The perfect ending

Dominic Roskrow is standing down as editor of Scotland Magazine. But he is going out on a high

This is my last issue as Editor of Scotland Magazine after four wonderful years of telling people about the country's many, many highpoints.

I am not leaving Scotland behind altogether – much of my future is tied up with its greatest product, whisky. But if I had to choose a way to go out then this last month would have been it.

Regular readers will know all about my love of Scotland's islands and in particular Orkney and Islay. So to visit both in my final month at the helm has been a total delight.

The trip to Orkney took place while the nights remained partially light, so after a wonderful meal at the renowned Creel – my previous two attempts to eat there had been stopped by weather – our party decided it would be fun to play midnight golf.

Call me an old kill-joy but I preferred to sit on a wall with a bottle of Scapa whisky and listen to the laughter and the odd squeal of pain as a ball hit a body in the darkness.

Much more to my liking was the following day's trip on a boat over Scapa Flow, where we watched as a robotic diving unit descended in to the ocean and showed us a German wreck, part of the scuppered First World War navy that rests in its gloomy depths.

On the way back we hugged the shore and watched grey and common seals with their pups. Numbers have been down this year, we were told, because of the large number of orcas – killer whales – in Scottish waters. We didn't see any of the great beasts but we couldn't have been more contented. Can it g...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 28
• Page : 3
• Words : 622