Solo Crossing a Scottish River on Valentine’s Day
The suspension footbridge at Pitlochry
I’m riding a train to the Highlands. Outside the window, miles of snow-covered mountains fly by. The sky is white. There is a feeling of rawness inside me that’s hard to describe.
After having my heart broken by a boy who led me on but ultimately told me he didn’t want me, I decided I would reclaim my independence and go off on a grand adventure: graduate school in Scotland.
Ironically, it’s one of the most romantic countries in the world. Two hundred years ago, Sir Walter Scott wrote of castles, towers, ruins, and lochs. Poet Robert Burns penned the lines,
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands forever I love.
My university belonged to the lowlands of the coast, singing the song of the sea, but I felt pulled to the Highlands as well. In February I finally had time to go.
I disembarked from the train at Pitlochry, a quaint town famous amongst tourists as the gateway to the Highlands. Stomach rumbling, I made my way to the High Street in search of a meal — and found no open…
