Malcolm and Brenda had taken holidays in Scotland several times previously. On this occasion, at the beginning of June, they drove up jointly with their Dutch friends Hans and Ynskje Bosma and stayed in a cottage in Glenelg, Rosshire. When they arrived at the cottage, there was a welcoming bottle of Glenlivet whiskey waiting for them which just happened to be Malcolm's favourite brand. Hans also was a lover of the drink.

The location was lovely but the weather was not. There was only half of one day that was sunny but luckily, although the weather was dull, it was dry most of the time. It was fascinating watching the clouds rolldown the mountainside across the loch.

Glenelg was many miles along narrow road that finally petered out to nothing at Corran. The two couples did not travel very far as there was plenty of countryside to see locally. They did visit Shiel Bridge one morning. Down by the ferry there were seals to be seen and at Corran they saw a herd of red deer. Near to the cottage was an Iron Age broch. They also visited the cottage of Gavin Maxwell who wrote about otters in his book Ring of Bright Water.

During their stay, Scotland had a match in the world cup football competition which caused the entire village to shut down. Malcolm, Brenda, Hans and Ynskje decided to visit the Glenelg Hotel that evening and it seemed that the entire village was there to celebrate, many wearing their kilts. The people were very friendly and encouraged each person to sing a national song in which Hans participated. One man was especially drunk but he was assisted by two men to his Landrover which he drove off briskly but seemingly without difficulty. Traffic was scarce on that road so there was little risk of anyone else being in danger.