Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2017 | Page 59

Travel
By Terry
Willey
Remarkably, it took almost 70 years for me to take my first
real holiday in Scotland and to enjoy the stunning scenery of
the Scottish Highlands. My only previous visit had been in my
early teens, which involved a brief day visit into the Scottish
borders whilst holidaying in Carlisle with my late parents.
My father decided that we should take a
day trip to Gretna Green – and that was
a trip I shall never forget, for one rather
quirky event that occurred.
After a relatively long journey in the
car we entered into Scotland for the
first time with some excitement to see
Gretna Green, famous for its marriage
services.
As I had anticipated, there were many
tourist shops there selling souvenirs.
We went into a clothing shop and I had
expressed to my father that I would
particularly like to buy a Tam O’Shanter,
the familiar Scottish hat. From the
hundreds on display, I finally found one
from a large collection, all at a singular
price special offer. Having checked
myself in a mirror and decided the fit
was perfect, I took it to the counter to
pay and then we departed to return to
our accommodation in Carlisle.
On the way back in the car I noticed
inside the hat some writing in biro
with the name “John McTavish”. It
occurred to me that I had probably
purchased a gentleman’s hat that he
had presumably put down whilst trying
on numerous other hats - and by that
time, we were too far away to consider
returning it! I have often wondered to
this day how amused he would have
“I cannot say that
our arrival in
Aberdeen was very
impressive, but what
was to follow can
only be described
as a wonderful
week experiencing
the most awesome
scenery.”
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