I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write much more about our Scotland holiday. I decided I would just so that I can remember, more to the point, and hopefully relive it.

My husband and I packed in more than we thought we would in our two-week holiday. We drove to seven places, mostly in the northwest, and stayed at six accommodation. They were Pitlochry, Banchory, Aviemore, Gairloch in Wester Ross, Isle of Skye, Fort William and Edinburgh.

The country, needless to say, is beautiful. How can one country be so faultlessly beautiful? Well, this one is. In the northwest highlands, everywhere we drove, walked, rode a train, it kept presenting itself in a somewhat similar, yet varied, yet mesmerising way that demanded nothing less than strings of wows.  

There are endless mountains, valleys, and pine and oak trees. Skinny, tall, short plants with interesting leaves and vibrant-coloured berries. Mushrooms that seriously looked like they belonged in fairy tales. Large open spaces as far as our eyes could see and bodies of water – lakes, rivers, streams, falls – clear blue, gushing and guggling. I’m not exaggerating. For anyone who loves nature and natural landscapes, Scotland beckons you.

That said, we came across some peculiarities. Not bad just different. For instance, three of the four self-catering cottages that we stayed at, nice and comfortable as they were, provided no bath gel or body wash. We improvised by using the hand wash, which thankfully, was in the accommodation.

Surprisingly two of them offered generous welcome treats. One had Prosecco, Celebration sweets, shortbread and fudge. The other gave us a freshly baked lemon drizzle cake. Nice.

Two of the four had pretty vases of pretty fake flowers on every window sill. It was a job to move the vases to draw the curtains and place them back the next morning.

The two hotels that we stayed in were alright. I liked the façade of the Gairloch Hotel which had a grand manor-house kind-of-appearance. The manager not so much as he was a grumpy old sod. Grudgingly, he moved us to a second floor sea-view room that offered a much better scenery of the North Sea and happenings outside. He/the hotel had initially assigned us a ground floor room, with sea view, which we wanted and booked. Plus parking view, which we didn’t want.

Also, from the Gairloch hotel room, I saw a woman go for a swim the two mornings we were there. I kid you not, when I say Scotland is cold, windy and wettish. It is. So, the woman must have swam in ice cold freezing waters. Brr…

The rain in Scotland is for real. It was also while in the Gairloch Hotel that we watched pelting rain and gale force winds. The showers started in the evening and went on through the night. It had an eerie-mysterious feel as rain fell, mist rose up above the North Sea, and birds and seagulls flew and squawked. The darkness, rain and the name Gairloch activated my active imagination.

We were generally lucky to have not experienced too much rain. The weather forecast warned of rain, nearly every day, and they were mostly right. But we were fortunate that we had, at most, two days of stay-at-home kind of rain, that coincided with our long drive days. We stayed in the car😊. Not so good for visibility or stopping to do short walks along the way.

Driving was manageable as the Scottish drive on the left-hand side of the road like we do in Malaysia. There were a few unusual road signs. Those that stood out were blind summits, of which there were many, and deer. We saw one rather large deer leap off the road.

The other signage that caught my eye was specially for motorbikes. They were blue traffic signs and road markings that comprised three chevrons or V-shaped patterns. My husband, a biker, and I were intrigued. According to Google, the signage is called PRIME or Perceptual Rider Information for Maximisation of Enjoyment and Expertise.

‘The PRIME road marking is a series of three pairs of truncated chevrons positioned on the approach to a bend. The intention is that the markings encourage motorcyclists to ride ‘through the gap’ and act as a cue for riders to adjust their speed, position and braking behaviour[1].

PRIME made a lot of sense to me as we drove along many windy and bendy stretches of road in the western highlands of Scotland.

However, it was a tiring effort trying to drive and keep my eyes on the speedometer to not exceed the stipulated 20 mph, 30 mph and 40 mph speed limits in villages, towns and where there were road works. Ah well.

Anyways, I think I shall be the unofficial tourism spokesperson for northwest Scotland, and once again say it’s worth a visit. Wow.