The Land Endures

THE LAND ENDuRES - EVEN DuRING COVID

Robert Robertson About a decade ago in an English class in Lochaber High School, I discovered my favourite book: Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song. Set during the unfathomable turmoil of WWI, its most famous quote came to me recently: ‘nothing endures but the land’.

In the last 10 months, I have spent two long periods back home. On both occasions, I have isolated for a fortnight in my Glasgow tenement before bolting up the A82. Lockdown in the city is tough and it is how the majority of the country has experienced most of the last year. 2020 wasn’t a walk in the park for anyone but at least in the Highlands we have fresh air, long walks and our beloved ever-enduring landscape.

Little over a year ago, Tide Lines walked off the pitch at Murrayfield stadium having played a once-in-a-lifetime gig to the 67,000 capacity rugby crowd. It was a perfect day. Scotland even managed an unlikely win! It was also our last live gig in what now feels like an age. After our performance that day, our agent sat us down to break the bad news that he thought the incoming coronavirus could result in the cancellation of our spring tour due to start just over a month later. Little did we know, he was, in fact, being optimistic.

The Six Nations begins again this month and we are no closer to playing our next live gig. Writing this whilst looking out onto the Ben, though, I have a lot to be thankful for. These mountains have stood watch over times of civil unrest, times of war and times of clearance. All have passed and so will this latest challenge. As Grassic Gibbon taught a 17-year old Lochaber boy: ‘Nothing endures but the land.’