Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A. D. 1803 place to sleep meant finding a public house along the road, which could range from a pleasant inn by English standards, to a dirty and smoky peasants hut with no glass windows nor chimney and a dirt floor. More than once the Wordsworths were refused a room for the night [ such as the Arrochar Hotel] after dark in the rain with miles to the next town; however this was contrasted by the kindness and generosity of others, the MacFarlane's at Loch Katrine.[7] Food in 19th century Scotland along the road ranged from boiled fowl and egg on the high
Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A. D. 1803 picturesque—in fact "Recollections" is considered today a classic of picturesque travel writing. Venturing to Scotland in 1803 was not an easy trip and the thirty-year-old Dorothy would experience much of the rougher nature of Scottish life. Scotland had become depopulated in areas from emigration throughout the 18th century and the remaining rural Scots existed in a preindustrial lifestyle more reminiscent of the Middle Ages than modern times. The roads were poor and dangerous or mere cattle-paths requiring a local guide. Dorothy notes the road quality along each segment from "most excellent", "roughish", to "very bad" to "wretchedly bad". Finding a