Scotland is worth a visit. The hyperboles used to describe this country are all true. To be honest, it was Scotland that I was looking forward to.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked England. There was even a time when I had seriously considered relocating to London from KL. This was long before I got married. I especially liked the idea of working outside of Malaysia, and experiencing the four seasons.

I was, maybe, 50% successful. I almost managed to experience the four seasons when my husband and I lived in England back in 1997-1998. Much of what I remember is that it rained, and it was wet and cold.

In the summer of that year, we drove to the north of the country. Unlike my Sinnavan who didn’t break journey or stay overnight when she travelled to Scotland, we stopped at the Peak District for a few days. I remember it being nice but I also remember wearing raincoats all the time because it rained.  

That said, the long and windy drive into Scotland is etched in my memory. It was spectacular 29 years ago. Scotland is spectacular now.

Briefly, my husband and I decided to travel by train rather than fly. We’ve talked about doing a train journey for oh so long. Abandoned the idea. Regurgitated it. And, finally, we did it. The six-hour passage (we were aware of the longer travel time which was due to track repairs) via LNER or London North Eastern Railway from King’s Cross station to Edinburgh Waverly station was generally worth it.

The route usually takes just over four hours. We chose a Sunday because we had two large bags to cart from Gatwick airport, where we dropped off our rental car. We could’ve taken a cab but decided we’d do the whole train thing.

I said generally worth it because it wasn’t what we had expected seating-wise. We knew or we thought we knew we had booked two forward-facing seats. We were half right. We were seated facing towards our destination. But, we had two travelling companions seating across from us, with a table in between.

Six hours of staring at two unfamiliar faces. Yikes. I didn’t sign up for that. After a short deliberation, my husband and I decided we’d introduce ourselves to the two lady journeyers. One of them was originally from Manchester, and is now living in Gleneagles. The other is an American, from Salt Lake City in Utah. She is visiting relatives.

After the initial awkwardness, we had interesting conversations on a host of subjects from family, work, economy to politics. It actually helped us to pass the time. No scrolling our mobiles or working on our laptop. I didn’t even read my book. The American lady told us she was contemplating moving to Canada😊.

The other thing that was less than nice about the first class carriage, yes, first class carriage was it didn’t seem to have enough luggage space to accommodate the many bags that passengers had on them.

Anyways, from the get-go, the scenery from the train was interesting. It evolved quite quickly from city to suburbia to sprawling, open fields and undulating meadows. There were sheep and cows grazing everywhere. The views became even more stunning and dramatic from Carlisle to Edinburgh. Rolling hills, dense woodlands, stone farm houses, streams and rivers became the backdrop. Wow. Wow.

We then arrived at Waverley train station. I had another wow moment when I saw the Edinburgh Castle in front of the station. I was also wowed by more old and majestic buildings lining the streets. As we drove out of Edinburgh, what got me and gets me is how different it all is from home in KL.

Back to Pitlochry, our first stop in Scotland. We didn’t see any ‘real’ salmon swimming or leaping out of the water at the Pitlochry Dam. Sigh. Although I did manage to get a photo of a salmon swimming in the waters from a live video feed at the site. Not quite the same though.

So… instead of driving to Aviemore from Pitlochry, we made a more than two hour, 130 km detour to Banchory. We or rather I just had to do it.

My Sinnavan and our mum had spoken so glowingly of the leaping salmon that I had to see them in action, and in person.  Whether it makes sense or not, I felt like I too would’ve been and would’ve seen what they both had. And gratefully, the salmon did not disappoint. 

Without a ladder to bypass gushing waters and steep rocks to make their passage easier, the fish had to rely on their own smarts and strength to jump, leap, whatever, to swim upstream. And, they did so with persistence and determination. Yay.

It certainly was a spectacle well worth the detour.