It's been almost four years since I made the move from Glasgow to the Scottish Highland. In many ways, it only feels like yesterday. Yet in many ways, it also feels like a very long time ago.
For me, moving to the Scottish Highlands is one of the best things I've ever done. However, there are a number of lessons I've learned in my time living here. I've shared a couple of blogposts over the years about my experiences living in the Scottish Highlands, which I'll share at the bottom of this post.
Planning Ahead is Key
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you're thinking about moving to the Scottish Highlands, you HAVE to consider the logisitics of living in a rural part of Scotland.
For me, this is one of the biggest learning curves I've had to learn. When I was living in Glasgow, if I needed to get an ingredient for a dinnner I was making, or if I suddenly discovered I'd run out of toilet roll, I could easily pop down to the nearest Tesco Express. This isn't the case in the Scottish Highlands.
Our nearest Coop is about 15 miles from home. That means it would be an hour long round trip in order to pick up an essential ingredient.
You make the most of trips to the "big smoke"
I'm very thankful to have a job that means we travel around a lot. We normally end up driving through Fort William or Inverness at least once a month. During these trips, we often make a detour to head to the bigger supermarkets to stock up on supplies. This means we'll usually leave Inverness or Fort William with a bunch of tins and store cupboard supplies in our boot.
Winter can be hard...
I've shared a number of times on this blog about what winter looks like in the Scottish Highlands. In the height of winter, it starts to get light around 9am and starts getting dark again around 3:30pm.
Over my past four winters living in the Scottish Highlands, I've come up with some techniques and routines to help me me better cope during the long winter months. But these routines don't always help when the winters are so cold and dark.
But, in many ways, summer is harder
I definitely tend to flourish when the days start to get longer. But the reality of living in the Scottish Highlands during the winter months is just how busy the tourist season is in the Scottish Highlands.
Because my job is mainly customer facing, it means that we often work fairly flat out during the summer months. I love meeting people from all over the world and sharing my love of the Scottish Highlands with them, but spending time with new people all the time can sometimes end up quite draining.
Another difficult thing about living in the Scottish Highlands is the amount of scary incidents we experience with drivers on the roads. Last summer, I witnessed quite a bad accident near our house which really left me feeling quite shaken (thankfully everyone who was involved was alright). Throughout the summer months in the Scottish Highlands, there are so many road accidents due to the sheer volume of traffic on the roads, as well people not being used to such narrow country roads. For those of us who live in this part of the world, it can be a difficult thing to have to deal with on a daily basis.
Appreciate every season
Moving to the Scottish Highlands, I've really learned to appreciate every season throughout the year. I'm not sure if that's because the winters are so long here, but I've really started learning to appreciate each time of year, rather than wishing it away. In February, I get so excited when I see the first snowdrops appear. In September, I love making bramble jam from the thousands of brambles that grow by the sides of the road and in the woodlands. This month, in May, I've loved watching all the lambs frolicking about and watching the fields and lawns near us turn blue with the thousands of bluebells that grow this month.
Despite the challenges, I'm so glad the Scottish Highlands are my home. It's been a joy to live here for the past few years, and I hope you've loved seeing what life looks like for me living in the Scottish Highlands.
As I've said before, here are some more blogposts I've written over the last few years about my experience of moving to the Scottish Highlands.
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