Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Tweed Rins tae the Ocean" by Alasdair Allan is a book we would highly recommend to anyone wanting a thought-provoking and entertaining read; and especially to anyone wanting a better understanding of what modern Scotland is and what it could become.

At one level this is a book structured around an account of a long-distance walk along the border between Scotland and England, plus a little more along the Solway coast. But it is so much more than that too. Underpinning the story of the author's own journey are extracts drawn from a very wide range of sources describing the experiences of earlier travellers and an equally wide range of historical accounts of events that took place in the locations he passes through. These add both depth and breadth to the book. As do the author's own thoughts about the nature of the border he is following and the implications of it for the status and future of Scotland.

Alasdair Allan is a Scottish politician serving as the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Na h-Eileanan an Iar (The Western Isles) constituency since 2007. A member of the Scottish National Party, he served as a Scottish Government minister from 2011 to 2018, first as Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland's Languages and then Minister for International Development and Europe. It is probably true of any work written by a politician seeking to explore and explain issues close to their heart, but we suspect that this is a book that will appeal rather more to those who share Alasdair Allan's political outlook - or are interested neutrals - than those who tend to take an opposing view.

Although he lives in and represents The Western Isles, Alasdair Allan was born and brought up near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders and all four of his grandparents lived and worked along the border, which adds a very personal dimension to his responses to the places he passes through. The author and a changing cast-list of chosen companions tackled the walk along the border between Scotland and England in a series of separate legs and they did it from north-east to south-west. This immediately raises the question: "why?" As the title of the book notes, the River Tweed, which the journey follows in part, flows the other way. And as the title of the introduction notes, this direction meant walking against the prevailing wind. The author's reason is found in a footnote: "The truth is that I had written out most of my own detailed route-plan for the walk before I remembered the issue of the prevailing wind, and by then I could not face that task of re-writing everything in reverse."

This is an example of an amusing and attractive frankness on the part of the author that recurs throughout the book. Not every aspect of the journey went to plan and one slight misadventure encountered en-route did bring to mind, however briefly, "Three Men in a Boat". This comparison probably does no favours to either Alasdair Allan or Jerome K. Jerome. But if you live in or are interested in Scotland and looking to read something that is refreshingly and enjoyably different then, as we said at the beginning of this review, we would strongly suggest you take a look at "Tweed Rins tae the Ocean".