My Heart's in the Lowlands Ten Days in Bonny Scotland

AN INVITATION But first, before you see heaven's glory, May ye get mony a merry story.- Robert Burns Liz, are you off to Scotlandagain?" I blush to confess it.Aye. At first everyone understood. "Doing research for your novels," they said. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing the land ofBraveheartandRob Roy? But when my visits became an annual pilgrimage, when every spare penny and frequent-flier mile was earmarked "Glasgow," when I had to build more bookshelves to hold all my treasured tomes from you-knowwhere, one fact became abundantly clear: Scotland had captured my heart and was not about to let go. So...let'sgo,shall we? Just the two of us? Rather than running breathlessly from one end of the country to the other, we'll take a leisurely turn around South West Scotland, known as Dumfries and Galloway. Many travelers bypass this quiet corner, eager to experience the stark beauty of the Highlandsa sight worth seeing, to be sure. But I consider Galloway the country's bestkept secret: a place where time holds its breath, where ancient ruins dot the countryside in moss-covered splendor, where the natives are friendly and the tourists are few, only because they don't know what they're missing. So, ten days in bonny Scotland. You'll join me, aye? May is the best month for a leap across the pond. The sun rises by five and tarries past nine, providing ample time to wander down every footpath that beckons. The air is scented with lilacs. Month-old lambs gambol along the hedgerows, and the rolling hills and glens are covered with the greenest grass you can imagine. I'm on tiptoe just thinking about it. Don't worry about the driving; a steering wheel on the right side of the car and traffic on the left side of the road feel perfectly natural to me. Besides, in May we'll have the place to ourselves. Students are still in school, and most tourists wait for summer. English sightseers, however, barrel up the M6 motorway on the weekends, so we'll plan to arrive on a Sunday and depart on a Tuesday. That will give us lots of weekdays to poke about the village shops and explore half a dozen castles and linger over pots of tea and nibble on scones and... Oh, is it May yet? Glasgow Bound It's always May, if only in our hearts. Our Continental flight leaves in an hour, and the passengers in the gate area are growing restless. The novel stuffed in my purse remains untouched, yet my plane ticket has been consulted many times.Still safely in place. Still a 7:50 p.m. departure. Behind us, a Glaswegian woman scolds her teenage sons for wandering off."Eejits!"she fumes. "Are ye daft?" I duck my head to hide a smile and see you do the same. No matter the dialect, a mother's words are universal. When the first wave of passengers begins to board, we gather our belongings and follow the herd, trying not to be envious of all that legroom in the business-class cabin. No matter. Business or coach, high road or low road, we'll all be in Scotland afore long. Truly, that's all that matters. "Why Scotland, Liz?" I'm asked that question so often I really should have a snappy answer at the ready. "Because it's the loveliest place on earth" is a beginning. "Because I'm fascinated by the country's history" offers some justification. "Because men in kilts make my heart skip a beat" may be true, though it's the skirl of a lone bagpipe that brings a lump to my throat. Crawfords and Walkers, two fine Lowland names, grow in my family tree, but we'vHiggs, Liz Curtis is the author of 'My Heart's in the Lowlands Ten Days in Bonny Scotland', published 2007 under ISBN 9781400072972 and ISBN 1400072972.