I have had the good fortune to travel quite extensively throughout my life and each journey has been a voyage of discovery. As my children grew up, I looked forward to further trips with just my husband. I anticipated rather more civilised and cultured affairs than the slightly hair- raising exploits we tended to have with my two, very active boys. Sadly, life had other plans and with my diagnosis, I believed my days of adventure were over.
For a long time, Alexander Graham Bell’s quote was true for me.
“When one door closes, another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”
– Alexander Graham Bell –
For ages, I kicked against the closed door, bewailing my fate. Eventually, I began to tire of my self-pity and began to look forward and not back. First, I had been utterly blessed to see all that I had. Gratitude is a great antidote to despair! Second, what was travel anyway? We spend so long asking each other where we are going and where we have been that we miss the most crucial question of why?
If we ask ourselves that question, it may prompt us to discover far more enriching and exciting journeys of discovery than two weeks at the beach – no matter how exotic the location. For me, journeys give the best opportunity to gain insights into other ways of living. They can be catalysts of change; an opportunity to adopt the best practice of others. Or they may simply give us the chance to see natural wonders that remind us of the beauty of the Earth and our responsibility to cherish it. The world is our classroom, should we wish to pay attention.
So what did I learn from a recent visit to the Scottish Highlands for the New Year?
The best things in life really are free
From where I live to the Highlands is an epic fourteen hour drive, so planned stops were needed. Our first was to one of my oldest friends, who lives in Leeds, and who kindly offered her hospitality.
There are few things more delightful than dinner with old friends, catching up on news and relaxing after a long day. We brought gifts, of course, but the evening was essentially without cost and of priceless value. Our added bonus was enjoying their knowledge of the surrounding countryside and a visit to Malham Cove – a geological wonder in the Yorkshire Dales.
This glorious spot was more or less accessible with my scooter and I thoroughly enjoyed the majesty of this weird anomaly of an inland cliff. The UK is never short of surprises.
Collective action and perseverance can achieve the seemingly impossible
Our next stop was Stirling and since we’d missed the castle on our last trip, we decided to rectify it now. It is a magnificent building full of intricately decorated halls and impressive battlements, but what made the visit for me was seeing the newly completed reproductions of the Unicorn Tapestries which had been commissioned to adorn the walls of the Queen’s inner hall.
These tapestries had taken fifteen years and a large number of weavers to produce. I cannot imagine the stamina of those artisans who laboured every day to produce at best inches of tapestry. (One of the guides said he would look in on their work and after eight hours wonder if they had done anything at all.) We are so used to instant everything that we forget how much time, determination and skill is required to make something that is truly awe-inspiring. Together, those weavers worked to create objects of incredible beauty from something as simple as coloured threads.
Nature provides her own gallery
But no matter how awe-inspiring the art of human hands, it always pales in comparison to the master. We reached the Highlands at last and they were breathtaking.
Being out in nature always lifts my spirits; being out in the wilderness makes my heart soar. Discovering that our hotel looked out on some of the many woodland walks around Grantown on Spey was a much appreciated late Christmas present.
Community is forged in adversity
Beautiful though this landscape is, it is also brutal. Whilst we may have loved meandering through woodland, picking fallen moss and pine cones; the inhabitants of this region would have had to battle the vagaries of the weather, the intractability of trees and inhospitable nature of mountainsides to farming. This is a region that has known hunger and hardship.
What these struggles have produced, though, is a community full of resilience, immense generosity and kindness. Those who formulated the myth that the Scots are mean, I suspect never crossed the border!
In a world where people still depend on one another, community is not just a trendy catch-phrase but a way of living. Though the village was tiny, there was plenty going on and we never passed anyone without at friendly hello and perhaps a wee chat. Strangers though we were, we were welcomed by everyone.
Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) is celebrated throughout Scotland with great vigour and our village was no exception. Towards midnight we went to the main square – already heaving with people of all ages, some dancing near the stage with the the folk band.
We were treated to an amazing firework display before heading back to our hotel for the piper accompanied by two young Highland dancers. Wired with excitement, and needing to recover from the cold, we took advantage of the ‘wee drams’ on offer with other treats also. All of these were provided by the hotel at no extra charge even though our stay was hardly expensive.
Our history shapes us and speaks to us
There is not space to write about all the historical sites we visited, but they included more castles, battlegrounds, ancient standing stones and my favourite: the Clava Cairns of Outlander fame. Though I grew up very close to Stonehenge and an array of pre-historic settlements throughout Wiltshire, this Bronze age site excelled them all. There were no fences and no visitor’s centre, which meant that, a few selfie-taking tourists aside, we were able to fully absorb their magical beauty in this quiet enchanted grove of ancient trees.
They demonstrated to us that our ancestors were brilliant engineers who were able to orientate the openings of the cairns to align with the sun at the winter solstice. Whatever we build today is merely an extension of the ingenuity of our forefathers.
They were a spiritual place too. Having been used as a place of worship for centuries, if you stood quietly, you could feel those heart-felt prayers of long ago: for a peaceful afterlife, a good harvest, love and health. For that moment at least, we did time travel to stand with those who lived before us.
So, let us think why we travel where we do and how it can enrich our lives. We do not need to travel far, but we do need to travel deeply. If we do this, each journey will bring discoveries that we can apply to our everyday lives. If we travel thoughtfully, both our communities and the planet will thank us.