What is it like to live in Northern Scotland?

[catonthekeyboard]

Hi, may I please ask what it's like in Northern Scotland because I'm fascinated by this. How cold is it? Does it rain most days? Do people speak Gaelic? If you're in the Highlands or the Hebrides, how do you get shopping etc and how long does the post take? Are the houses very cheap? How do you cope with isolation? Thanks!

I live in the north of the UK, but we are currently in the highlands doing the NC500! Wow just beautiful!
We have seen every weather up here, rain, wind, sunshine ( quite a lot of it) and even snow! So bizarre how it suddenly changes!
We noticed even in the smallest villages there is normally a spa or a co-op shop which seems very well stocked! Also seen Tesco and Lidl and Asda - was at a huge Tesco in wick yesterday very impressed! Far bigger than our local one!

You passed my house.

Or possibly hoose.

The variation in hours of daylight between summer and winter is much greater than in, say, London. So be careful about drawing conclusions if you visit in the summer - the winter looks very different!
You can look up the weather online. Once you get up to Inverness and beyond, the highlands seem to trap the cold air - that's my observation anyway.
Communities tend to be strong (generalisation), but it's not as socially isolated as you may imagine.
There are big supermarkets on lots of the islands.
It can be a pain getting stuff delivered because many of the couriers charge extra for the highlands and islands.
We used to get the Sunday papers on a Monday, but they were still surprisingly popular.
Broadband can be difficult if you're very rural, just like everywhere else.
The people are great.

Really? Western Highlands average 180.2 inches per year.

Compared to the UK average of 50 inches.

The western Highlands are so wet. I have friends on Skye and it can be absolutely miserable.

I live on the north east coast of Moray and it's pretty good here weather wise. Except the wind can be pretty wild but it's not particularly wet.

And where did I say I was talking about the Western Highlands 🤔

Even there though it doesn't rain every day and has plenty days of sunshine

I love the Highlands, especially the very top parts, a couple of hours drive north of Inverness.

I dream of winning the lottery and buying a cliff-top house with huge glass windows looking out over the sea.

Just the most beautiful part of the UK, in my opinion.

That's interesting. I knew a guy who lived in Edinburgh for several years and when I mentioned I thought the weather there was probs similar to the rest of the UK he got frustrated and exclaimed that Scotland is a different country and rains ALOT more

Skye seems to have a microclimate of its own 😂 We have a house on Skye and I loathe going there because of the rain.

I live in the Highlands. It can be cold and wet yes, but we do have our fair share of beautiful weather too. Houses are not particularly cheap. I don't feel isolated we have a good wee community where we are, get groceries delivered. We are not so far away from shops etc though really. Its very scenic and I probably do take that forgranted. Post is fine although things can cost more from certain places.