East Scotland.

East Scotland is a lovely part of the country that takes in the cities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen farther north. It has much in the way of beautiful landscape to explore and things to see and do.

Scotland can be divided up into three main geographical areas, the southern lowlands, central lowlands and the highlands and islands. The southern lowlands describe the area directly above the border with England. It is a fertile area and his fairly hilly. It is a very scenic area but in a more gentle way that the rugged highland area.

The central lowlands of Scotland covers the area from the city of Glasgow to that of Edinburgh in the east of the country. This is where the majority of the Scottish population live.

The highlands and surrounding islands have dramatic mountainous landscape and the famous Ben Nevis. This area accounts for more than half of Scotland's total size yet its only heavily populated areas are the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness. There are a total of 790 islands and 130 of these are inhabited. Primarily these are the inner and outer Hebrides and the Shetland and Orkney isles.

It is possible to see the famous natural light show, known commonly as the northern lights at various points in Scotland. The most northerly areas of the mainland and the islands of Orkney and Shetland being the most usual places to see them. However, there have been reports of lights being seen at various other points in Scotland and even as far as the southern lowlands. You are most likely to see the northern lights here in the autumn, winter or spring seasons. A clear, crisp evening is the best time to view the lights and you will have more chance of seeing them in rural areas than near towns and cities due to 'light pollution'. Aurora Borealis has an 11 year cycle which is currently at its end point, the best time to see the lights from now is expected to be in 2012/13.

There are so many things to do in Scotland and the highland games are one of the best known. The games are held between Aberfeldy and Tomintoul and the areas inbetween this. The games consist of both field and track events as well as piping and highland dancing. There are also more unusual events such as tug-of-war, hammer throw and toss the caber.