Bespoke Scotland Tours
As the world still suffers from Covid-19 I thought I would use my time to showcase Scotland virtually until such time when we all can stop dreaming of going places and actually start planning our next trip. In the meantime please enjoy this wee video:
When I started as a tour guide I had the amazing help of a “matured” real Scot who immediatly lit up my interest in Scottish history. About six months into providing bespoke tours I bought a “big” book on Scottish castles convinced that by that time I had visited a fair few. I was so wrong. Scotland has more then 2500 castles, many of them can be visited because they are either under the wing of the Historic Environment Scotland or the National Trust or are open to the public but still in private ownership such as Holyrood Palace, Glamis Castle or Blair Atholl for instance.
As it is, sadly, impossible to visit due to Covid-19 at the moment I have created a “wee” video below to showcase a few selected castles:
This lockdown affects everybody and puts a strain on many people’s mental health not to mention the physical health of people infected with Covid-19
I miss travelling Scotland myself as this is the busiest period for my business in normal times. This is the first of hopefully many invitations for visit Scotland virtually.
Please enjoy St Andrews today. This drone footage was filmed by Tim Snoeks
Also you could take a relaxing view of Kinlochleven below:
It is an amazing three weeks ago since I last wrote an article for this blog.
Many unfortunate souls have meanwhile died of Corona virus and an army of health workers have worked unbelievably hard to fight this disease. We need to be so grateful to them and also to all the people working in supermarkets and loigistics for keeping us supplied.
I have meanwhile been once to Edinburgh station with a student finally being allowed to return home. Our cars are sanitised before and after each use, we have installed a temporary partion in our 8 seaters and use and supply hand sanitizer.
Me and my partner helped another student moving house (not charging and obviously adhering to social distancing) and assisted a gentlemen in replenishing his supplies of -well alcohol mainly plus one loaf of bread.
That summarizes our commercial activities of the last three weeks in a month which usually marks the beginning of our busy season and brings us back into black figures after winter and taxi tests of all the the vehicles.
So what on earth did I fill my spare time with? Well, the weather has been gorgeous and we live in the middle of nowhere…
Any of you who have met me will have heard sooner or later that I enjoy horse riding and yes, that is what I have done pretty much every day.
I know the general BHS advice is not to ride as you may fall off and then use A&E unnecessarily. I assure you if I had any worries I would probably not entertain these guys. I know something unexpected could happen always but I can equally just fall over my own feet.
However, my horsey family did not always agree with me:
They all did, however, provide me with hours of fun. Ridden:
… and driven:
Like many others, self- employed or working in industries which had to shut down I also spent some time researching grants, applying for jobs and for the first in my life for Universal Credit. I found the latter very embarrassing but have to admit that whoever I spoke to in the process people were so helpful, understanding and friendly that I was truly overwhelmed.
Back to the joys of life since there was not much else to do and also despite the financial worries (which I cannot change) the entire thing begins to feel like a summer holiday in primary school, especially with this amazing weather.
Did I mention I love food and subsequently cooking. So we have been eating and sleeping and eating….
If you eat a lot you need to train a lot and I can not recommend highly enough https://www.heart-space.yoga. They have a fabulous space in an old church in Dundee but during the lockdown their classes are available online and you have no idea how much this has contributed to my mental and physical health. If you have not yet do try them! Below you see that I am not the only one enjoying Heartspace’s online classes:
The cats… We originally had four of those creatures and three of them (all boys, all neutered) dissapeared last year between August and September. Initially we very much hoped they would return as one of them did that the year previous. They did not and I felt sorry for our lonesome female cat Phantom so through Whinnybank Cat Sanctuary we got the truly gorgeous Boris who, however, does not (yet) get on with our Phantom. Social distancing with cats…
So, how are all of you keeping? Leave me a comment and I shall leave you with a few more images…
I have always loved travelling. As a child it was my dad who instilled this never ending curiosity in me by taking me to many countries in the days when flying was a novelty. He always stated: “Try everything at least once to be able to have an opinion about it”. He encouraged me to speak English even before I hit primary school.
At 21 I moved to Scotland (which really is a story I should write down some day), when I could afford it I continued to go on holidays and a little later in life I had a job which took me all around Europe. I was flying somewhere at least once a week.
Today, taking you on bespoke tours throughout Scotland is what buttered my bread prior to Covid 19. But even before this pandemic I was doubting the way tourism was evolving. Going places to take exactly the same picture someone else had taken to then share it on social media was something I never did. Don’t get me wrong I am a vivid user of social media and love photography, but I always liked to seek out the uncommon places, pathes others seldom trotted on.
In 2009 we went on a trip across Europe for a month (yes, we could do that back than) in that van pictured above. What made the trip were not Italian beaches but travelling through Albania, meeting her people, tracing post-communism empty factories and being utterly overwhelmed by the generosity and genuity of her people. We experienced similars insights into history through the people of Croatia. We loved it! Today, we cannot even leave our houses for now….
The cottage I am living in currently still feels after six years of living here like living in your own holiday home. It sits above the river Tay at the end of a dirt track and the only person coming down this track regularily is our postie. There is no traffic and apart from owls, other birds and deer no noise. There is no artificial light and you can see the most phantastic night sky. Especially at this moment it really is a refuge as despite self isolation we have a plentiful amount of unspoilt nature surrounding us.
When I am taking you, my customers, around Scotland I have always tried to listen what you would like to see and experience here. There is really unlimited number of things to do in Scotland- even if it does rain!
I have been quite rude at times to point out -for instance- that Edinburgh is a town you better walk through then drive. I would would walk with you and fetch the minibus should you get tired.
I have been known to bypass the view points at Glencoe and Glen Finnan, because I could not bear the thought of getting out of the car and joining busloads of tourists taking the same pictures. I would drive on a little and find you a spot where we would be on our own enjoying the emptiness of the Highlands. There are still places in Scotland we you can travel for days and not meet anyone.
I very much enjoy winter travels in Scotland. It never really gets that cold here and you have the countryside to yourself.
More recently I have designed tours around walking tours. I have participated as a German translater in a biking tour (which did terrify me a little as part of it happened to be on a main road). I have thought on an electric vehicle which could work these days but sadly they are not yet available as 8-seaters. Besides we have just invested and two Vianos, which if they survive this Corona -crisis will have to last for a wee bit.
There is the Mountain Bothy Associating: You can stay for free in a shepard’s cottage often in place you will need to walk to. This also has become quite popular.
Adding bicycles or canoes to a trip could be done and going hiking is also always an option.
I believe that travelling will change if we get over this Covid 19 crisis and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
What do you think of suistainable travel?
How should this look like?
Would you love to escape into empty spaces?
What about Air B&B?
Do you think city escapes will still be popular?
Will sport events and festivals fully recover? Should they change? Like the Fringe for instance?
What are your thoughts?
Are you dying to get going abroad as soon as it is over?
Do you still love the thought of going on a cruise?
Are you researching your family history? Is there a link to a Scottish clan?
Do you love Outlander?
What about Scottish history?
Would you love to follow the foot steps of Queen Mary of the Scots?
Will you just simply travel from your own sofa? Virtually?
It is 11 days ago that I last posted here. So, how is everybody?
As a jobless taxi driver/tour guide I filled a few days with some temporary work which will help a little to get us through this period of no income. Quite some time was spend on researching what help is available to us and starting the process to get it, concluding with a conference call with our acountants today. All of this is rather tiresome. As if all of that was not enough the server where this website is hosted on crashed and took a while to be rebooted. Last but not least I applied for a few jobs though I am wondering how even the application process will work. Comment here if you have experience/advise, please.
So besides some stock-taking as to how to survive financially for whatever time it will take I heavily invested in the things I love. There is daily horse riding on the agenda (Yes, I know I could fall off and block other people’s access to A&E but rest assured that could also happen while I slip on the mud around the house). I thoroughly enjoy that I do not have to rush. You should never rush when training horses but in daily madness it happens and the lack of it is just fabulous-> endless time!!
I also call myself extremely lucky to live where I do as I can go out exercising without being in the danger of meeting anyone and I can assure you it is amazingly beautiful around me. Take a look:
So apart from enjoying spring despite Covid 19 I am also blessed to be able to continue my yoga session thanks to Heartspace in Dundee who stream all their classes online (Sign up here: https://www.heart-space.yoga/)
Even though looking at the front of our house still feels very odd: Starfishes grounded till Corona blows over…. if it does
So, we continue to work from the home office and gladly we have a number of furry helpers:
Stay positive & healthy!
By nature I am a very optimistic person and my glas is always half full. In the recent days, however, even I have cried at the sight of a devasted shop worker at Aldi’s.
However, I believe the current crisis is not just terribly frightening and possibly deadly it also might be a gigantic opportunity. We are trying against our will to work from home. Suddenly there is no rushhour. People are walking on the beach instead of being in an office or being stuck in a traffic jam. We make clima change happen as there is hardly any airtravel.
I live from tourism mostly and I enjoy travelling myself but maybe this forced break helps us to stop and re-think how we go about life. Travelling to places to take pictures everybody else has taken of the same spot might be a nice sport but misses what travelling is about: taking a break, having the freedom to decide on your speed or rather lack of it and engage with the locals, their landscapes, their food, their way of life.
We want to return refreshed and enriched and understanding more about others and ourselves
Most of us are so busy in our daily life that we fail completely to stop and reflect, because there never seems to be any time for it. Now, we have been given the precious present of time and all we do is fight it because it was not our decision (strangely most things are not in any case) and we are also so worried and anxious about this virius which may or may not get us or our loved ones. We are all stuck in this together. The medical profession does their very best to treat people and keep the NHS running for everybody else. The rest of us could at least be thankful and try to make the best of it.
The business I have lived on has completely crumbled away within the space of a week. It does not feed me anymore. I do feel a little betrayed for all the work I have put into it and there seems to be little support forthcoming from the government.
I have applied for a job in a local supermarket, because that is where people are still needed I have also offered my help locally.
Apart from that I try to my best ability to look after myself, exercise, read, eat healthy, basically spoil myself and write silly blogs.
Stay healthy & sane!
Today would have been the start of a now cancelled 4-day Highland tour. My clients are from abroad and wisely cancelled their tour in the light of the coronavirus. As a matter of fact for the past weeks all we did was receiving cancellations and refund them where prepayment had been made. Usually at this time of the year we fill our diaries with bookings for the year.
It is not easy to keep up your spirits and of course I am not alone. So is what I did the past two days:
Yesterday I had routine visit of my farrier to trim my horses’ feet and in all this madness it was lovely to do something I have pretty much done every six to eight weeks all my life. Since the weather was nice I did ride the horses, seeded some vegetables, attempted to fix my bike and then went to see a dear friend for a lovely dinner. On the way there I managed the above shot.
I forgot to add that cuddling the Phantom is part of routine life and truly enhanced now since we are more at home.
Today I started my day with online yoga (yes, at 6.30 am as I was awake in any case). Heart Space or also known as Kilted Yoga closed their studios but maintain livestream online classes which are truly fabulous.
Find out more https://www.heart-space.yoga
Next I ventured out on my homebred horse “Me & My Monkey” to trail around the estate. There was frost on the ground but with the lovely sunshine it turned into a soul-saving retreat. Join me for it in pictures while I am heading out into the sunshine again. Keep sane, eat well and stay healthy!
I had an early start this morning as some students were making their way home. There is no face-to-face teaching at the University of St Andrews in the near future. After that I went back to the South Street taxi rank and for the first time in my taxi driver life I managed to run the battery flat by simply charging my phone, listening to the radio and being static for way to long. It was about 11 am by that time.
I got rescue by my boy friend thankfully.
Next I dropped off an envelop with money for someone in need- just to give the car a run. After that I ventured into the hell of shopping to get my hands on some flour and a thermometer. At both I failed badly and gave up.
Fed up as I was I entertained myself with a walk on West Sands and managed to reach the taxi before the rain came on again. Still sitting in the rank now. Waiting for another run just before 16 hrs and will head home therafter.
Keep positive and healthy!
