Dorothy Wordsworth

On 15th August 1803, three English travellers set out on a tour of Scotland. Two of the travellers are very well known - Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. The third was Wordsworth's sister Dorothy and it was her recollections of the trip which she diligently wrote into a journal of the trip which tells us of the sights, traditions and conditions that the companions experienced. The journey was undertaken for health reasons; all three had not been in the best of health, especially Coleridge who suffered from gout and the effects of Opium addiction. The three had previously travelled in Europe together, especially France, and were to find Scotland just as foreign to them and the terrain much harder to traverse, especially in their rudimentary 'Irish jaunting car' in which they were to undertake the journey.