"Scotland has 2 seasons: June and winter... " a Scotland Travel Page by GillianMcLaughlin

Scotland is my country. It’s where I came from, and it wears itself like a badge wherever I go. It’s one of my defining features.

I’ve been encouraged into starting these pages by VTer, Craic, who read a couple of stories I posted on a forum about my childhood holidays in the north west highlands. I’ve spent some time assembling my thoughts before embarking on this journey. I realise though that I left Scotland in 1986, when I was 24. So my Scotland comes from that surreal place that is a child’s mind, from that rebellious and wistful mind of the teenager, and from the “I’ve got it all sorted” attitude of the student. Don’t get me wrong: I go back frequently… 3 or 4 times a year, but the agenda is different now.

I came to VT too late to put up any seminal pages on Scotland: there are so many wonderful pages and photographs of Scotland on this site that, once again I find myself in a situation where I think my place is to present the features that are difficult to illustrate by a photo and difficult to rate as a tip.

They are illustrations of a country and the people in it that can only be found by scratching under the surface a bit. Some of it has gone forever though.

I have created a travelogue of tales about my family holidays on the shores of Loch Torridon. These are tales that had their time, and that time has gone. I include them as tribute to Maggie, Alastair and Janie who gave my family much, much more than any guidebook or map could ever have given.

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Late winter afternoon at Fionnphort

Scottish light, like no other

Scottish commedian Billy Connolly made a TV series a few years ago, in which he observed in tones that almost drove him to tears, that at certain times of the year, Scotland is a purple country. It's true, so true.

Something about the quality of light in Scotland gives amazing images. Like this day's end shot across a bay on the Isle of Mull. I promise you that I have done nothing to alter the colours from the original photo. It actually looked like a sepia photograph, and this quality of colour lasted only a few minutes.

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The auld brig - links Dumfries to Oxford

Where it all started

I come from a very overlooked and underestimated corner of Scotland. I took a friend thee recently. She comes from Perth, and has lived in Stirling for 20 years. She had never been in Dumfries and Galloway. I took her around a bit one afternoon, and we visited coastline, villages and the town of Dumfries.

We ate with my parents in one of the best Indian restaurants in the country, that happens to be in the most unlikely place: the town of Moffatt... she left to go and berate her mother for having deprived her of the experience of this part of Scotland.

Not a place for nightlife, or high adventure. But lovely in its own right.

Oh yes, how come this ancient bridge links Dumfries and Oxford. The original wooden bridge was built at the time of the Crusades by Lady Devorgilla, whose husband, John Balliol died. She had his heart embalmed and buirried in a nearby abbey. That abbey has since been known as "Sweetheart Abbey", thus giving the term "sweetheart" to the English language. In memory of her husband, the good Lady D also ensured the foundation of a college at Oxford University, that exists still and bears the name of her husband: Balliol College. It's alumni reads like a who's who of social reform, literature and history... here are a few you may have heard of:

Social reformers and idealists:
Arnold Toynbee (d. 1883), TH Green (d. 1949), GDH Cole (d. 1959), RH Tawney (d. 1962) and William Beveridge (d. 1963)

Prime Ministers:
Asquith (d. 1928) and Macmillan (d. 1986)

19th Century Poets:
Matthew Arnold (d. 1888), Gerard Manley Hopkins (d. 1889) and AC Swinburne (d. 1909)

20th Century Novelists:
Nevil Shute (d. 1960), Aldous Huxley (d. 1963), Graham Greene (d. 1991), Robertson Davies (d. 1994), Anthony Powell (d. 2000)

Irony of ironies... despite the fact that the College exists at all as a result of the bequest of a woman, women have only been admitted there since 1979!