Terras Altas Escocia

A group of Portugese tourists are being dropped off outside Starbucks this morning. A sign in the front window of their bus informs us they are on a Terras Altas Escocia tour. This sounds much more exotic than merely going to the Scottish Highlands. The Portugese guide pops inside Starbucks for a restorative double espresso. On her way out, with nothing better to do,  she stops at our table to practise her English. This evening the group will drive up to Inverness for dinner and then tomorrow they will set off early for the Grutta de Smoo. We can't even begin to imagine what this is but we wish her well. A quick Google search comes up with an answer: https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/geology/51-best-places/smoo-cave-durness/. When you get that far away from big city lights you'll take whatever entertainment you can get. Tours to Scotland and Norway are becoming big things for southern Europeans wanting to escape the summer heat - one of the unexpected impacts of climate change. The fact that 90% of Americans have access to airconditioning compared with only 19% of Portugese may be a factor in the strength of this 'bad weather' tourism.

After the bacchanalia of the  fun fair the town is returning to its Presbyterian primness. By the time the new semester starts the excesses of summer will be a distant memory.

A shop is selling hand knitted glove puppets. These are souvenirs of an altogether higher standard than the heavily tartaned Guangzhou plastic figurines of pipers.

We go exploring in the countryside to the west. The local doctor says there's a good gastropub in a non-descript village twenty miles inland.  In the village churchyard we come across a black painted, metal  bench that looks more like an instrument of torture than anywhere you'd want to sit and tarry .

We find the gastropub which serves rather good  food. We'd go again. On our way out we come face to face with a surprisingly grand war memorial.

Three sides are inscribed with the names of the local lads who never came back. A statue, which has pride of place on the fourth side, is of a remarkable quality. The shadows formed around the nose and eyes bring a life like air. This is the sort of art more likely to be found as a memorial in deep pocketed Edinburgh than in a small agricultural community. We originally thought it was moulded out of concrete but it's carved out of a solid piece of the same local rock as the body of the monument. A lead rifle adds texture. 

Only those who have been to Stonehenge will relate to this :https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02651-8