The Highlands of Scotland is an escape into the abyss of the brooding mountains and the mysterious freshwater lochs.
To witness it, we hopped into a car and drove through its range. Our drive began from Edinburg, where we made our way to Loch Ness, one of the most popular lakes in the Highlands, also home to Nessie, an alien green creature who lives in its depths, according to folklore.
The 175-mile journey was completed in five hours, including several pitstops for its tourist attractions.
Moving across the unending emerald, amber and brown landscape of the Highlands, one passes the majestic Jacobite train track on which runs a steam locomotive-hauled train, also known as Hogwarts Express, because of its similarity to the Harry Potter locomotive.
We finally arrived at the most anticipated pitstop of our road trip, the Deanston Distillery (Highland single malt scotch whiskey). The warehouse was a cotton mill in 1785 before it became a distillery in 1966. Deanston produces its energy by using turbines installed at a dam in River Teith nearby. The water for whiskey-making is also from there. Deanston for one, invites tourists for an interactive tour of malting, mashing, fermenting, distillation and maturation methods that make a bottle of your desired whiskey. And the right away to drink whiskey, we were told, is to have it neat. Hold a tiny sip for 12 seconds in your mouth, roll it around, feel its gravitas and then gulp it slowly.
After that ‘spirited’ exchange, we headed to Callander town to meet a giant bull and a cow, quite a favourite with the Highlanders.
Hamish was the name of the highland bull and Heather was the cow. Honey was their baby and the one least interested in starry-eyed visitors wanting to get a picture with her.
In an hour-and-a-half, we had reached Loch Ness, the most famous lochs in Scotland, and queued up for the boat ride. Following the safety announcement, the vessel took us into a body of turquoise blue water.
But for the next hour, all our thoughts drowned under the chilled breeze and the picturesque beauty that encircled us. ‘Can there possibly be a monster in this sublimity’, we asked ourselves.
And just then it began to rain and we had to turn back. Was it a sign from the giant green creature telling us not to venture into its home, or was it just us city dwellers doing some overthinking? Until our next trip, the conundrum remains.