Keeping in touch

Sally Toms learns a thing or two from Scotland Magazine's readers

One of the things I like best about Scotland is it's ability to surprise you. After several years of visiting the country, writing about it and talking about it, there's always something new to discover.

A case in point: for this year's Icons of Scotland awards we emailed a selection of readers asking for their nominations.

It's a sad fact we rarely hear from our readers (such is the nature of publishing) but the response to our email was surprising. Many people were delighted to share their Scottish experiences, and responded with all kinds of anecdotes, stories and suggestions for possible Icons around the country.

Our readers have tramped the length and breadth of the country, and know it pretty well. The emails we received felt like an education.

One particular email was from a gentleman who raved about the island of Staffa, a place I was aware of but never fully appreciated how fantastic it is. So I did a bit of research.

The tiny island, just west of Mull, became a popular tourist destination thanks to Mendellsohn's Hebridean overture, and played host to a veritable Who's Who of 19th century figures: Keats, Wordsworth, JM Turner, Sir Walter Scott, even Queen Victoria was blown away by its dramatic landscape.

It's most famous landmark of course is Fingal's Cave, but that's not the half of it. Imagine hundreds of wooden pencils squashed together, hexagonal steps of all different heights and sizes pointing this way and that, and you've got a pretty good picture.

Gia...

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• By : Sally Toms
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 32
• Page : 3
• Words : 602