My life in travel Andrew Cotter
The sports broadcaster on dawn cycle rides, human traffic jams and the wonder of warm seas
IN THE PAST I WOULD OFTEN BE ON A PLANE 20 times a year or more, going to international sporting events, but I haven’t flown since January 2020. However, I’m doing a lot more travelling in the UK, so I’ve just swapped a plane for a car, really. There are lots of things I’ve missed out on – working in China every October, Abu Dhabi in January and the Tokyo Olympics.
MY DREAM HOLIDAY INVOLVES OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES and escaping crowds. I don’t mind relaxing by a pool or on a beach (yes, I’m a Scottish man who can tan!) but only if I’ve done some activity first, like getting up at 4am to climb a mountain. I was in Mallorca with my other half, Caroline, and obviously it is known for its beaches. But there I was at 4am with my head torch on, astride my mountain bike, doing the Sa Calobra hill climb by myself because by mid-morning I’d be jostling with tourist buses on the winding road. Getting up at 4am isn’t fun, but when the sun comes up over the Med and you have it all to yourself, it’s worth it.
YOU CAN’T BEAT A GRAND TOUR OF EUROPEAN CITIES for the history and architecture. Prague has unfortunately lost some of its shine with the penchant for stag and hen dos there. More recently I have loved visiting Stockholm. It’s so much easier to slot in a weekend break to Europe in an unpredictable work schedule.
CHILDHOOD HOLIDAYS INVOLVED taking the CalMac ferry over to Arran, a magical rugged island off the west coast of Scotland. We would stay in a wee holiday cottage in Lochranza on the north end and I would be climbing Goat Fell pretty much every day.
WE WOULD ALSO DO A COUPLE OF DRIVING HOLIDAYS to Europe every few years. Half of my mother’s family was from Germany, so one of my earliest travel memories is of going to Bavaria aged four in 1977. We stopped off in France and Aosta in the Italian Alps. I slept a lot of the way, but awoke to these schlosses of mad King Ludwig.
I LOVED JAPAN WHEN I WAS THERE FOR THE RUGBY WORLD CUP in 2019. I’d do commentary every four or five days, and while I had to do prep work in between, there was
time to explore. I loved the dichotomy of busy cities like Tokyo and the peace and quiet of the mountains 60 miles away. They don’t recommend you do Mount Fuji after September, but it was perfectly safe in October, and I had the whole mountain to myself. In peak season it’s like a traffic jam going up. I’m not a spiritual person, but I had this quasi-transcendental experience at 11,000ft, looking down on a carpet of cloud from the crater summit, surrounded by sunlight hitting the hard
frost and snow. It was breathtaking.
I SPENT MUCH OF MY CHILDHOOD ON A GOLF COURSE in Troon. My game was good in my younger years, but not now. I stopped playing regularly because of various ailments and frustrations. I’ve never done golf holidays, per se, but I always travelled with my clubs when I was younger. They’re annoying to travel with: you
find your
self standing by the outsize baggage, hoping they made it through. I remember the days when I was still allowed to bring one of my clubs on board the plane with me!
I FIRST EXPERIENCED THE MED IN 1980, in Italy. Growing up on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, where the water is cold even in summer, it was as if someone had run hot water. I was baffled. And the food was like nothing I’d ever tasted, even though we had Togneri’s
Italian cafe in Troon. As a small boy, I was enthralled walking around Siena and Florence, soaking up the history and visualising what would have happened hundreds of years ago. I still remember the view from climbing up the rickety bell tower.
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE HOTELS is Andy Murray’s Cromlix Hotel in Perthshire. I’ve paid the full whack every time I’ve been, so there’s no mate’s rates (yet!). They are very dog friendly
and even though the place had been renovated, it has an authentic history and charm to it.
I HAVE TWO LABRADORS CALLED OLIVE AND MABEL and they love hillwalking with me. In April I made a video with them in the Cairngorms, and did Ben A’an and Beinn a’ Bhùird. That was over two days and 26 miles. We saw one person the whole time, which suited me fine. The dogs are so adaptable; they settle in wherever they are.
I HAVEN’T BEEN TO MOROCCO BUT I’D LOVE TO GO CLIMBING in the Atlas Mountains. Doing the Himalayas is another of my dreams, but you are never going to see it the way Mallory did – I’d want to see it in as quiet and untainted a way as possible.
Dog Days: A Year with Olive & Mabel (£20, Black and White Publishing) is out now