Keep Your Sunny Side Up!

Greetings from sunny Scotland

As I flew into Scotland recently, it was sunny and warm with a few puffy white clouds above. In town, some complained about it being terribly hot, though it was at most 70F/21C. The weather has remained sunny, with temps ranging from cool to comfortable, for the past two weeks.

When we were organizing our music & walking trips to Scotland, I used to warn our travelers to be prepared for the sun. They usually were puzzled by this. They expected my advice about bringing good raingear, both tops and bottoms, and waterproof shoes as well, so that we could enjoy a good walk in the drizzle. We only did this rarely, to be honest, but a walk in the forest in the rain is a beautiful thing, and even nicer when you reach the end and are still warm and dry.

But the notion of preparing for sun? Most of our American travelers had a hard time letting go of the notion that the UK is a rainy place. They were usually incredulous when I recommended sun block and sunglasses, in addition to a few layers for warmth, even some lightweight gloves as well.

A wee digression inspired by the gloves! — I remember a moment of summer chill at the edge of Loch Ness, a loch renowned for its cold, deep, inky water. As I dug into my daypack for my gloves I spotted a pair of shoe soles that had washed up on a rock.

After multiple attempts to stage good photos of these washed-up soles, I had to explain to my puzzled companions that our family band name was Highland Soles — and here was an actual pair of them! At the time, I imagined an album cover with the title “Lost Soles.” Alas, it was not to be. Our kids grew up, and instead of a family band album, I’ve happily made several with Neil on piano, and a 6-track EP (shortish CD) with Neil and Lillie, called “HST” for “Highland Soles Trio,” after we’d done some tours in the U.S. and Scotland. You can listen to them all here if you like.

During our music & walking tours, we were either lucky with the weather, or had a secret charm. I won’t say which. Also, Dorothy was very good at pivoting to adapt to circumstances, often arranging our driving and indoors activities so rain didn’t really matter. She knew Scotland so well she could adapt to everything that came our way. In the end, over the course of 23 tours, we experienced mostly good weather.

People often don’t know what to do about that, though. Maybe complain about sunburn or glare? We do like to complain — “Can you believe it’s raining?” Or in the winter, “Can you believe it’s snowing?” And in Scotland, such as here in Inverness where I am at the moment, people either warn you about the dark and cold in the autumn/winter, or warn you that the beautiful sunny warm weather we’re experiencing at the moment is an exception, so don’t you be taken in by it! This reminds me of the joke about the Vermont farmer: “Nice day today, isn’t it, Farmer Brown?” Farmer Brown puts on a properly dour look and grumbles, “We’ll pay for it.”

The thing is, I’ve been tracking the weather and noticing that over in Maine, our temps are often about 10 degrees cooler in winter and 10 degrees warmer in summer than Inverness. Folk in both places are quite used to the relative light and dark of the seasons, though it never ceases to be amazing that at 11 at night in summer (photo below at right), Inverness still feels like dusk rather than night.

All this despite the latitude. Maine is about the latitude of the French Riviera. London is the latitude of southern Hudson Bay, and Scotland way farther north. But it’s so much warmer than in northern Canada, of course, and they say that’s due to the Gulf Stream. Some researchers say there’s a major impact on weather due to a dramatic, permanent undersea waterfall in the north Atlantic. They calculate that due to climate change, this waterfall will end in the 2050s, and many things will change.

In the mean time, we can enjoy the temperate climate in Scotland, and appreciate with a smile the palm trees growing on the west coast. Though not native, they seem to be thriving.

You might want to enjoy this moderate weather before 2050, and may as well bring raingear tops and bottoms so you can enjoy a walk in the mist without complaints, because you’ll still be warm and dry, in a beautiful place.