My Heart’s in the Highlands – Part 4

Inverness, Culloden & Edinburgh

By James T. Carney

Inverness is a pretty town, and I was glad I stayed there so as not to hold my fellow hikers up (as I said at the end of Part 3). Among the things I saw in Inverness was a monument to the Scots who had died in the two World Wars and in wars since. The number of names from World War I was almost twice as great as the number of names from World War II. In some ways, Great Britain never recovered from World War I, and the memories of it were partly responsible for the appeasement policies the British government followed in the 1930s.

My Heart’s in the Highlands – Part 3

Some hiking trials

By James T. Carney

The first day of our hike, we covered 14 miles of relatively level but gradually rising territory. We probably gained a total of 800 feet in elevation but it was so gradual I didn’t feel it. I did feel the 14 miles, however, and I was overjoyed when we reached the headquarters of the Cameron Clan and picked up the van to go back to Alltschellach. We were scheduled to return to the Cameron headquarters the next day, but we would first visit the statute to the British Commandos (akin to our Special Forces) who had trained in the Highlands before going off to fight in World War II.

My Heart’s in the Highlands – Part 2

Assembling at Alltschelach

By James T. Carney

The history summarized in Part 1 was far from my mind and from the minds of my intrepid companions as we assembled for our first trip as a trio on a wet, rainy day in Glasgow. My long-time friend Detmar Straub had accompanied me to Montenegro and the Pyrenees, and my local friend John Shortridge had gone with me to Machu Pichu, the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park. We would now go on the epic Great Glen Way, which crosses Scotland from the Atlantic to the North Sea through a geological fault that is clearly visible on any map of Scotland running northeast from Fort William to Inverness.