A WEST FIFE historian has dedicated his latest book to his son who tragically lost his battle with cancer just two months ago.

Eric Simpson has been working towards the release of ‘Hail Caledonia: The Lure of the Highlands’ for many years but little did he know the book would become a special memorial to his son, Fraser, 53.

The book explores the ways in which the Highlands have become a top tourist destination and it’s a place where Eric has many precious memories with his son.

“It was a terrible shock to lose Fraser,” Eric, 86, from Dalgety Bay told the Press.

“This book is now extra special to me because of him.

“He was very much an outdoors person and we went walking together in the Highlands.

“He also took up caving and went to some of the most remote places in the world to find unknown caves.

“One of the pictures I have included in the book is one that he took of a cave underground that he had to dive to get to.

“As he died so recently, it was a last-minute addition to include him as he did not live to see the book.”

Fraser, an audio/visual technician at Fife College, suffered from an undiagnosed illness for a year until doctors discovered he had cancer.

However, the cancer had spread to many parts in his body too quickly and it was too late for him to recover.

Eric continued: “Fraser married his long-term partner, Dawn, just three weeks before he passed away.

“It was a very moving occasion – heart-breaking in some ways but also a very happy at the same time.

“We had a celebration service after his funeral and over 250 people were present, many coming from all over the world through his caving connections.

“Everyone was very kind.”

Eric has now written more than 20 books with many focusing on West Fife history. He has spent all his professional life teaching the subject, researching and writing.

“I love going to the Highlands myself, so it was a powerful incentive to explore why people started to travel there.

“After the Jacobite rebellion, the Highlands weren’t somewhere people wanted to go. But, by the 1800s, Queen Victoria made the place popular. It started off as a place that the rich would go to because they had months of leisure time they could devote to travel.

“By the beginning of mass travel, the less well-off started to venture to the hills and the islands.

“It is special that I can involve my family in the book with our pictures – it’s very fitting to what Fraser’s passions were.”

‘Hail Caledonia: The Lure of the Highlands’ is published by Amberley Publishing and will be on the shelves at the end of November.