Breaking the habit

Scotland is full of new discoveries, says Sally Toms

You know how it is; you get to know a place well enough and yet always end up going to the same places.

Like when you order the same dish from your local takeaway, because you know it's the one you like the most. It's especially true of cities, for visitors and residents alike.

Residents are often the worst, ask anyone who lives Edinburgh if they've actually been inside the castle, or to the Tattoo, and you'd be surprised by how many people say no.

We are creatures of habit. We know what we like and tend to stick to it, but I'd like to encourage our readers to break those habits and explore everything that Scotland has to offer. In particular, its national drink.

This idea was prompted one day when, in a rare break from my routine, I found myself in South Queens ferry some 10 miles to the northwest of Edinburgh. Often I only see the same parts of the city – inside the airport; taxis, my favourite hotel, pub, restaurant, shop etc and always in the centre.

But on this particular morning in early autumn, I was rewarded.

At a time when most visitors are further east, jostling for space inside the gift shops on the Royal Mile, Queensferry is quaintly idyllic. It's the kind of town where people still put flowerpots outside their front doors (without having to chain them down), a sleepy seaside town with cobbled streets, seagulls and the salt tang of seaweed in the air.

The only noticeable sounds were the waves on pebble beach, and rattle of trains on the bridge.

I can ima...

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• By : Sally Toms
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 35
• Page : 3
• Words : 676