Travel: A weekend in Iceland
If you’re going to go Northern Lights hunting in Iceland, you need to be prepared, I think, as I wind another scarf around my neck. Peering into the artfully distressed mirror at ultra-hip Kex Hostel, in Reykjavik, I can barely see my face beneath my accumulated knits. I’m here in Iceland for just 48 hours, with two of my closest and most adventurous friends, ready to experience the best of what the island has to offer.
48 hours in Lewis and Harris
IT’S close to mid-morning, but the clouds are still bordered by the golden remains of the sunrise. Before me, in their ancient, ethereal splendour, are the famous Callanish Standing Stones. I’ve seen them in photographs, on television screens, in art. But in real life, imposed against Hebridean mountains, hills and distant crashing waves, they’re even more breathtaking than I imagined.
Travel: a girls weekend on Islay
It is 8.45am. I wake as candy-floss clouds gather across the ocean, dawn painting away the darkness with blush-coloured strokes. I am on a ferry in the Sound of Islay, the strait separating the Hebridean islands of Jura and Islay. My friends and I drove through the night to get here via the twisting A83. The enveloping darkness rendered familiar sights unfamiliar: Loch Lomond became characterised only by rolling mist and indeterminate hills ahead. We drove west under this veil of darkness before arriving at Kennacraig. Upon boarding the CalMac ferry our tiredness promptly caught up with us and we fell asleep on a cluster of sofas.
Happy 20th birthday, Harry – growing up with the boy wizard
WHAT pop culture phenomenon defines your generation? Maybe you remember when Beatlemania took over in the 1960s? Perhaps you came of age in the 1970s and you’ll never forget those rolling opening credits to Star Wars?
15 Edinburgh great escapes from the festival madness by top comedians
Phil Nichol I work a lot when I am in Edinburgh so when I have a day off I get the train from Waverley station to North Berwick. It’s the stop right at the end of the train line and ridiculously cute.
Scotland's mini-adventures
I am standing on the brink of a gorge. Below, the breathtaking Corra Linn waterfall crashes over auburn rocks into the River Clyde. Framed by leafy, woodland terrain and immortalised in art by JMW Turner and William Wordsworth, Corra Linn provides one of Scotland’s most stunning vistas.
