We loved our time in the highlands.

Every mile was an awe-inspiring picture: a fence with flowers growing nearby; the greenest grass and hills, mountains, really; a loch, curving gracefully in the foothills; acres of scratchy gorse and yellow broom; hedges and stone fences; cairns, gargantuan cows in brown, black, white reclining in huge pastures; sheep gamboling on hillsides, thousands upon thousands of them; goats, horses, even pigs; castles everywhere; ancient stone houses and dovecotes; a meditative maze; hundreds of thousands of acres of vast open space, green and virtually untouched for centuries.

My nose was glued to the broad window until the suburbs of Edinburgh appeared and the mountains faded in the distance. I have never seen such beautiful country.

I may not ever have the chance to return, but the memory of those vast expanses of natural beauty will stay with me the rest of my life.