Highlands – Take a walk!

Only 5 days to go and I’ll be on my way to Scotland, to walk the West Highland Way. A little over 200 days ago I definitely booked everything necessary for this walk and have since then gathered the equipment I need for this journey.

The first thing I did, after deciding to walk the whole Way, was to buy a good pair of walking/hiking shoes. After excellent examination and advise in specialised store Het Loopcentrum in Horst (Limburg) (https://www.hetloopcentrum.nl/wandelen/ ) I came home with a pair of shoes that fit like a glove, and combined with good socks they have so far taken me many kilometers without pain or blisters. Gradually also other equipment founds its way to our home. A decent backpack, walkingtrousers, raingear and various clothing amongst others. And of course books and maps.

When I told my kids about my plan I could never have expected that I would end up booking the trip not only for myself but for a plus one as well. A few days after my announcement my oldest son came up to me and said he wanted to join me on that walk. It nearly blew me off my feet when I heard it! Although both my kids have always been active in sports (judo, soccer) and my oldest son always had a job that is fysical straining, long walks were definitely not their greatest hobby. And now one of them wanted to walk 154 km!

His explanation was that he had been thinking of his youth lately (he’s 26 at the moment) and especially of our holidays in France. We all have great memories of those vacations on a campsite near Castellane in the south of France, but somehow every year there was more than one day where things didn’t go smooth, easy and relaxed, and to be honest often he was to blame for it. The journey by car took too long, some of last year’s friends weren’t there, he didn’t like what was on the menu and so on. It left him grumpy and angry, me frustrated and angry and more than once I threatened to go home if he didn’t change his attitude. In the end we always stayed, and had great vacations. Fact is that he always came to apologise and, knowing my children, I know his apology was honest. Somehow certain situations left him out of control over his emotions and reason, causing him to get angry, yell and say things he didn’t mean. It took quite a few years for him to learn to deal with it. And with it came realisation that certain things can’t be undone.

Now, at the age of 26, and hearing my plan, he thought a lot of those moments. How he regrets to have ‘ruined’ one or more days every vacation and that he can never change that. And although I told him that growing up is never easy for children AND parents, and that we knew this when we became parents, he wanted to join me on this walk to create a joyful memory to look back on for both of us. His explanation moved me deeply. But, as touching as it was, I gave him time to think it over until November. In November I would start looking for an organisation to book a tour and if he still wanted to come with me at that time we would go together.

And we will go together! He didn’t change his mind, he got more determined to go. Looked things up on the internet about the West Highland Way, saw the beautiful photos from other walkers and got more and more enthusiastic. So, almost 200 days ago, I booked the tour for both of us, arranged flighttickets to Glasgow and transfer from and to the airport when we are in Scotland. And after that we got all the necessary equipment for him as well. We also went for long walks together in the neighbourhood. Not exactly the same conditions as in the Highlands, but determination and persistance to do this are just as important. And now we are both counting down untill we will finally be on our way next Tuesday.

Tour booked with Gemini Walks: http://www.geminiwalks.com/

Transfers booked with Go Haggis: https://www.go-haggis.com/

I like to travel. Whether for a day, weekend or a longer vacation, near or far, by car, train or plain, I’m in ‘travelmood’ from the moment I shut the frontdoor behind me. Together with my family I’ve spent wonderful days and vacations in various European countries and we’ve seen all kinds of interesting and beautiful sites. We loved especially Italy, France and Greece, but Belgium, Germany and Luxemburg made us happy as well. For years I also dreamed of travelling around in Norway or Sweden, but hubby’s health required a warmer climate. Scotland though was never on my wishlist, so how did I end up there?! Well, a TV show and a series of books is responsible for that!

Late November 2014, on a rainy and cold Saturday, hubby and I decided to watch the 8 episodes of a series called Outlander. I got hooked from the moment I heard the openingsong “Sing me a song of a lass that is gone”. It gave me goosebumps the same way I had when I heard the first notes of the music from Lord of the Rings in 2001. We bingewatched the 8 episodes and were left with frustration when the last one ended with one of the main characters sitting in a windowsill holding a gun …. WHAT THE ….???? This was the end??? I found out after searching the internet that there was more to come, although not sooner than in April 2015!

Since Outlander is based on a series of books written by Diana Gabaldon I decided to read them until the return on TV in April. Somehow I had heard of the books years before. I’m an avid reader and have been a member of a bookclub where you had to order at least one book every 3 months, and seemed to remember having seen (one of) the books in the catalogue. The reason I didn’t buy it must have been that it wasn’t the first book but one of the later books and that, since the bookclub only had recent books in the collection, the previous ones weren’t available. Later I found out that it takes Diana 3-4 years to write one book. It explained why previous books weren’t available in the bookclub. Searching for books wasn’t as easy as nowadays so I let it be. But now we have internet and Google! Long story short: I found the books, downloaded them on my e-reader and managed to read the 8 existing books before Outlander season 1 part 2 returned to TV in April! All 8995 pages!

Besides the human characters, Scotland plays a huge part in the books, especially the Highlands. So, when I joined social media in order to find out more about Outlander on TV and everything involved, that included Scotland. I found out that there was, and still is, an enormous fanbase on social media, and it didn’t take long before I met a group of likeminded women with whom there was a ’click’. Outlander was the main subject, but the filmlocations and Scotland became important too, and after a few months we, 7 women from 3 different countries, planned a trip to Scotland. We talked about it daily in our private group and when we finally met in person at the beginning of our roadtrip it was as if we had already met before.

Our trip was a real roadtrip, travelling by ferry, train and car. In Scotland Steve McLeish from Outlandish Journeys was our guide during a 4 day tour. By car he drove us from Edinburgh, into the Highlands to Inverness, showing us Outlander filmlocations and historical places and sites during this journey, with the Jacobite Risings as a guideline. This wasn’t just an Outlanderbased tour, it was a journey into Scotland’s history as well, and Steve, being a historian, was the perfect guide. Needless to say it was a trip of a lifetime, leaving all of us with a desire to come back to this beautiful country as soon as possible. It took me 3 years….