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Why slow travel could be here to stay
With the pandemic turning travel as we knew it upside down, could a slower approach offer answers to how we explore Scotland in the months ahead? I consider this question in Hidden Scotland’s first print magazine, alongside photographs by Fran Mart.
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Colours and reflections from a small hill in Highland Perthshire
This year, I’ve mostly experienced the coming of autumn through our kitchen doors. From the table, where I’m both working and eating most of the day, I have watched as the yellow lime tree leaves swirl down towards the soil. Stems turn slowly into twigs, flowerheads melt, and squirrels dart around, defending their spoils. TheContinue reading “Colours and reflections from a small hill in Highland Perthshire”
An ode (and guide) to some favourite Scottish coffee shops
There are many things to miss about life as we knew it. I’m sure we could all make endless lists on the subject. There’d no doubt be disagreements on what each deemed ‘essential’ — and others wrote off as superfluous — but we’d probably all admit that simple pleasures are more important than ever. WithContinue reading “An ode (and guide) to some favourite Scottish coffee shops”
Distancing #6: A letter from the last few months
I am sitting in a borrowed office chair in our kitchen. It is late morning. Soft light slants through the trees, dancing on the wall, as the occasional rusting leaf twirls to the ground. I’m not sure where the year has gone. How has time actually passed, despite the wild world we’re now living in?Continue reading “Distancing #6: A letter from the last few months”
slower travel
Behind the lens at two of Scotland’s most popular places
The next blog in this series is finally here! Apologies for the delay — I got a bit distracted by summer weather and cycling the Fife Coastal Path. Anyway… In the introductory blog to the #HashtagScotland project, I mentioned that the writing I’d shared around social media and travel back in 2018 had led me toContinue reading “Behind the lens at two of Scotland’s most popular places”
A postcard from… Lochaber, and some thoughts on slow travel
The first few days it rained almost solidly. Between cups of tea and chocolate-sunk biscuits, we turned pages of books as the raindrops tapped the caravan windows. Reading Kathleen Jamie’s Findings, I imagined myself in an alternative weather reality hoping that, in a few days, I’d be able to get outside and note all the intricacies ofContinue reading “A postcard from… Lochaber, and some thoughts on slow travel”
Five Ferries: Off the beaten track in Kintyre and Cowal
AD: This trip was sponsored by West Coast Waters, a campaign to celebrate Scotland’s diverse west coast ahead of VisitScotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters (#YCW2020). Having grown up and spent almost all of my childhood holidays on the west coast, sharing my love for this part of Scotland was a blogging project dream-come-true. WeContinue reading “Five Ferries: Off the beaten track in Kintyre and Cowal”
switching off
Short and sweet: The temptation to take photos
Today we drove a short distance along the coast, deciding to walk a tree-lined stretch of gravel track beside a golf course. Every weather app and news outlet had forecasted an incoming storm; the breeze was powerful, the air so fresh we gulped it into our stagnant office bodies, and the waves turned white inContinue reading “Short and sweet: The temptation to take photos”
An Instagram Q&A: Geotagging, exploring Scotland and the pursuit of likes
Two weeks ago, for the first time, I used the question sticker on Instagram Stories. I’d put off jumping on that social media bandwagon in the past because honestly, as a bit of an introvert, I appreciate having a curtain between my online and offline lives. Opening up in a Q&A seemed a bit tooContinue reading “An Instagram Q&A: Geotagging, exploring Scotland and the pursuit of likes”
A new project: Exploring the relationship between Scotland and social media
‘It’s remarkable how, in just a few hundred years, the way we see the Highlands can change entirely…’ ‘Today we walk through them, cycle over them, climb them, explore them — and photograph them, over and over again. This landscape no longer repels people with its harsh, unknowable obscurity. Instead it attracts them in theirContinue reading “A new project: Exploring the relationship between Scotland and social media”
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