlands rather than South and towards England. Here history is just as pertinent if not more so, and some of the scenery just as stunning as that in the North.

The North-West of Scotland, too, takes some reaching. But how can anyone who has negotiated the single lane tracks from Inverness to Torridon and hopped in and out of passing places not felt truly immersed in the enormous beauty around them? In these days of fast lives and fast cars, God and nature have conspired to force the visitor to slow down and drin...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 26
• Page : 3
• Words : 657