Skiing in Scotland

Category: Tourism, Travel, Trips, Vacation
Cue the Queue of Cars
Image by Dunnock_D via Flickr

You may not think about ski deals when you are thinking about visiting Scotland, but you should because you can. You never know, you might be the one to make one of Scotland’s five resorts, called centres in that country, the next Chamonix Mont-Blanc (one of Europe’s most popular ski resorts.)

The five skiing centres in Scotland are Glenshee, Cairngorm, Glencoe (oldest), Nevis Range, and Lecht. Glencoe is the oldest of the five centres, while Lecht is the most remote. It used to be that you could only reach the Lecht resort through other means of transportation besides car, as the road leading to it would often be completely impassable because of drifts. With the invention of the snowplow and, of course, global warming, getting there is easier, but the excitement and adventure is still there.

The resorts are located in different parts of Scotland, but all are close to the mountains, where ski and weather conditions are best for skiing. Not a lot of tourists visit Scotland in winter, so prices are usually fairly reasonable at these centres. However, even during the summer, when tourist season is heaviest (the Scots call this the “high season”), the activities provided by some of the centres are very reasonable and there is something for the whole family.

So, if you are brave enough to face the sometimes bitter weather that can happen in Scotland during the winter, plan your next vacation around a Scotland ski adventure. Although conditions can get extreme, there are usually several days where skiing is possible. If you go at the first of the season, when the weather is not quite as bad, or at the end of the season, when it is starting to moderate, you should be able to get quite a bit of skiing in.

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If you’re Going to Scotland you Have to go Golfing

Category: Travel, Trips

You’ve made the decision to go to Scotland, now you need to start filling up that itinerary with things to do. If there is one thing you need to do while you’re in Scotland, you need to golf.
Scotland is essentially considered the birthplace of golf. Even the casual golf fan has probably seen St. Andrews golf course featured during a glimpse of the British Open. This classic links course is considered one of the most difficult in the world with its tall grass, deep sand traps and windy and wet conditions. If it looks hard on television, in person it is going to reach out and grab you like no other course ever has.
Like most things on your vacation, you’re going to want to plan ahead and do some research before you ever set foot into Scotland. A website like golfscotland.com can give you an idea of availability of courses, tee times, prices and other options should price factor into your decision of where to play.
Some people even plan their entire vacations around the golf aspect of Scotland. Golf tours that take you to different courses are available, but you need to plan ahead and check prices and availability.
There are a number of courses scattered around Scotland including Aberdeen Golf Course, Carnoustie Golf Course, Cruden Bay Golf Course, Dornoch Golf Course, Edinburgh Golf Course, Gleneagles Golf Course, Inverness Golf Course, Nairn Golf Course, North Berwick Golf Course, St. Andrews, Troon Golf Course, Turnberry Golf Course and the Western Isles course.
Carnoustie, St. Andrews and Turnberry are three of the most famous, and have been used to play the British Open.
Bring your clubs and bring plenty of cold and wet weather gear. Scotland golf is famous for it’s strong winds and rain coming in from the seas. Scotland golf will be the vacation of a lifetime.

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Golf Where You’re Meant to Golf – Scotland

Category: Adventure, Travel
A golf ball.
Image via Wikipedia
Golf is one of the oldest ‘stick and ball’ games still practiced today. It has become an international enterprise, with its own stars, politics, sponsors, and intrigue, yet if you set all of the pastel polos and pleated khakis aside, you’re still left with the stick and ball. The sport, as we’ve come to know it, with pars, birdies, greens, and eighteen-hole courses originated some time in 13th century Scotland, though its first documented mention didn’t come about until the mid-15th century, when King James II of Scotland passed an act in parliament prohibiting the practice of ‘gowf’ and football, as they distracted from military archery practice.
So even since the Medieval Ages, golf has served to healthfully distract and preoccupy the layman and the professional alike. Nowadays, courses are obsessively groomed and trimmed, and you can find luxury courses on every continent of the world. But the true golfer – the most dedicated – hasn’t played golf until he or she has played on the greens of Scotland.
The word ‘golf’ likewise finds its roots in old language. Often spelled by the Scots as goulf, gouf, gowf, and other variants, the verb itself means ‘to strike.’ Alternately, the word is also similar to the Dutch ‘kolf,’ which suggests a type of bat. Either way, it was the Scots who popularized the game.
In Scotland you will find some of the oldest, most beautiful, and in some cases, the most challenging courses in the world. Aberdeen, in North-East Scotland, has over fifty different clubs in the region, from the Aboyne Golf Club, with its swooping parkland for the front nine and a hilly heathland back nine, to the exceptionally challenging and respectable Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, which was founded in 1780.
The golf clubs of Scotland not only offer beautiful and challenging courses to the touring golfer, but they also showcase the long-reaching history of the sport. Every good golfer has to make it to Scotland, if only to experience the courses for him or herself.
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