The Heart 200 Book: A Companion Guide to Scotland's Most Exciting Road Trip

The Heart 200 route is a unique road trip around some of the most beautiful locations in Central Scotland. Two hundred miles running through Stirlingshire and Perthshire, Heart 200 takes its visitors on an epic adventure to suit every taste - whether you are an outdoors enthusiast, an aficionado of history, or simply looking to enjoy yourself in some of the most stunning natural surroundings in the world.

Written with the full approval and co-operation of the Heart 200 team, The Heart 200 Book is a guide to the very best that the route has to offer. You will discover the history and culture of this remarkable region, from antiquity to the modern day, with more than a few unexpected insights along the way. Over the millennia, this amazing land has made its mark on world history thanks to famous figures ranging from the ancient Celts and the Roman Empire to King Robert the Bruce and Mary Queen of Scots, by way of Bonnie Prince Charlie, Rob Roy MacGregor, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Queen Victoria and even The Beatles!

So whether you're travelling by foot, car, motorhome or bike, get ready for a journey like no other as the Heart 200 invites you to encounter standing stones and steamships, castles and chocolatiers, watersports and whisky distilleries... and surprising secrets aplenty! Illustrated with full-colour photography and complete with Internet hyperlinks to accompany the attractions, The Heart 200 Book will introduce you to some of the most remarkable places in all of Scotland and encourage you to experience each and every one for yourself. It really will be a tour that you’ll never forget.

Dr Thomas A. Christie is a Scottish author with research interests in popular culture, literary analysis, interactive fiction and modern cinema. He has many years of experience as a literary professional, working in collaboration with several publishing companies including Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Applause Books, Crescent Moon Publishing and Robert Greene Publishing. His full-length works to date have focused upon subjects such as cinema history and literary criticism, as well as the production of original prose fiction. A passionate advocate of the written word and literary arts, Tom is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Authors, and the Federation of Writers Scotland. Over the years Tom has produced original writing for respected organisations such as the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum and the Dementia Services Development Centre, a leading independent higher education research unit based at the University of Stirling. Additionally, he is regularly involved in public speaking events and has delivered guest lectures and presentations about his work at many locations around the United Kingdom. Tom holds a PhD in English Studies, on the subject of Scottish Literature, from the University of Stirling. He has also been awarded a first-class Honours degree in Literature and a Master's degree in Humanities, specialising with distinction in British cinema history, from the Open University in Milton Keynes. For more details about Tom and his work, please visit his website at www.tomchristiebooks.co.uk.

Julie Christie has been working in different roles within business and the third sector for more than three decades. Over the years she has worked with a number of charitable organisations such as Princess Royal Trust for Carers, Aberlour Childcare Trust, the Alzheimer's Society, the Royal Voluntary Service and Town Break Dementia Care. She was also an associate with the University of Stirling, where she was involved in the development of Dementia Friendly Communities. Julie is currently the Business and Fundraising Manager for Start Up Stirling, the city's food bank. She brings considerable experience from the commercial retail industry, having held posts with national companies including AstraZeneca, Marks and Spencer, Goldsmiths, Thorntons and Laura Ashley. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing degree from the University of Glasgow and a Bachelor of Science degree with first-class Honours in Sociology and Social Policy from the Open University, which she loved doing as it concentrated on the things that fascinated her about people and culture as well as exploring how we can both see the same thing and yet hold an entirely different point of view. Her hardest job was dealing with fraught brides when she worked in the wedding trade, where she had to develop her tea-making skills as well as occasionally mopping up tears! The most rewarding job of all - and also the worst-paid - was looking after her late Mum, who had to live with many chronic illnesses. Julie had never tried being self-employed, so - given her passion for lifelong learning and literacy - the next logical step was to co-found a publishing business, Extremis Publishing Ltd., which continues in the long history of publishing in the city of Stirling. She is convinced that real life is always more interesting than fiction. Her view on life is that you should never be afraid to try new things, everyone should have a fair chance, that living life is way more interesting than doing the dusting, and that she has never found a box of chocolates that she hasn't liked yet!