Basics - The Rough Guide to Scotland - page 41

Flying Fever T 01770 303899, W flyingfever.net. Based on the
stunning Isle of Arran, forty miles southwest of Glasgow. From March to
October, fully accredited paragliding courses and tandem flights cost £140.
Skydive St Andrews T 01592 882400, W skydivestandrews
.co.uk. Year-round, highly professional, fully accredited parachute school
that offers tandem, solo “static” line and “accelerated free-fall courses”
over the Fife countryside. Tandem jump £265.
Skydive Strathallan T 07774 686161, W skydivestrathallan
.co.uk. Located just outside Auchterarder, this non-commercial school
operates year-round. Tandem jump £280.

No licence is needed to fish in Scotland, although
nearly all land is privately owned and its fishing
therefore controlled by a landlord/lady or his/her
agent. Permission, however, is usually easy to
obtain: permits can be bought at local tackle shops,
rural post o ces or through fishing clubs in the
area - if in doubt, ask at the nearest tourist o ce.
Salmon and sea trout have strict seasons , which
usually stretch from late August to late February.
Individual tourist o ces will know the precise dates,
or see Visit Scotland's excellent “Fish Scotland”
brochure ( W fishpal.com/VisitScotland). For more
information and contacts see W fishscotland.co.uk.

Golf
There are more than four hundred golf courses in
Scotland, where the game is less elitist and more
accessible than anywhere else in the world. Golf in its
present form took shape in the fifteenth century on
the dunes of Scotland's east coast, and today you'll
find some of the oldest courses in the world on these
coastal sites, known as “links”. It's often possible to turn
up and play, though it's sensible to phone ahead;
booking is essential for the championship courses.
Public courses are owned by the local council,
while private courses belong to a club. You can play
on both - occasionally the private courses require
that you are a member of another club, however, and
the odd one asks for introductions from a member,
but these rules are often waived for overseas visitors
and all you need to do is pay a one-off fee. The cost of
a round will set you back around £15 on a small
nine-hole course, and more than £50 on many good-
quality eighteen-hole courses.
St Andrews is the top destination for golfers: it's
the home of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the
body that regulates the rules of the game. Go to
W scotlands-golf-courses.com for contacts, score-
cards and maps of signature holes for most of the
main courses. If you're coming to Scotland primarily
to play golf, it's worth shelling out for one of the
various multi-course passes or packages available,
which gives you access to a number of courses in
any one region. There's more information at
W scottishgolf.com and W visitscotland.com/golf.

Watersports

Opportunities for sailing around Scotland are
outstanding. However, even in summer the full
force of the North Atlantic can be felt, and
changeable conditions combined with tricky
tides and rocky shores demand good sailing and
navigational skills. Yacht charters are available
from various ports, either bareboat or in yachts
run by a skipper and crew; contact Sail Scotland
( W sailscotland.co.uk) or the Association of
Scottish Yacht Charterers ( W asyc.co.uk). An alter-
native way to enjoy Scotland under sail is to
spend a week at a sailing school. Many schools, as
well as small boat rental operations dotted along
the coast, will rent sailing dinghies by the hour or
day, as well as windsurfing boards .
Scotland's top spots for windsurfing and
kitesurfing are Troon on the Ayrshire coast, St
Andrews and Tiree. The latter is renowned for its
beaches and waves and has an excellent surf,
windsurfing and kitesurfing school, Wild Diamond
Watersports ( W surfschoolscotland.co.uk).
In recent years sea-kayaking has witnessed an
explosion in popularity, with a host of operators
offering sea-kayaking lessons and expeditions across
the country. Canoe Scotland ( W canoescotland.org)
offers useful advice, while Glenmore Lodge ( W glen-
morelodge.org.uk), Uist Outdoor Centre ( W seakayak-
outerhebrides.co.uk) and Skyak Adventures
( W skyakadventures.com) are highly reputable for
training and tours.

Fishing

Scotland's serrated coastline - with the deep sea
lochs of the west, the firths of the east and the
myriad offshore islands - ranks among the
cleanest coasts in Europe. Combine this with an
abundance of salmon, sea trout, brown trout and
pike, acres of open space and easy access, and
you have a wonderful location for game-, coarse-
or sea-fishing.

Surfing
In addition to sea-kayaking, Scotland is fast gaining
a reputation as a surfing destination. However, the
northern coastline lies on the same latitude as
Alaska and Iceland, so the water temperature is very
low: even in midsummer it rarely exceeds 15°C, and
in winter can drop to as low as 7°C. The one vital