Page 19 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Scotland

INTRODUCING SC O TLAND  17

A PORTRAIT OF

SCOTLAND

With such a distinctive national dress, landscape and folklore, Scotland has
shaped an identity recognizable the world over. It is a land of contrasts and
often possesses a magical quality, whether seen shrouded in mist or rising
majestically above the mirror of a loch.
The topography of Scotland is generally 5 million people live in the country’s
extremely mountainous, with wild Central Belt. The Scots cherish the
heather moorlands in the north and differences that set them apart from
west, pine forests mixed with quality the English, and cling tenaciously to the
pasture in the centre, fertile farmlands distinctions that differentiate them
in the east, and the rounded, grass- region by region – their customs, dialects
covered hills of the Lowlands in the and the Gaelic language. It is perhaps
south. Picturesque lochs and rivers more by their differences than similarities
are scattered throughout. that the Scots can be defined, but, for
In a straight line from the far south all that, they are immensely proud of
to the far north, the Scottish mainland their nation and its separate institutions,
runs to about 440 km (275 miles), yet such as education and law. The Scots
its coastline stretches nearly 10,000 km can be dour, but equally they can flash
(6,200 miles). There are 787 major islands, with inspiration. They delight in self-
almost all lying off the northern or deprecating humour and continue to
western coasts. Most of the nation’s honour a long tradition of hospitality.

A view from Edinburgh Castle with Calton Hill and the Firth of Forth in the distance
Pipers marching at the World Pipe Band Championships, held in Glasgow

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