Scotland
Why go?
No-one goes to Scotland for the weather. But once you've stop
bemoaning it, the drizzle has a charm of its own; and how well it
suits the land of glassy loch and heathery glen beloved of Walter
Scott and John Buchan. Though the huntin', fishin' and shootin' may
be gracefully retiring to make way for the pastimes of a more
modern age - sea kayaking, whale-watching, mountain biking -
Scotland's golfing scene flourishes, its 556 courses ever
green.
The Tourist Board plays up the heritage - the haggis and the
whisky, the tartan and the tweed - and rightly so. But there are
also the cultural quarters of dynamic Glasgow and handsome
Edinburgh to discover, stroll-friendly cities both; or you may
follow in Boswell's footsteps and tour the highlands and the
islands, their untamed landscapes barely changed since his day.
Scotland may not be window-box pretty or cowbell-tinkly like
Switzerland, but there is a wildness and a barren-ness to it that
is famously hard to resist once it gets under your skin.