The Heather on the Hill

Scotland was the locale for the musical Brigadoon, a place that is so magical that you could almost believe that a town could go to sleep for a hundred years every day.

From Norway, Scotland was our first point of arrival in the United Kingdom. We made landfall in the Shetland Islands. Look at the names of the places on the map. John O'Groats. Ullapool. Kyle of Lochalsh. Don't they just sound like a Scottish accent, even in print?

Pages from Scotland:

Shetland Islands (2010)

Wildlife Sightings in Shetland (2010)

Orkney Islands (2010)

Inverness and Great Glen (2010)

Caledonian Canal (2010)

Clyde Cruising Club Centenary Cruise (2010)

Scotland's West Coast (2010)

This map is from the Lonely Planet web site, a fine source of travel information. Click here to learn more about traveling in Scotland (it will appear in a new window.)

Cruising in Scotland

We arrived in Scotland in late May. One surprise was the prevalence of Scottish Gaelic as a living language. This isn't just for the tourists. Here's a sign in a supermarket parking lot in Inverness.

I'd expected Gaelic to read like Beowulf, but it's like no other language I've encountered.

Click on the flag to hear Scotland's national anthem. To stop it, refresh the page.