Have you ever been to Scotland?

dd972 · 15-12-2016 2:00am #1

Haven't been for over 20 years, on the whole I've always found it a bit like a 'UK Ireland' if you get my drift, they're mostly friendly folk as well, it's a bit unfair to tar them all with the same brush as regards sectarianism which I think is mostly a Glasgow region thing which gets diluted over in Edinburgh and ebbs away further from the Central Belt of the country where most of the population is, even that aspect of Scottish life isn't that clear cut as Scots Nationalists tend to be well disposed towards Ireland, North and South.

Been to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William, wouldn't mind seeing the islands off the west coast though or the Shetlands and Orkneys.

Johnny Macwilliams · 15-12-2016 2:02am

Have you been to wales next ffs

Senna · 15-12-2016 2:04am

Yes I have, thanks for asking.

Goya · 15-12-2016 2:05am

Edinburgh. Beautiful place - absolutely wonderful people.

Arghus · 15-12-2016 2:10am

Yes. Spent a lot of time wondering about uncomprehending what people were saying to me, much like Ireland really. If I was ever in doubt I just pointed at the bottle of Irn-Bru that I or they had in hand and smiled.

Ferrari3600 · 15-12-2016 2:14am

Yes - Inverness, Fort William, Glasgow (briefly, for a lunch-stop), the Cairngorms (Kingussie specifically) and The Outer Hebrides.

Ferrari3600 · 15-12-2016 2:15am

Flimpson wrote: »

Edinburgh. Beautiful place - absolutely wonderful people.

Posh bastid. :mad:

endacl · 15-12-2016 2:16am

Johnny Macwilliams wrote: »

Have you been to wales next ffs

Temptamperu · 15-12-2016 2:18am

I lived in Glasgow for a year. never been so cold in me life.

Ferrari3600 · 15-12-2016 2:18am

Great and under-rated Scottish alternative comedy series from the 1980s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaJPOVGlEPs&list=PLTcBrMYEIYbahyUo7HDQ08B7W10EJAMoQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arm1wYG2dOM

The_Valeyard · 15-12-2016 2:34am

Yes.

Have you ever built a snowman?

doolox · 15-12-2016 2:36am

I spent 4 months in Ayr in 1994 and was very impressed by the people in comparison to the neighbours down south some of whom could be very anti Irish at that time and not afraid to let you know.

I attended both Catholic and local church services with no hassle, not really knowing what church to attend until I got the denominational details sorted out.

No one objected and it all sounded the same to me.

I was renting an apartment right across from a Church of Scotland Church and then later found out that the Catholic church was 3 miles away in another part of town. Nobody mentioned religion much and got on with their work in a fairly business like manner. There were no loud mouthed anti Catholic people like you would have found in Northern Ireland going by the TV new broadcasts of the time.

My Christmas memory of Glasgow was the street concerts given by the Salvation Army bands which were excellent and inspiring. This was new to me and struck me as a wonderful hybrid between a North of England Miners brass band and a Choir.

I attended a football match between Celtic and Aberdeen which was educational...the police were mounted on horses with full riot gear and the different supporters were kept to separate sides of the pitch. All pubs were closed up to 2 miles from the venue and colours were not allowed in case the other side were provoked. Because of the extraordinary organisation and security no fights or hassle were encountered on that day.

Overall I would not hesitate to recommend a visit to Scotland at any time for an Irish person but wrap up well, I found it about 5 to 10 degrees colder than here (Dublin) and a lot wetter. Such was Glasgow in November '93

buried · 15-12-2016 2:42am

mansize · 15-12-2016 2:58am

3 times, all for Rugby, back again next Year!

dd972 · 15-12-2016 2:59am

Johnny Macwilliams wrote: »

Have you been to wales next ffs

Wrong, Isle of Man next then Wales.

legocrazy505 · 15-12-2016 3:05am

I was born in Scotland so yeah I have been there. I even remember the time when the Isle of Skye wasn't overrun by tourists stomping about the place.

La_Gordy · 15-12-2016 3:22am

I lived there for 3 years and they were the best years of my life. I stayed in Glasgow, and have been to Embra, the Highlands and some islands.

learn_more · 15-12-2016 3:45am

Have you ever stuck your finger up your hole?

TireeTerror · 15-12-2016 3:46am

I've been everywhere in Scotland. All the towns and all the islands. You can roam freely everywhere too, even across fenced fields, you can pitch your tent and hike wherever you want (Not in someones garden or planted crops). A glorious place indeed. The scenery is like Ireland on steroids and the majority of things are cheaper to buy, the cost of living is way lower than Ireland. Irn-Bru in every shop, black pudding suppers in all the chippies, deep fried pizzas, (mars bars are a gimmicky bull**** thing) square sausage and in Glasgow, the morning rolls are the best on planet earth. All motoring costs are substantially cheaper than Ireland too apart from the price of diesel which is a little bit more expensive.

The Western isles are absolutely breathtaking, totally and utterly unlike anything in the rest of the UK. Gaelic is still strong there and is seen as cool unlike the hostility I see in the non-Gaeltacht areas in Ireland. (not so much Shetland and Orkney which are a weird combination of inbreeds unsure if they are Scandinavian or Scottish. You're Scottish you muppets, get over it.

harry Bailey esq · 15-12-2016 3:53am

dd972 wrote: »

Haven't been for over 20 years, on the whole I've always found it a bit like a 'UK Ireland' if you get my drift, they're mostly friendly folk as well, it's a bit unfair to tar them all with the same brush as regards sectarianism which I think is mostly a Glasgow region thing which gets diluted over in Edinburgh and ebbs away further from the Central Belt of the country where most of the population is.

I've been to Scotland once,i was only 11 at the time but even at that age I noticed the divide. I wasn't there for a celtic match or something where it would have been more vocal or some other way its expected to be thrown in your face.I was on a family holiday with my best mate and his family in his da's fancy new campervan for 10 days so we went to 'nice places' too.That said,it was 1992 and things up north were mental.When things heat up in the north,particularly in Belfast it spills over into Scotland.Sectarianism has always been part of Scottish life mind,it works both ways,with Ireland.
Conflicting religious beliefs and mass immigration between next-door neighbours is never a recipe for success.Syria comes to mind at the moment,the conflict in the Balkans before that sticks in my own mind.History will always repeat itself.

electrobanana · 15-12-2016 3:58am

I worked on the Shetlands for 2 years its a mental place.. no trees, windy as fcuk and the natives are pretty much Vikings.

howiya · 15-12-2016 4:00am

TireeTerror wrote: »

I've been everywhere in Scotland. All the towns and all the islands. You can roam freely everywhere too, even across fenced fields, you can pitch your tent and hike wherever you want (Not in someones garden or planted crops). A glorious place indeed. The scenery is like Ireland on steroids and the majority of things are cheaper to buy, the cost of living is way lower than Ireland. Irn-Bru in every shop, black pudding suppers in all the chippies, deep fried pizzas, (mars bars are a gimmicky bull**** thing) square sausage and in Glasgow, the morning rolls are the best on planet earth. All motoring costs are substantially cheaper than Ireland too apart from the price of diesel which is a little bit more expensive.

The Western isles are absolutely breathtaking, totally and utterly unlike anything in the rest of the UK. Gaelic is still strong there and is seen as cool unlike the hostility I see in the non-Gaeltacht areas in Ireland. (not so much Shetland and Orkney which are a weird combination of inbreeds unsure if they are Scandinavian or Scottish. You're Scottish you muppets, get over it.

All 790 of them?

TireeTerror · 15-12-2016 4:17am

All the inhabited ones.

Also a large number of the uninhabited ones, I did a lot of kayaking.

Junkyard Tom · 15-12-2016 4:44am

The island of Britain should be renamed England because what used to be Scotland and Wales are pretty much Greater England at this stage as they are dependencies of London/England.

howiya · 15-12-2016 4:57am

TireeTerror wrote: »

All the inhabited ones.

Also a large number of the uninhabited ones, I did a lot of kayaking.

Fair play. It'd take some effort to get to Rockall in a kayak

94 of the 790 odd are inhabited according to Wikipedia

dd972 · 15-12-2016 12:39pm

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

The island of Britain should be renamed England because what used to be Scotland and Wales are pretty much Greater England at this stage as they are dependencies of London/England.

That'd go down a treat I'm sure, we can be a bit full of ourselves about our 'non-Britishness', why can't a Scots, Welsh or English person solely self identify as thus?

lawred2 · 15-12-2016 12:47pm

wife is Scottish so yes.

Unfortunately where she hails from is a fu(king dive. She couldn't wait to be out of there. Absolutely loves it here in Ireland. Her family are decent honest hard working skins but not much in the way of the world about them. Beef pie on holidays sort.

Whenever we're feeling a little down on Irish living - a week over there where she hails from refreshes us no end. We come back with a bounce in our steps.

Pity really because many parts of Scotland are simply amazing. Ayrshire, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, the Highlands, the Islands, Edinburgh etc etc beautiful places. And very wealthy too. Pitlochrie is a dream place.

But by god when Scotland gets bad it's very very bad.

TireeTerror · 15-12-2016 12:47pm

howiya wrote: »

Fair play. It'd take some effort to get to Rockall in a kayak

94 of the 790 odd are inhabited according to Wikipedia

I should fess up to being Scottish, from one of those islands (clue in my username) and worked on fishing boats for years, was paid to survey the entire Scottish coast from Arran all the way up to Ullapool to report on the feasability of fishing for dog whelks on the west coast. Then I was a salesman selling energy for 10 years meaning I went to every town. So Im a xheat ðŸ˜‰

lawred2 · 15-12-2016 12:47pm

sugarman wrote: »

I have...

...and Glasgow happens to be the grimmest place I have ever been to. Such a hole.

I mean I've been 3rd world countries and none of them have been as bad as Glasgow.

Edinburgh on the other hand.. is the complete polar opposite and one of the nicest cities with the friendliest of people, great shopping, great culture.. great nightlife. Just a great little city.

everyone remembers the first time they see the mound... Such an impressive and unexpected sight. Great city with a fascinating history.

LordSutch · 15-12-2016 12:48pm

Och aye, laddie ....

Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Loch Ness :eek:

topper75 · 15-12-2016 1:17pm

Fine place with truly mighty scenery. Nice as some corners of Ireland are - they can all be trumped in Scotland.

The lowlands and highlands are quite different physically and culturally - you need to be aware of that before you visit.

It's also bloody big and the going is slow in remote places as the roads are just single. They have a system with passing places every few hundred yards and you have to watch way ahead for oncoming vehicles. Such roads go on for huge distances, unlike our short country boreens. Also, though we have islands off our coast, they are all small. We have nothing quite like Skye that can actually take many days to explore.

Apart from natural beauty, many of their towns are quite pretty with sandstone blocks and Scottish baronial style buildings.

We are ones to talk but they have strange placenames, all the more so as you venture northward as the Gaelic world meshes with the old Norse: Lybster, Ulbster, Shebster, Nybster, Mybster, Bilbster, Sibster, Killimster, Thrumster, Whalligoe, Papigoe, Staxigoe, Skullomie, Coldbackie to name but a few.

swimming in a sea · 15-12-2016 1:46pm

With all the talk of Scotland, I went to look up Loch Ness on google maps and when you zoom in on Loch Ness the little symbol street view man turns into a little Nessie

:D:D made my day that...

Aglomerado · 15-12-2016 1:49pm

swimming in a sea wrote: »

With all the talk of Scotland, I went to look up Loch Ness on google maps and when you zoom in on Loch Ness the little symbol street view man turns into a little Nessie :D:D made my day that...

Ah it does too! That's lovely. I've never been to Loch Ness even though I lived in Stirling for a year. Scotland rocks. :cool:

razorblunt · 15-12-2016 1:50pm

I live here.
It's phenomenal pal, ya ken?

Fratton Fred · 15-12-2016 1:54pm

its almost two countries. One beautiful and vibrant, the other grey, very very grey. Edinburgh and Stirling I found lovely, Alloa and Falkirk drab and pretty miserable.

When you get to the highlands though, it is stunning.

Its just a shame 75% of the people that live there have a massive chip on their shoulder.

Yamanoto · 15-12-2016 2:14pm

Gaeilge, rain, junkies & mountains.

No need to leave home tbh.

Dr Crayfish · 15-12-2016 4:47pm

Lived in Edinburgh for a year. It's a beautiful city, aesthetically more pleasing than Dublin but I think Dublin has more life in it and nicer people. The Scotch are known for being tight with money and I have to say they live up to their name! Maybe not in Glasgow, as they're from Irish stock!
I was pleasantly surprised with Glasgee, not as ugly as I thought it'd be.
I've never been to the Highlands, but from what I can see, it looks like Irish scenery on steroids, bigger mountains and more dramatic, but not quite as lush as Connemara and Kerry. I'd be more a fan of green rolling hills.
They have some lovely pubs in the countryside and they don't seem to have the McMansion problem we have here in Ireland in places like Achill, where they just plaster a gaudy mansion on the side of a beauty spot. In Scotland they're probably not as much into Parish Politics and brown envelopes though.
I like how their Football team is crap, there's only room for one plucky underdog on these islands. They just seem to be perennial losers now. It's hilarious, especially the Euro 2016 campaign. They really hate us for some reason when it comes to football. Seems we get all the breaks. Their dour nature probably brings it upon themselves.

So I'll give Scotland a solid 7/10

Walter H Price · 15-12-2016 4:51pm

Scotland's great craic been over for a good few Celtic games , Leinster games against the warriors and 2 6 nations match's will be adding a 3rd in February. Glasgow ,Edinburgh ,Sterling and Aberdeen all got spots and the Scots are a great bunch of lads all together.

manwithaplan · 15-12-2016 4:58pm

lawred2 wrote: »

everyone remembers the first time they see the mound

You never spoke a truer word.

jmayo · 15-12-2016 5:18pm

dd972 wrote: »

Haven't been for over 20 years, on the whole I've always found it a bit like a 'UK Ireland' if you get my drift, they're mostly friendly folk as well, it's a bit unfair to tar them all with the same brush as regards sectarianism which I think is mostly a Glasgow region thing which gets diluted over in Edinburgh and ebbs away further from the Central Belt of the country where most of the population is, even that aspect of Scottish life isn't that clear cut as Scots Nationalists tend to be well disposed towards Ireland, North and South.

Been to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William, wouldn't mind seeing the islands off the west coast though or the Shetlands and Orkneys.

Been in Scotland a few times.
Once went right around it camping.
Even visited Skye which was bloody desolate like lots of West of Ireland.
Wild and beautiful but once the wind and rain comes.

Found some lovely places (Oban, Aberfeldy, Peebles, Ullapool, Callander) and nice people and some shyteholes with some dour bast***s.
I remember pubs in Dingwall which were shutting at 10pm and takeaways in Wick full of Rangers shirt wearers.

Visited more than a few distillers

Went seaplane flying years later and really enjoyed the nightime whiskey tasting in the hotel.
I know flying, especially on water and drinking don't go.

A lot of the scenery puts Ireland to shame.

Of the cities I liked Inverness (not sure if technically it is one) and Aberdeen.
Found Glasgow depressing actually, kept getting lost and ending up in Govan, the place that gave the world Rab C Nesbitt, Kenny Dalglish and Alex Ferguson.
Need i say more.

fg1406 · 15-12-2016 5:28pm

Spent a year living there between LC and College. Loved it. A lot more junkies than I would have envisaged (prepared me for Dublin), a lot less Gaelic than I had imagined and just the right amount of self deprecating sense of humour with the people. Didn't get to see enough of it though. It's been 17 years. Must go back soon.

Tabnabs · 15-12-2016 5:28pm

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Oban, Wick, Invergorden, Stromness (the town that time forgot), Kirkwall, Leirwick, Troon, Cambletown, all over. Enjoyed pretty much all of it, with the exception of Peterhead, the grimist ****hole I've ever stayed in. A good bunch of people by and large and a great sense of humour. Pity they never got the independence vote, feels like quite a distinct culture and country from down sarf.

razorblunt · 15-12-2016 5:34pm

jmayo wrote: »

Been in Scotland a few times.
Once went right around it camping.
Even visited Skye which was bloody desolate like lots of West of Ireland.
Wild and beautiful but once the wind and rain comes.

Found some lovely places (Oban, Aberfeldy, Peebles, Ullapool, Callander) and nice people and some shyteholes with some dour bast***s.
I remember pubs in Dingwall which were shutting at 10pm and takeaways in Wick full of Rangers shirt wearers.

Visited more than a few distillers

Went seaplane flying years later and really enjoyed the nightime whiskey tasting in the hotel.
I know flying, especially on water and drinking don't go.

A lot of the scenery puts Ireland to shame.

Of the cities I liked Inverness (not sure if technically it is one) and Aberdeen.
Found Glasgow depressing actually, kept getting lost and ending up in Govan, the place that gave the world Rab C Nesbitt, Kenny Dalglish and Alex Ferguson.
Need i say more.

The Gubbermint letting us down again!
Why haven't we got The Rockies?
We should have the Serengeti Plains in Offaly.

mynamejeff · 15-12-2016 6:12pm

yes i have been to scotland ,

glasgow is a grubby little city but great craic to go on the beer in

Edinburgh is great craic all around but quite hilly

bring a coat and lots of money

girls are friendly there

Cosmicfox · 15-12-2016 10:12pm

Been living in Aberdeenshire for over 2 years.

It's not bad, but fairly expensive. Not as nice as Edinburgh or Glasgow and not as much to do.

Would love to visit Shetland or Orkney but it's not cheap getting there and Shetland bloody takes ages getting too. Haven't done much sight-seeing which is a shame

Some very indecipherable accents round here but most people have been nice enough.

alchemist33 · 15-12-2016 10:18pm

Tabnabs wrote: »

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Oban, Wick, Invergorden, Stromness (the town that time forgot), Kirkwall, Leirwick, Troon, Cambletown, all over. Enjoyed pretty much all of it, with the exception of Peterhead, the grimist ****hole I've ever stayed in. A good bunch of people by and large and a great sense of humour. Pity they never got the independence vote, feels like quite a distinct culture and country from down sarf.

Well, Stranraer is the grimmest hole I've ever been in! But otherwise Scotland is great, and a fantastic place for a family holiday.

Summer wind · 15-12-2016 10:32pm

I've never been but I'd love to see the highlands. Billy Connolly did a great tour of Scotland on tv. The highlands were breathtaking.

Oodoov · 15-12-2016 11:27pm

Only in my dreams OP.

namloc1980 · 15-12-2016 11:53pm

Went there a few years back and loved it. Went the Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Loch Ness, Fort William, Isle of Skye, St Andrews. Magnificent country. Great people. And the scenery is breathtaking, much nicer than Ireland as the place isn't blighted with one off houses everywhere. Really rugged.

snowstorm445 · 16-12-2016 12:43am

Was there several years ago, a fine country I have to say. Skye and the area around Glencoe are some of the most spectacular places in the world IMO. Edinburgh of course is a lovely city (was lashing when we were there though, we could barely see the castle from the bottom of the hill :P), Glasgow was a bit rough I thought but was interesting it its own way.
Only place I wouldn't go back to is Fort William, fairly sad town tbh, which is a shame given all the landscape around it. It's like Athy plonked into the middle of the Highlands.

elperello · 16-12-2016 12:58am

In 1997 I was staying near Duns. I got the local paper in Berwick and there was a story on the front page about a bicycle theft.

Have you ever been to Scotland?

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