The border with England stretches for 96 miles east-west coast-to-coast, over rolling moor and hill fought over by raiding armies in times long ago. Northwards again, these uplands give way to the populous central belt of Scotland. But even while in Edinburgh or Glasgow, the hills are never far away – they’re visible from Edinburgh Castle ramparts! - and soon the Highland line is crossed again, perhaps near the gateway town of Stirling. No matter which part of these northlands you explore, you’ll be struck by the sheer variety of landscape, from the steep, soaring slopes which hem in Glencoe to the lonely plateau of the Cairngorms which overlooks part of your journey to Inverness, capital of the Highlands. 

 

Beyond, the north-western seaboard is built with some of the oldest rocks on the planet – an elemental and unforgettable landscape. At the top of the mainland,  the archipelagos of Orkney, then Shetland, with its northern tip only 400 or so miles from the Border at Gretna. Yet these island groupings feel very different – long summer days with twilight instead of night, even northern bird species, let alone a Norse heritage in words and music – all add to the flavour of these northlands. Altogether, Scotland offers astonishing variety of landscape in a small country.