Hill walking in Perthshire – by Alister Sinclair & Jess Smith

Sono lieta di ospitare questa sera, per la raccolta “Scotland, my love”, un nuovo racconto in inglese. Si tratta di un contributo che Alister Sinclair, uno scozzese doc che ho conosciuto tramite internet, ha scritto insieme alla scrittrice scozzese Jess Smith. Con la magia evocata dalle loro parole, Alister e Jess ci fanno rivivere la storia scozzese attraverso le colline del Perthshire.

***************

Walking in the hills of Perthshire is a great opportunity to relax and enjoy the solitude of  hills and secluded  glens that are as old as time itself . Whenever I’m out on the hills I feel closer to the past than any other time. The glens of  highland Perthshire were once populated with communities that worked the land, lived and died. Until the highland clearances when the lairds moved the good people off the land, replacing them with sheep. All in the name of profit.

Loch Turret

I often pass by these scattered hamlets frozen in time. I wonder what life would have been like for the glen people. A simple existence, yes, but so hard a life for them all. They would not have been bothered with the trappings of modern day life.  It would have been a fulltime job putting food on the table and paying the laird an inflated rent. I often sit and listen and imagine kids playing in the river while their fathers worked the fields. This brings history to life for me.

Almond

If people come to Scotland for a holiday, in my opinion they need to get away from the roads, get their boots on and venture into the real Scotland, you will need to be correctly dressed for walking in Scotland’s hills, conditions can change quickly. West Perthshire is the most beautiful area, pulled together with the waters of the mighty River Tay which calls you in at Perth’s estuary and winds and weaves her way from town to village until she spills her basin at Loch Tay and back again. This is the famous river where strong backed salmon swims and fights fierce rapids to reach their spawning stream. Red deer ruled by the massive monarch of the glen; the head of the herd, can be seen but be quick because he knows you’re there and can run with the wind to keep his freedom intact.Perthshire holds Scotland’s ticking heart, Kings fought upon her high mountain tops, warriors hid from enemies in her mist covered hills and drank their water from her small watery inlets; the same waters that give the amber whisky her magical warmth.

Pertshire hills

Through Perthshire Scotland bids you ‘welcome.’

Alister Sinclair
Jess Smith

I wish to thank Alister who allowed me to publish some of his pictures.