Heart is in the Highlands

PUT a Scottish castle on the front cover of Country Life and sales of the magazine soar. No other building gets more hits on our website. It is part of the seductive iconography that has been attracting tourists to Scotland for more than 200 years. Ancient buildings with stirring histories; tartanware and Celtic mythology; mountain landscapes, teeming with wildlife, watered by fjord-like lochs, salmon-filled rivers and the golden Uisge-beatha: these are the stereotypes that have been enticing visitors since the Romantics first came north in search of the Sublime (page 110).

Early tourists sought out places immortalised by Walter Scott; today, visitors seek film locations featured in Braveheart, Highlander and Outlander. For a country that pioneered so much of the thinking and technology of the modern world, it’s one of many paradoxes that its national identity is rooted in a sentimentalised vision of the past.

Few nations have such a long tradition of marketing themselves as a holiday destination. Train journeys north still conjure up

the thrill of ‘Scotland for the Holidays’, as promoted by those iconic railway posters of stags in heather and viaducts cutting through pine-fringed glens. In August, the Caledonian Sleeper fills up with cyclists and hikers; denizens of the Highland Season with their ballgowns, rods and guns; parents with excited children re-enacting nostalgic memories of their own childhood holidays.

Today, six million people visit the Highlands annually. Rows of campervans stocking up at Lidl in Fort William before heading along the Road to the Isles; fleets of cruise ships in the Orkneys; drivers racing round the North Coast 500 circuit: all are putting massive strain on the rural infrastructure. ‘Wild tourism’ is the popular alternative, but it, too, is relatively cheap. The region relies on tourism, yet it needs visitors who will stay longer and spend more.

‘Slow’ travel and a longer season are the answer; the Highlands and Islands often have better weather—and are midge free— in April and October. We need more lowimpact initiatives such as the Hebridean Way, the cycling and walking route through an archipelago unique for its Gaelicspeaking townships, triple SSI machair habitats and pristine Atlantic beaches (page 56).

We must heed the lessons learnt from the recent ‘overtourism’ of places such as Skye, and tread carefully. But take heart: when Urquhart Castle feels like Disneyland, venture a few miles down the road and you’ll find an empty glen. In Easter Ross, you can do an astonishing Pictish Trail on a hot August day and see not another soul. There are still so many unspoilt wonders awaiting visitors who are willing to explore.

When Urquhart Castle feels like Disneyland, go a few miles on and you’ll find an empty glen