Sunday 6 July 2014

Inspired by the late Tom Weir - it's time to travel again.

I had an amazing time in Skye back in May, but I'm hungry for
more travel!
Tom Weir is one of the most loved broadcasters that has even appeared on a television screen in Scotland. His hit TV show, Weir's Way, was a ratings hit on STV and is still much cherished by many people. Despite it being produced well before my own lifetime, it's a show that I'm so privileged to have gained knowledge about and is a glorious example of a television programme that is genuinely worthy of any merit.

But why is he playing such a prominent role in my blog entry today? To this day, I have been very lucky to travel across many places. People who know me will note that I am notorious for being in a different place time and time again. But I just cannot still for a moment and that will hopefully prove to be the case yet again next month. After spending much time in many other countries such as Ireland and Turkey, I think it is more than time for me now to properly explore my very own country.

There are many places in Scotland that I have yet to properly discover and today I've been forming a plan in my head to go away on a driving holiday. Sadly, I don't think I can cover every single last part of the country, but I want to stretch myself as far as I can (especially to places that I haven't been to before nor been to for a very long time).

This month is a very busy one for me. As well as fasting for the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, I have just completed a six day working week and have a few more days of work to do. Also, I will start my volunteering work as a Clyde-sider for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games next weekend. So you can imagine that I will want to get away for a while in the aftermath.

As for where I want to go, I have devised an initial plan of where I wish to travel in the space of a chosen few days and devised an itinerary of a set of routes:

Day 1 - Kirkcaldy ---> Blairgowrie ---> Braemar (via A93) ---> Royal Deeside ---> Aberdeen
Day 2 - Aberdeen ---> Banff ---> Inverness ---> Tain/Golspie/Brora (i.e. the A9 route) ---> Wick
Day 3 - Wick ---> Thurso ---> Ullapool (via Durness)
Day 4 - Ullapool ---> Loch Ness route (A82) ---> Fort William ---> Mallaig ---> Oban
Day 5 - Oban ---> Killin ---> Aberfoyle ---> Largs ---> Troon
Day 6 - Troon ---> Girvan ---> Stranraer ---> Dumfries ---> Gretna
Day 7 - Gretna ---> Hawick/Jedburgh/Selkirk ---> Eyemouth ---> North Berwick ---> Kirkcaldy

This is only an initial plan and will probably change with time. But if you have any ideas then please let me know via social media or e-mail me anas@officialanashassan.com