In my childhood, there were frequent renditions during family gatherings of the Scottish song “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road, but I’ll be in Scotland afore ye.” I am not sure why this song had particular resonance except perhaps a yearning to see the land of my mother and the forebears on my father’s side of the family.
The meaning of the song is not clear, and I don’t think we ever thought much about its meaning. It was enough to consider that Scotland was our spiritual home, and one day, our travels would take us there. My mother was born in Scotland, but she never returned. Sadly, my parents never travelled beyond Australia’s golden shores, and their travels were fairly modest caravanning trips that never ventured far beyond the Melbourne to Brisbane corridor.
Until my retirement from work in 2014, we had just one opportunity for a decent overseas holiday, and that was in 1992 when we visited friends in Washington DC, London and Bath in the UK, and then a drive through England, Wales, and yes, Scotland. Oh, I suppose we have to include a couple of weeks in the South Island of New Zealand.
This website is essentially the stories I have recounted in a blog I wrote in our post-retirement travels to Africa, Europe and the Middle East, East Asia, and North America. In 2017 we bought a motorhome and started embarking on Australian trips, though the Coronavirus pandemic has pressed the Pause button for a short time.
I have written these stories mainly for ourselves, to keep the memory of our holidays alive. I have not attempted give geography or history lessons, though naturally such commentary does find its way into stories from time to time. But I suggest you don’t rely on any facts.
It has been heart-warming that I have attracted a modest set of followers, and the comments on the blog were really kind and generous. Unfortunately, as I have now moved to a new platform, all those comments have expired.
Eventually I will put the stories into a book format, partly to preserve them, but also to keep alive my interest in self-publishing, to attempt to get the writing in order, and with a vague hope that others might find some interest and encouragement.