If it was good enough for Rob Roy...

I remember a beautiful sentence from an introduction to "The History of Ireland" by professor Stanisław Grzybowski. It tells us how Ireland is pictured on the map of Europe: it is a lion cub, which turns its back to England and it has shapelles, irregular head and short paws which drip in the Atlantic.

For almost 10 years I traveled to Ireland, because of a one quick decision (a colleague of mine searched for a holiday employee to B&B in county Clare) and a long-lasting interest in such beautifully described country with such a complicated history. It had to be very intriguing and wonderful place, I thought. And it was for a long time. Especially, when I met a friend - real good irish fellow. But this year was different. I lost a friend. And all of emerald island magic disappeard. Now, from time to time, I remember views, smells, tastes, sounds, scenes, many other small things, like names of horses on pages of sport magazine, and I think about Ireland and county Clare, but with sadness and grudge. That is, how mind works.

This year I went to visit colleague of mine, who is living in Scotland and told me for past decade to visit him. I am very grateful to him for the invitation. I have not been there before. Thanks to him I traveled to Edinburgh, Glasgow, one of the towns within Greater Glasgow urban area, mountains near Loch Lomond, Borders and Isle of Arran. And it was amazing. Besides irritating two taps in kitchens and bathrooms, one for hot and one for cold water (really, it is so hard to understand this impractical Anglo-Saxon device), everything was great.

I have seen basking sharks, seals, seagulls and others sea area animals. In the mountains there were frogs mostly, highland cattle. I did not seen deer, sheep nor hares that I could expect on the continent and which tracks I found in these wetlands. But the main animal of this travel were midges - highland midges. After two and a half week following my trip to the mountains, I still had marks from their bites. It is the power of nature, I must admit. I really respect them now. But when they bite me, I hated them and I must have looked like a crazy person who is moving hands and arms with spinning and twiddling. Certainly an amusing view for an observer. But nobody was watching. In the mountains near Loch Lomond, which lay nearby Glasgow, me and my colleague have not met anybody on the path (on the Isle of Arran we saw at most 4 people during almost an all-day trip along the coast). Another interesting thing about nature in Scotland - there are roads, paths, but nobody is expecting from you, that you go along the trail like in Polish mountains. You can go through government and private property if its not property of the armed forces or if it is not a proper sign for that, and you can go everywhere you want to, as long as you do not something stupid like destroying somebody's property. It is much better than in Ireland, where you see "No Trespassing" sign on the gates between fields.

A small highlander ;)

I have been in abbey's and castle's ruins (including some of the places where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed - the queen for which many people feel pity, but she was so incredibly naive and foolish, to almost unbelivable extent), I visited Edinburgh Castle, Scottish National Gallery, National Museum of Scotland and some of the smaller museums and galleries. My favourite was the National Museum, because of a big variation of exhibition. I belive that British Museum is like this one but much, much bigger. I love exhibition about history of earth and animals, where you can see expertly stuffed animals. It is not "green", I know, but still, I love it.

In the National Museum of Scotland

And history of industrialization. Scotland with Imperial Britain experienced industrial revolution during XIX century. So, you can read and watch displays about ironworks, steel, coal mines, railways. It is interactive and it is also for children, like in Polish Centrum Nauki Kopernik - there are playgrounds and games for children, so they should not be bored during the visit with their parents. There is, of course, nothing wrong with adults playing these games. In Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life in Coatbridge, I played a role of blast furnace worker. And I thought about hard work, which took many lives. When you pass the gate of this museum, you see two plates. On the first one you can see following inscription: "The past we inherit, the future we built", on the second one: "In memory of all those who lost their lives at work".

Tribute to iron, coal and steel workers

For me Scotland is about a peculiar combination of industry and nature. Industry, because of ironworks, steelworks, railroads, shipyards and canals. Nature because of windy moors and Highlands, lochs (lakes), glens (valleys), wetlands and volcanic rocks (the last one helped to establish a theory of rock formations by James Hutton). Scotland is also very romantic. I perfectly understand painters, picture artists and filmmakers who want to do their work in Scotland. It is like Ireland, but better preserved and more romantic, with ruins, restored castles and abbeys, bridges and buildings of steel, stone - and multitude of assorted industrial, aristocratic and natural stuff.

On the way to Ben Oss

Curiously, it was difficult to find moors. Strange, wouldn't you think? I read books with all that moors which define Scotland and I am dissapointed. All because of landowners who made room for sheep, deer and now for woodland (Scotland has small amount of woods, because of soil composition and industrial revolution; there is a government programme for expanding forests). You can find more moors in Highlands, not near Loch Lomond and Arran, where I travaled.

Moor and woods behind protective fence

For a priceless hot tee, after few hours in wet shoes (I have fallen to a stream), I was in Drovers Inn, from which I took headline of this post: "If it was good enough for Rob Roy...". It is very interesting place with musty smell, dozens of stuffed animals, swords and rifles on the walls and above the doors. Two best known man in Scottish history - thanks to Walter Scott and popular culture - are William Wallace and Rob Roy. Drovers Inn is situated in Falkirk Area, known from the batlle in which Scots, led by William Wallace, were defeated in the first war of independence, in 1298. Rob Roy lived much later, at the turn of XVII and XVIII century, when the real union eventually happened. He was not a war hero, like Wallace, but he is known as Scottish Robin Hood. English, using harsh law and tricks stole land and cattle from the Scottish highlanders so Rob Roy fought back and stole from them. And sometimes he stayed at Drovers.

I presume, that England and Wales are also beautiful, but first I went to Ireland and than to Scotland. A visit to England would be very special to me - British Museum, Natural History Museum and other great museums which entice me with a prospect of their magnificence - in large part because of imperial robbery of colonial states. But for the first time in many years, this year, when I watched antiques from Middle-East and Far East in Scottish museums and galleries, I thought: it is so relieve, that this things are in Europe and not in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.

"Here it is not about rain, you see, it is about wind."

Scottish-English history is not so bloody and sick, as with Ireland. After the elizabethan era it was personal union and than, in 1707, a real union. This is the reason why Scotland participated and benefited from progress and industrialization and now we have a chance to know such names as David Hume, Adam Smith, James Watt, Lord Kelvin, James Clerk Maxwell. It looks like in the near future Scotland could be again an independent country. I spoke with one of the supporters of the independence. What he said made sense, especially that Scots want to stay in EU in spite of English efforts to discredit the Union. Maybe he is right, maybe it is better to split now, when the international and internal situation is favorable. However, generally speaking, Europe is developing well, when countries stick together, and are not falling apart.

A wood which is growing on the stone wall
and a castle which "grow" on a rock