A road trip in search of quietness and the temperate rainforest of Scotland
a long read for those with time on their hands
In the days before we packed for our latest trip back to Scotland, I considered the forecast with glumness. Not one fine and bright day lay ahead. Every day, rain. Rain of different intensities, but always wet. Of course, it’s hard to imagine differently for Scotland in November, but we all hope against hope at times, don’t we? We all at some point imagine the unlikely possibility that we might suddenly alight on a land that has become dry and tropical since we last refreshed the weather app. We all wish for a harmless caricature of climate change, whilst living under the frightening, unreliable spectre of the real thing. Humans are interesting like that.
This would have to be a different sort of trip then. A mission not oriented only to mountain tops. Those would be a bonus, but this trip would be about something else. By which I mean, I find it hard to travel without a purpose – to just drive and see what happens – after all, how do you discern between turning left and right? How do you avoid the overwhelm of possibilities and get anywhere at all? I confess that I’m not the sort of person who finds it easy just to see what happens. In therapy, I enjoy the unexpected alchemical emergences, but in travel I like to start with a theme and take the mystery from there.
What did we all need most at the moment, I wondered out loud? Peace and quiet was the whispered reply. What works best in the rain? Rainforests.