Running Wild in The Highlands, Suitcase

“That’s Deith come fir my auld mother!” Hamish MacDonald, a burly storyteller with ruddy cheeks and kind eyes, bellows his account of Duncan Williamson’s Death in a Nut across the room. “‘He’s come tae take on’y thing that I love awa fae me, but,’ Jack said, ‘he’s no getting awa wi it!’ Jack ran forward, he snappit the scythe auf the Aul Man Death’s back an he smashed the scythe against a stane.” I lean forward like a child on a school story-mat, sipping on Harris gin as the moral tale unravels.

The atmosphere is akin to a campfire, yet I’m in one of Scotland’s most sophisticated hotels. Eight of us are huddled in Killiehuntly Farmhouse’s living room, lapping up the pre-dinner entertainment. A trio of fiddlers will later join us for a jig and a dram, but for now I’m curled up in an original Arne Jacobsen chair. Dusk envelops the hills beyond and Cullen-skink aromas waft in from the kitchen. The luxed-up setting is typical of Wilderness Scotland x Wildland, a formidable tour operator and accommodation duo that is upping the ante for Celtic hospitality. After a whirlwind few days of bothies, ponies, whisky and hearty feasts, Scotland has captured my soul. As I’m lulled by Hamish’s lyrical tones, I wonder if I’ll ever get it back.

Read online here. First published in print Nov 2019.