Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, 'Men in Kilts'.
What does it mean to be Scottish? Put that question to the world, the world will answer: drink whiskey, eat haggis, plaid skirts, rain. And, perhaps, freedom bellowed and fought for by William Wallace. But Scotland is much more than “whiskey and haggis”. Scotland "is castles, warriors and battlefields". They are rivers, lakes and mountains wrapped in the warmth of those familiar tartans, as explained Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish in the first chapter of his particular series, Men in Kilts.
The two actors, friends and Scottish thoroughbreds, decided to embark on a journey from Edinburgh to the Highlands to answer that question. Armed with the curiosity and support of one of the series that has benefited the most from Scotland in recent years, Outlander. The visual result of your seven-day road trip is the documentary series Men in Kilts (available on Movistar +) completed with the publication of a book, in which they narrate all their adventures, Land of Clans (main ed. of the books).
Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, two on the road.
series and book go after locations and experiences that these two actors have shared on the set of Outlander, but also much further. From food to sports, from the history of some epic battle to the oldest clans of those lands.
Nine novels and a series with five seasons (for now, plus two announced) have made Tourism in Scotland has increased by 72% in recent years (data from Visit Scotland). without the books Diane Gabaldon, a writer from Arizona, USA, these numbers would not have been reached, but no one is unaware that it has been her adaptation, released in 2014, which has driven international fans crazy not only by encouraging them to travel to the Highlands, but also tattooing Latin phrases on their butts or calling their daughters Brianna.
Green and rain.
Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish have wanted to reinforce that love for Scotland a little more and they got into a caravan, parked in the Glencoe Valley, in the Highlands, in September 2019, heading for a trip with multiple stops: Edinburgh's Michelin-starred restaurants like The Kitchin; the fishing villages of Kingdom of Fife on the east coast, a paradise for lobsters and prawns; the small island of Islay, the Olympus of Scotch whiskies; Leo's Castle, well north, the inspiration behind the Leoch Castle, in reality and in Outlander fiction, Clan Mackenzie residence.
in the series men in kilts, each of the eight chapters is dedicated to a theme. They start with food and drink, having a feast of seafood and tasting malt whiskeys, smoked with the natural compost of the Islay soils, at nine in the morning. they continue to practice most Scottish sports, golf and rugby. follow by the musical and dance tradition, superstitions and witchcraft, the landscapes, the clans and, of course, its History, with a capital letter, Of battles and blood. Because that cliché of the rude Scottish man in a skirt, it is real.
Scottish landscapes.
In the book they extend much more in the details of the trip. Not only in the destination and the goal, but also on the road and in all the Scottish men and women who cross paths on their journey. A road trip that they not only travel in that motorhome that they have decorated to their liking, they also go by bicycle, on an old motorcycle with a sidecar, by boat and on foot, enjoying the mud and that humid breeze that permeates until it invades and fascinates you.
The book is a diary written between the two and accompanied by photographs of the trip and their past. And both, book and series, are peppered with images and comments from Outlander because in that journey in time this Scottish journey was born.
Kilts and whiskey, more Scotland?
main of books
'Land of Clans'
'Land of Clans'