The Retirement Project: The Highlands

Wednesday, we awoke to a dreary sky and pouring rain. We had made reservations with Scotland Tours to take an 8 hour drive into the Highlands in a 16 passenger van, to see Loch Ness and other sights along the way. Colin, our tour guide, met us promptly at 8:00 a.m., at the bus stop just yards from the entrance to our apartment. Dressed in kilt, hiking boots, and a polo shirt, he entertained us with an endless store of trivia, stories, and anecdotes from the moment he pulled out of Princes Street until he returned us, tired and waterlogged, to our door that evening around 7:00 PM.

As we headed out of Edinburgh, Colin explained that there are two major areas of Scotland, the Lowlands, that we were currently leaving, and the Highlands. The Highlanders were historically a spirited, independent, fierce, unafraid group of people, who owed their loyalty to their clan. Competing clans sometimes came to blows over land and cattle, and their battles were swift and brutal, often lasting less than half an hour. Many of the Highlanders were Jacobites, who opposed the reign of Protestant Mary and William of Orange (1688) and favored the return to the throne of the Stuarts under James II (of Scotland and VII of England). The Campbell clan proved an exception in that they were Protestant supporters of William and Mary, which put them at odds with the McDonalds, who were Catholic and loyal to the Stuarts.

The Highlands were so remote and wild that the inhabitants developed a code of hospitality that required any Highlander to extend food and lodging to any traveller who showed up at the door, even if the traveller were an enemy. One night, a group of travellers from the Campbell clan appeared at the home of a McDonald. The McDonald family took them in and gave the Campbells, their arch enemies, food and housing for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, the Cambells violated the code and slaughtered their hosts in their beds, thus becoming the most hated clan in the Highlands.

If the Highlanders were individualistic, independent, and fierce, the Lowlanders, according to Colin, tended to be conventional, educated, well-to-do, and in touch with the fashions and trends of society. One of the most famous Lowlanders was William Wallace, leader and martyr in the wars for Scotish independence in the 1300's. His statue guards the entrance of Edinburgh Castle, flanked by Robert the Bruce, warrior and first king of independent Scotland. Most Americans remember him from the movie Braveheart, where Mel Gibson, in the role of Wallace, raised his sword to lead the charge for "Fraaaaydom."

Colin touted the movie Braveheart, which he credits with popularizing the Highlands and bringing untold numbers of tourists to Scotland. However, he pointed out a major inaccuracy in the movie. Wallace was a Lowlander and would never have painted his face, worn a kilt, and behaved as a Highlander. "You have to understand," he continued, "that most people think of Scotland as kilts and bagpipes. But that's only the Highlands."