It’s that time again, a real highlight for anyone interested in Scotland and travelling around my beguiling native land. It’s time for a new edition of Scotland the Best. For me this is easily the best guidebook about Scotland. You see it’s not really a guide as such, more of a companion that you won’t want to leave far away as you seek out proper recommendations on fantastic places to eat, drink, stay and also epic venues for just having a bloody great time!
I’m lucky to have the met the mercurial talent behind Scotland the Best, Pete Irvine MBE, a number of times over the years and I’m pleased to say he’s as jovial and positive about Scotland as his magnum opus conveys. If the name sounds familiar he is also the polymath who catapulted Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations from a raucous, ramshackle rammy around the Tron into a globally famous multi-day festival behemoth.
The first Scotland the Best came out way back in 1994 and has not really looked back since, now in its 13th edition, remarkably celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2019! That is lucky for us as I always say it is the only guidebook that Scots themselves actually put any weight behind. It doesn’t get bogged down in flowery intros and weighty history, nor wrapped in tangles of bus times. It gives you honest, sassy and savvy, recommendations on places you know Pete genuinely loves and can personally recommend.
Working as a travel writer for the last two decades I sometimes feel like I am walking in Pete’s shadow as so many places I go mention that Pete has visited. The book really has that personal touch and a winning excitement. I banged into Pete recently at the Thistle Awards and he is excited today as he has always been. Indeed he was so intent on telling me about his ‘new book’ I thought he’d branched out into fiction!
As a writer I don’t mind admitting that I use Scotland the Best for inspiration and to check it against places we write about in our work, like our National Geographic guide to Scotland. Indeed it sits in my office in front of my editing/whisky drinking couch, as handy for practical tips by day when I’m writing as it is by night as I settle down with a dram to see what new places Pete has unearthed this time.
To give you a flavour of the type of experience Peter recommends I’ve flagged up a quintet of gems that Pete highlights in his ‘Wha’s Like Us’ section. I’ve put my personal observations on each and a wee photo too so you can get an idea why we both rate it so highly. Have a read and see how many you’ve done already, then go out and grab a copy and find countless more recommendations from the main man himself. A hearty slainte Pete!
1. Maid of the Forth
One close to both Pete’s and my own heart. He used to live in South Queensferry and now this glorious wee burgh on the fringes of Edinburgh is home to the McKelvies. A number of tour boats plough out from South Queensferry, but for me it’s very much a case of the original family-run boat – Maid of the Forth – being the best. I recommend making sure, like Pete suggests, to spend time on Inchcolm, a wee island that is alive with birdlife and war history. You can stand in an old gun emplacement watching puffins swirls around with Edinburgh Castle in the background.
2. Plane to Barra
I’ve been lucky enough to savour this epic, totally unique journey a couple of times. Your wee propeller plane swoops you out of what seems like the giant runway at Glasgow Airport improbably bound for the isles. You see many of those as the plane takes a low level route opening up swathes of the Hebrides. Journey’s end comes remarkably, landing on the wide, white stretch of Cocklestrand Beach on the gorgeous wee Outer Hebridean isle of Barra. The only scheduled beach landing in the world – try it!
3. The Cuillin
Simply for me the most majestic mountain range in Scotland. Off limits to mere mortals, the brave, properly equipped and well led – I highly recommend employing the services of a recognised guide – can enjoy some of the finest ridge walking on the planet. You won’t forget the rope work to get to the top of the appositely named Inaccessible Pinnacle in a hurry! Mere mortals again – with the right gear and some experience – can ‘just’ make the rugged yomp around Loch Coruisk deep below, a glacial loch that is one of my favourite places on this wonderful planet of ours.
4. The Waverley
Quite simply my favourite ship in the world and an utterly unique piece of maritime history and romance. This old paddle steamer has been sauntering around – you can never mistake her unique paddle rumble around the west coast – since 1946! My dad first took me aboard The Waverley as a bairn. Over the years I’ve passed on the legacy to my own two daughters, who are now firm fans of what is quite simply an unmissable Scottish travel experience. Go!
5. The V&A Museum
I was lucky enough to be invited along to the opening of this world-class cultural icon in 2018. Yes the original plans for this design museum and gallery was reined in a bit due to cost and there is comparatively little display space given its size, but it is a building like no other in Scotland. I predict a big future for Scotland’s Guggenheim. Do yourself a favour and make a visit to the V&A Musuem a priority. Linger afterwards too in rapidly transforming Dundee. Think Glasgow in the 1990s, just with an even better setting. I wonder if Pete agrees. I hope so as I agree with most things he writes in his Scotland the Best.
You can buy Scotland the Best here or in all good bookshops, as they say.
*The post comes in association with Harper Collins Publishers