Just to get the ball rolling, here's Ardvreck Castle, on Loch Assynt.
(No gold was found)
The shore of Loch Broom:
Very scenic 8) . I've been on a few good holidays in Scotland years ago but then we discovered so much within an hour of where we live that we stopped going further.
Very evocative images, thank you.
I wonder if I'll ever return to the UK... ::)
I'll put some up from my visits later, when I get home. Scotland is addictive.
Great photos!
I'd love to have a holiday in Scotland. I've only ever just been over the border.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 05:05:03 AMI'll put some up from my visits later, when I get home. Scotland is addictive.
Just one for now, because I can't resist. Panorama of Red and Black Cuillin, Skye, taken back in 2016. The Black Cuillin, to the right, look a little smaller here, but actually are much bigger and more dramatic. They curve away in a ferocious, jagged ridge behind the one you can see here, Sgurr nan Gillean. The beautifully symmetrical Red Cuillin on the left is Glamaig. Blaven and Marsco also visible.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 05:42:50 AMJust one for now, because I can't resist. Panorama of Red and Black Cuillin, Skye, taken back in 2016. The Black Cuillin, to the right, look a little smaller here, but actually are much bigger and more dramatic. They curve away in a ferocious, jagged ridge behind the one you can see here, Sgurr nan Gillean. The beautifully symmetrical Red Cuillin on the left is Glamaig. Blaven and Marsco also visible.
Stupendous!
It's like picking the plums out of plum pudding. Here's Suilven.
My favourite. Stunning from every angle (it's the one I posted on the Elgar thread last night)
This is Suilven as seen from the sea i.e. the other direction. It looks much much bigger than it really is, a massive bulk over Lochinver even though it's a few miles away. This is the view the Vikings would have had of it, which explains why they gave it the name they did, Suilven meaning Pillar Mountain.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSVg9EsKFVcXYV-dAnUQix-QBS0AcIHdzyKaT7EFtp4g&s)
Beautiful views!
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 06:19:56 AMThis is Suilven as seen from the sea i.e. the other direction. It looks much much bigger than it really is, a massive bulk over Lochinver even though it's a few miles away. This is the view the Vikings would have had of it, which explains why they gave it the name they did, Suilven meaning Pillar Mountain.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSVg9EsKFVcXYV-dAnUQix-QBS0AcIHdzyKaT7EFtp4g&s)
Blisteringly fine! Yes, it dominates the surroundings in every direction, and is the star of every photograph.
One of my favourite Scottish books is The Highland Jaunt, by Paul Johnson and George Gale (Collins, 1973). George Gale writes:
"Ullapool became, in retrospect, something else: for it was the beginning of a piece of road and land which were to us swiftly to become, as they already were to those who had known them with far more knowledge than ever I could, the finest roads and lands, the finest mountains, lochs and seas and skies that are to be found anywhere within the British Isles; or indeed, anywhere in the world. ...
I have not found anywhere on earth more beautiful than the western lands to the north of Ullapool, nor do I expect to find anywhere more beautiful, or hope to."
The remarkable thing is that he isn't exaggerating.
No, he's not. It's beautiful in many ways, not just the visual. There's also a melancholy quality, a hardness, a thinness, an elemental essence. Arvo Pärt's setting of Burns'
My Hearts in the Highlands, as pure as cold spring water, captures something of it, I think. This video, accompanying Pärt's music, is astonishingly beautiful
The video is not of the far Scottish north that Elgarian Redux describes, however; it's of the Cairngorms , where most of Britain's highest mountains are, barring Ben Nevis, the highest of all. But Ben MacDui, #2, isn't that far behind.
Great thread! I would like to visit northern Scottland and eat fried fish. Any nice Haddock or cod? Good river fish as well?
I'm not a seafood person but Scottish seafood is supposed to be wonderful
https://haarathome.co.uk/blogs/news/scottish-seafood
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 10, 2024, 09:47:53 AMGreat thread! I would like to visit northern Scottland and eat fried fish. Any nice Haddock or cod? Good river fish as well?
The Seaforth restaurant in Ullapool is a good place to go. Excellent haddock/cod and chips is available (but don't neglect the haggis), as I recall, eaten in a slightly rough, Scandinavian atmosphere that seems appropriate to a place close to the Northern Edge of The World.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 09:13:30 AMNo, he's not. It's beautiful in many ways, not just the visual. There's also a melancholy quality, a hardness, a thinness, an elemental essence.
Elemental indeed. There's a road out of Lochinver that winds its way northward to Drumbeg and beyond, which is narrow, steep, and
very twisty. The first time I ever drove along it we reached a point where I was so scared that I simply had to stop and take stock of what we were attempting. Ahead of us, for as far as we could see, ranged mountain after mountain, bare rock, unrelieved by trees, greenery of any kind, and with no visible trace of man. Primeval stuff (these rocks are the oldest in Britain).
I've since driven along that road several times and in fact it's perfectly alright. But that first time was terrifying.
Oddly enough, despite the prevalence of mountains, it's great country to visit with a bike.
And you might say that when you've seen Suilven once, you don't need to see it again. Oh no, you couldn't be more wrong.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 10, 2024, 09:47:53 AMGreat thread! I would like to visit northern Scottland and eat fried fish. Any nice Haddock or cod? Good river fish as well?
If you get there, I'd highly recommend a visit to the Gille Brighde Restaurant, where not only is the food superb and the atmosphere incredibly friendly, the setting on Loch Torridon is gorgeous, looking out over Loch Torridon after the meal was very special. It's off the beaten track and takes a bit of getting to through winding roads and spectacular scenery, but it always seems to be full because of its reputation and is well worth it.
https://www.gille-brighde.com/
(Actually Beinn Eighe, mentioned by Luke in the Elgar Hillside thread, is not far behind the restaurant as you see it on the website homepage, but out of sight in that pic .)
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 10, 2024, 11:23:40 AMOddly enough, despite the prevalence of mountains, it's great country to visit with a bike.
Lightweights that we were, we hired electric bikes, but yes fantastic.
Quote from: Iota on June 10, 2024, 11:36:32 AMLightweights that we were, we hired electric bikes, but yes fantastic.
Electric bikes count!
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 10, 2024, 11:02:56 AMThe Seaforth restaurant in Ullapool is a good place to go. Excellent haddock/cod and chips is available (but don't neglect the haggis), as I recall, eaten in a slightly rough, Scandinavian atmosphere that seems appropriate to a place close to the Northern Edge of The World.
My favourite meal out ever was in Staffin, north Skye, in an echoey hall that doubled as a community/sports centre during the day; the walls were lined with posters for village events and a display of local knitwear. It was just my wife and I; the couple of warm, welcoming old ladies serving us some very simple food were the only other people there. The night closed in, and the huge windows facing northwards towards the tip of the island went deep blue, then black, and a nip of Talisker rounded the night out. We went home the next day.
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 10, 2024, 11:27:21 AMAnd you might say that when you've seen Suilven once, you don't need to see it again. Oh no, you couldn't be more wrong.
Indeed. We should really have a Suilven thread to itself, to be honest ;D That's a lovely photo.
As someone of Scottish descent, it's a beautiful thing to witness the land of my ancestors:
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 10, 2024, 11:18:03 AMElemental indeed. There's a road out of Lochinver that winds its way northward to Drumbeg and beyond, which is narrow, steep, and very twisty. The first time I ever drove along it we reached a point where I was so scared that I simply had to stop and take stock of what we were attempting. Ahead of us, for as far as we could see, ranged mountain after mountain, bare rock, unrelieved by trees, greenery of any kind, and with no visible trace of man. Primeval stuff (these rocks are the oldest in Britain).
I've since driven along that road several times and in fact it's perfectly alright. But that first time was terrifying.
The pitted cnoc-and-lochan landscape of Assynt is unique. The starkest beauty.
It's always bloody raining. And the midges are dreadful. And don't get me started on bagpipes.
That being said, I like The Edinburgh Festival. There's a good fast rail link back to Kings Cross.
To be more specific, one of my family names is McLellan, which is a name associated with a clan that hailed from what would be Dumfries and Galloway today.
Here are some rather alluring images from this area of Scotland:
(https://www.travelswithakilt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/New-cover.jpg)
(https://mss-p-014-delivery.stylelabs.cloud/api/public/content/7119037-16x9?t=w1280)
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ecdfa5066d6a3cdd06acdf7008f185062b56f172/0_142_5760_3456/master/5760.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=3320718a97cc1e48e0116aa86fe050ba)
(https://espc.com/media/7365/dumfries-galloway-image-121121.jpg)
(https://www.insiderscotland.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Loch-Dee.jpg)
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 10, 2024, 11:59:33 AMAs someone of Scottish descent, it's a beautiful thing to witness the land of my ancestors:
The ultimate drive might be the one up the Bealach na Ba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bealach_na_B%C3%A0) on Applecross, opposite Skye. It's a high, steep and very twisty drive, the only public road I know with a sign warning that only accomplished drivers should attempt it. It has a famous viewpoint, but on the day I drove up it you could see nothing.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 12:10:44 PMThe ultimate drive might be the one up the Bealach na Ba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bealach_na_B%C3%A0) on Applecross, opposite Skye. It's a high, steep and very twisty drive, the only public road I know with a sign warning that only accomplished drivers should attempt it. It has a famous viewpoint, but on the day I drove up it you could see nothing.
I imagine that would be a rather dangerous drive. The first image is rather lovely, but also haunting.
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on June 10, 2024, 09:47:53 AMGreat thread! I would like to visit northern Scottland and eat fried fish. Any nice Haddock or cod? Good river fish as well?
If you go you could always catch a wild haggis to eat
Going to Skye in 2016 was very special indeed. I had written a novel set on the island - a terribly long and diffuse one which makes me ashamed these days, but it had thoroughly absorbed me and obsessed me, so that I felt I knew every inch of the place and yearned to go there. During the same period my wife had gone through cancer. It was an intense time. When her treatment was finished we went up to Skye, and it was wonderful. Some pictures...
1) On arrival we went for a walk round a lonely, empty quarter. I love this photo of my wife, after her ordeal, looking into the future.
2) Beinn na Caillich, reflected in Loch Cill Chriosd
3, 4) Classic views of the Quiraing.
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 10, 2024, 12:14:08 PMI imagine that would be a rather dangerous drive. The first image is rather lovely, but also haunting.
It was a bit nervewracking, to tell the truth! But we got up and down OK. I took a photo of my trusty car/hotel to celebrate...
You take gorgeous photographs
@Luke. Also, I'm glad your wife recovered and is able to enjoy her life. With those views, it's bound to make anyone feel better!
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 10, 2024, 11:59:33 AMAs someone of Scottish descent, it's a beautiful thing to witness the land of my ancestors:
That road is indeed amazing. You see the darkness of Glencoe waiting for you at the end of the road, ready to swallow you up, the pyramid of Buchaille Etive Mor standing sentinel at the entrance. You sweep along towards it, the bleakness of Rannoch Moor to your right, and a kind of awe/terror/excitement overwhelms you as you enter the glen...
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 10, 2024, 12:26:05 PMYou take gorgeous photographs @Luke. Also, I'm glad your wife recovered and is able to enjoy her life. With those views, it's bound to make anyone feel better!
Thank you so much, that's kind of you. To tell the truth, she recovered from the cancer but is currently suffering from something as bad, in its own way - the sudden onset of a neurological condition that has left her unable to move from the bed for almost a year now. Poor thing, she has gone through some unimaginably horrible times. She is very brave.
I'll post some photos of my most recent trip later tonight if anyone wants. That's the one I made for my book, so there are photos of music-related places to go alongside the mountain erotica. ;D
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 12:30:14 PMThank you so much, that's kind of you. To tell the truth, she recovered from the cancer but is currently suffering from something as bad, in its own way - the sudden onset of a neurological condition that has left her unable to move from the bed for almost a year now. Poor thing, she has gone through some unimaginably horrible times. She is very brave.
Damn...I don't know what to say, but I hope she makes a full recovery. It seems such horrible things happen to such good people. So sorry to hear about all of this.
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 10, 2024, 12:38:18 PMDamn...I don't know what to say, but I hope she makes a full recovery. It seems such horrible things happen to such good people. So sorry to hear about all of this.
Thank you very much. She is slowly getting stronger; she will recover, but it is going to take a long time.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 12:32:16 PMI'll post some photos of my most recent trip later tonight if anyone wants.
I don't think anyone is likely to say no to that offer, Luke!
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 10, 2024, 11:02:56 AMThe Seaforth restaurant in Ullapool is a good place to go. Excellent haddock/cod and chips is available (but don't neglect the haggis), as I recall, eaten in a slightly rough, Scandinavian atmosphere that seems appropriate to a place close to the Northern Edge of The World.
I love fish and chips (and stout beer). I'll visit Ullapool!
Quote from: Mandryka on June 10, 2024, 12:14:30 PMIf you go you could always catch a wild haggis to eat
Ok, I would like to try!
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 12:30:14 PMThank you so much, that's kind of you. To tell the truth, she recovered from the cancer but is currently suffering from something as bad, in its own way - the sudden onset of a neurological condition that has left her unable to move from the bed for almost a year now. Poor thing, she has gone through some unimaginably horrible times. She is very brave.
I'm sure she still has some fun and joy spending time with you. Hope she will get better.
Thank you for those kind thoughts :)
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 12:30:14 PMThank you so much, that's kind of you. To tell the truth, she recovered from the cancer but is currently suffering from something as bad, in its own way - the sudden onset of a neurological condition that has left her unable to move from the bed for almost a year now. Poor thing, she has gone through some unimaginably horrible times. She is very brave.
That must be hard - I wish you all well.
Quote from: Mandryka on June 10, 2024, 12:14:30 PMIf you go you could always catch a wild haggis to eat
I just hope they're sustainably harvested!
@Mandryka Thank you very much, I truly appreciate it.
Quote from: Iota on June 10, 2024, 11:31:53 AMIf you get there, I'd highly recommend a visit to the Gille Brighde Restaurant, where not only is the food superb and the atmosphere incredibly friendly, the setting on Loch Torridon is gorgeous, looking out over Loch Torridon after the meal was very special. It's off the beaten track and takes a bit of getting to through winding roads and spectacular scenery, but it always seems to be full because of its reputation and is well worth it.
https://www.gille-brighde.com/
(Actually Beinn Eighe, mentioned by Luke in the Elgar Hillside thread, is not far behind the restaurant as you see it on the website homepage, but out of sight in that pic .)
Nice web site and the town looks good. Sea trout on the menu looks interesting!
Quote from: Mandryka on June 10, 2024, 12:14:30 PMIf you go you could always catch a wild haggis to eat
As well as being a great/evil occultist, the infamous Aleister Crowley was a hundred other things, including poet, spy and mountaineer - in fact, he was a pioneering mountaineer, who followed the classic British climber's ascent from Skye to the Alps to the Himalaya and who was involved in early attempts on K2 and Kanchenchunga, in both of which he was involved with controversy, to say the least.
Crowley lived at Boleskin House, on the south shore of Loch Ness (obviously there are some out-there theories that Nessie was conjured up by him during one of his rituals...). Boleskin, BTW, is an ill-fated house, supposed to be haunted and possessed and the victim of a few fires over the years, including recently. After Crowley it was owned by the Lez Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page...
Anyway, on the subject of haggis-hunting I love this section of Crowley's wicked(ly funny) 'autohagiography'
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. Sorry for the length...
Quote from: Aleister CrowleyOn April 27th, the good Tartarin [mountaineer and companion of Crowley's during their attempt on K2 in 1902], who had published a book (in the Swiss language) on our expedition to Chogo Ri [Crowley's name for K2], illustrated with many admirable photographs but not distinguished by literary quality or accuracy (in many respects), and had lectured in Paris and other capitals on Chogo Ri, dropped in [at Boleskin]. I was heartily glad to see him. He was the same cheerful ass as ever, but he had got a bit of a swelled head and was extremely annoyed with me for not leading him instantly to stalk the sinister stag, to grapple with the grievous grouse, and to set my ferrets on the fearful pheasant. He could not understand the game laws. Well, I'm a poet; I determined to create sport since it did not exist. More, it should be unique.
I opened the campaign as follows. Tartarin knew the origin of the wild buffalo of Burma. When the British destroyed the villages, their cattle escaped the bayonet and starvation by taking to the jungle, where they had become practically a new species. After the '45 the British had pursued the same policy of extermination—I mean pacification—in the Highlands, and I thought it plausible to invent a wild sheep on the analogy of the wild buffalo. And more, the beast should be already famous. I described its rarity, its shyness, its ferocity, etc., etc.—"You have doubtless heard of it,' I ended; 'it is called the haggis.' My '52 Johannesburg completed that part of the 'come-on'. Tartarin dreamt all night of scaling a lonely and precipitous pinnacle and dragging a lordly haggis from his lair. For my part, like Judas in the famous story of the Sepher Toldoth Jeschu, I did not dream at all: I: did better!
Two mornings later, Hugh Gillies, with disordered dress and wild eyes, came rushing into the billiard room after breakfast. He exploded breathlessly, 'There's a haggis on the hill, my lord!'
We dropped our cues and dashed to the gun case. Trusting to my skill, I contented myself with the .577 Double Express, and gave Tartarin the principal weapon of my battery, a 10-bore Paradox, with steel-core bullets. It is a reliable weapon, it will bring an elephant up short with a mere shock, even if he is not hit in a vital part. With such an arm, my friend could advance fearlessly against the most formidable haggis in the Highlands.
Not a moment was to be lost. Gillies, followed by the doctor, myself and my wife, tiptoed, crouching low, out of the front door and stalked the fearsome beast across the Italian garden.
The icy rain chilled us to the bone before we reached the edge of the artificial trout lake. I insisted on wading through this—up to the neck, guns held high—on the ground that we should thus throw the haggis off our scent!
We emerged dripping and proceeded to climb the hill on all fours. Every time anyone breathed, we all stopped and lay low for several minutes. It was a chilly performance, but it was worth it! Tartarin soon reached the point where every bent twig looked to him like one of the horns of our haggis. I crawled and dripped and choked back my laughter. The idiocy of the whole adventure was intensified by the physical discomfort and the impossibility of relieving one's feelings. That interminable crawl! The rain never let up for a single second; and the wind came in gusts wilder and more bitter with every yard of ascent. I explained to Tartarin that if it should shift a few degrees, the haggis would infallibly get our scent and be off. | implored him to camouflage his posteriors, which arose in front of my balaclava, heaving like the hump of a dying camel. The resulting wriggles would have driven Isidora Duncan to despair; the poor man was indeed acutely conscious that, anatomically, he had not been constructed with the main idea of escaping notice.
However, after an hour and a half, we reached the top of the hill, three hundred feet above the house, without hearing that hideous scream-whistle of alarm by which (so I had been careful to explain) the haggis announces that he has detected the presence of an alien enemy.
Breathlessly, we crawled towards the hollow space of grassy and heathery knolls that lay behind the huge rock buttress that towers above the garden and the lake, that space whose richness had tempted our distinguished visitor to approach so near to human habitation.
The mist drove wildly and fiercely across the hillside towards us. It magnified every object to an enormous size, the more impressively that the background was wholly blotted out. Suddenly Gillies rolled stealthily over to the right, his finger pointed tremulously to where, amid the unfurling wreaths of greyness, stood ...
Tartarin brought forward the 10-bore with infinite precision. The haggis loomed gargantuan in the mist; it was barely fifty yards away. Even I had somehow half hypnotized myself into a sort of perverse excitement. I could have sworn the brute was the size of a bear.
Guillarmod pressed both triggers. He had made no mistake. Both bullets struck and expanded; he had blown completely away the entire rear section of Farmer McNab's prize ram.
A couple more of my Skye pictures...
5) Looking west at Neist Point at sunset, the Hebrides on the horizon
6) Classic Scottish Passing Place sign, blasted blank by the elements, the Cuillin in the background
And from my trip in February 2023, for my book
1) Calder House, where Chopin stayed for most of his Scottish tour, 1848.
2) The cobbled lanes around Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh
3) A very Scottish view across Edinburgh, including all the classic elements: mouldering graveyard (the graves of the lighthouse Stevensons are visible in this photo); Holyrood parliament (modern) and palace (ancient); Arthur's Seat
4) Holyrood Abbey, in the palace. This is where Mendelssohn stood and, amidst the ruins, conceived of the opening of his Scottish Symphony.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 03:05:52 PMAnd from my trip in February 2023, for my book
1) Calder House, where Chopin stayed for most of his Scottish tour, 1848.
2) The cobbled lanes around Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh
3) A very Scottish view across Edinburgh, including all the classic elements: mouldering graveyard (the graves of the lighthouse Stevensons are visible in this photo); Holyrood parliament (modern) and palace (ancient); Arthur's Seat
4) Holyrood Abbey, in the palace. This is where Mendelssohn stood and, amidst the ruins, conceived of the opening of his Scottish Symphony.
Nice!
...more (please ignore if I'm getting boring)
5) This is the bridge at Tummel Bridge, a tiny settlement at the end of Loch Tummel, in the shadow of Schiehallion. Mendelssohn stayed here after leaving Edinburgh, and drew the bridge.
6) - I decided not to attach no 6...
7) On Orkney, as Yesnaby (as referred to by Maxwell Davies in one of his best known pieces)
8) Looking in the other direction - the bleak treelessness!
9) A couple of miles away - this is the Ring of Brodgar. This tiny scrap of land, from here to the Stones of Stenness, a few hundred yards away, is intensively packed with incredible ancient monuments of massive importance.
Not in the least bit boring.
Still on Orkney, but on the island of Hoy this time:
10) this is the landscape that the Orkney poet George Mackay Brown called 'the valley of the shadow of death.' It is the road to Rackwick, where Maxwell Davies lives for over 25 years in a tiny croft, high up on the cliffs.
11) This is in Rackwick, but looking east. Max lived on the opposite cliff.
On Sanday
12) This was Max's next home, on the island of Sanday. His house is behind me; these islands, the Holms of Ire, figure in much of his late music.
Back on Mainland (not the mainland, this is Orkney's central island)
13) Leaving Stromness on the ferry back to the actual mainland. Max's most famous piece, probably, is Farewell to Stromness, and it describes travelling over approximately this stretch of water.
14) Still on the ferry, we sailed back past Hoy as the sun set. You can see the Old Man of Hoy (sea stack). Max's croft was not far from it.
15) Back on the mainland, I drove through the night across the entire north coast, then down to the brink of Assynt, where I parked in the dark to assure myself of this view when I woke up. The airy arc of Kylesku Bridge to the left; the bulk of Quinag to the right.
16} Loch Assynt looking very bleak. This is the same loch as in Elgarian Redux's first post on this thread. Suilven is a few miles behind this, lost in the fog.
17) Stacc Pollaidh. David Bedford wrote a couple of short pieces inspired by climbing it. Thus giving me an excuse to make this whole gorgeous west coast trip. Were I to have climbed it, and were the weather better, I'd have had a great view of Suilven from the south.
18) An Teallach - the forge
19) Slioch - the spear
20) Beinn Eighe
21) The Torridon Hills, including Beinn Alligin and Liathach
22) is one of the ones I posted of Bealach na Ba; 23) is another photo of the same location
I then went to Skye for a bit, and then the next morning across to Mallaig. From there to Morar, where Bax stayed and composed
24) The Tale the Pine Trees Knew
25) This is very close (as in a few metres) to the Prince's Cairn, from where Bonnie Prince Charlie left the country. Speed Bonnie Boat and all that.
26) In Oban, looking at Castle Dunollie. A very important place in the history of music. Anyone know why?
27) Another very important place in the history of music, although this is a little more tongue in cheek. The clue is in the photo.
And that's it. I'll leave off now.
Wonderful!
I've been to the UK once, on one of those package tours that hit and run the highlights. That was in July 1995.
The photos I took all ended up on Flickr.
I'll try and link them.
As a test, here's the Glen Mor. Second photo features the obligatory bagpiper.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17367796072
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17343797276
Yes, they worked - send more!
Three from our tour bus of the moors north of Glen Mor running towards Fort William, I think.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17183532109
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17343796156
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/16749465823
I should mention we didn't go to the Hebrides, and the farthest north we got was Inverness, and the wildest was the main road through the Cairngorms.
I'm not sure where this was: I labelled the pictures "The Grampians".
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/16749467123
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17369417431
I love these. Apart from the views themselves (and that bagpiper!) I love the feeling of them, the saturation etc. makes me nostalgic for the early 90s!
A Highland stream near Balmoral, plus a view of Her Majesty's Vegetable Garden at Balmoral, with the woods immediately adjacent to the gardens.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17343796026
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17367800332
Culloden Field, as it would have been seen by the Jacobite army.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/16749469143
Loch Ness. No sign of Nessie that day.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17343795206
The beach at St Andrews. The Royal And Ancient is behind and to the left out of picture.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17369751775
And the modern city of Edinburgh as seen from the Castle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17183535229
And to sign off, from Loch Lomond: the Loch and the hills immediately next to it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/16747229104
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/17343795466
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 04:02:09 PMI love these. Apart from the views themselves (and that bagpiper!) I love the feeling of them, the saturation etc. makes me nostalgic for the early 90s!
Thank you! If you want to see what they showed us typical Yankee tourists, the full album is here, the result of 10 days bopping around 🇬🇧.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/albums/72157710884896808/
Funny, where you took that Loch Ness photo from is approximately where the aforementioned Crowley's house at Boleskin was, though from lower down the hill.
Quote from: JBS on June 10, 2024, 04:15:12 PMThank you! If you want to see what they showed us typical Yankee tourists, the full album is here, the result of 10 days bopping around 🇬🇧.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53982507@N05/albums/72157710884896808/
Love the Downing Street one!
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 04:16:52 PMFunny, where you took that Loch Ness photo from is approximately where the aforementioned Crowley's house at Boleskin was, though from lower down the hill.
Yes, they pointed out the house as we passed, though they didn't stop and there was no clear view of it.
That road we were on was a one-lane road all along the Loch and some distance north. At one point our bus had to pull over to let a car by coming from the opposite direction.
Quote from: Luke on June 10, 2024, 04:18:48 PMLove the Downing Street one!
I rather like the police officer in Ludlow, the footman in Bath, and the "dragon" in Chester.
Single track roads like that are par for the course all over the UK but especially in Scotland. Hence the ubiquitous passing place signs they have up there, as in my Skye6 one, or here, halfway up the Bealach na Ba:
This isn't a thread. It's a Scottish visual orgy.
No answers to my teasers on my last photos, 26 and 27?
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 12:58:08 AMNo answers to my teasers on my last photos, 26 and 27?
Not from me. It's my birthday today and we're off out for coffee and a crossword puzzle.
Happy birthday! Have a great day!
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 12:58:08 AMNo answers to my teasers on my last photos, 26 and 27?
Mendelssohn drew a rather good sketch of Dunollie - did he also sail from there
en route to Staffa?
As a half-Scot who knows the country pretty well, I've been lurking on this thread. Some wonderful pictures.
Don't know the answer to your no.27, so will reply with a puzzle of my own - we've been singing the praises (quite rightly) of the road from Ullapool to the north coast, but the place where it reaches the coast - Durness - also figures tangentially in the history of music - why is that? >:D
A Bealach na Bà story - I went on holiday many years ago up there with an aunt of mine who was the most terrifying driver, but who thought she was wonderful - had never had an accident, and those she had had were always someone else's fault - and when we came to the bottom of the road at Kishorn and saw the "experienced drivers" sign, I was praying that she might have that molecule of self-knowledge that would prevent her from attempting it. Luckily she did - "No, we won't go that way today!" Phew.
Quote from: DaveF on June 11, 2024, 02:00:08 AMMendelssohn drew a rather good sketch of Dunollie - did he also sail from there en route to Staffa?
Correct (well, he sailed from Oban, but you're right about the sketch). Not only that, he drew it from exactly where I took this photo. I drove round till I found it. The sketch dates from the day he wrote a letter home which contains the first ideas for 'Fingal's Cave' - i.e., the day before he actually went to Fingal's Cave.
Quote from: DaveF on June 11, 2024, 02:00:08 AMAs a half-Scot who knows the country pretty well, I've been lurking on this thread. Some wonderful pictures.
Don't know the answer to your no.27, so will reply with a puzzle of my own - we've been singing the praises (quite rightly) of the road from Ullapool to the north coast, but the place where it reaches the coast - Durness - also figures tangentially in the history of music - why is that? >:D
Well, that'll be John Lennon: it was where he went on holiday as a kid (and where he took Yoko as an adult - he crashed his car driving round Loch Eriboll which rather ruined things). I stopped briefly in Durness on my night drive along the north coast - it's where the road simply turns left, and now you're heading south! - and I took a photo of the John Lennon Memorial Garden. Originally my book was going to have a few sections on various pop/rock things (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake a couple more) but I took them out, not without having done the work. And in fact my no.27 is VERY closely linked to your Durness fact. There's a clue in the photo.
Quote from: DaveF on June 11, 2024, 02:00:08 AMA Bealach na Bà story - I went on holiday many years ago up there with an aunt of mine who was the most terrifying driver, but who thought she was wonderful - had never had an accident, and those she had had were always someone else's fault - and when we came to the bottom of the road at Kishorn and saw the "experienced drivers" sign, I was praying that she might have that molecule of self-knowledge that would prevent her from attempting it. Luckily she did - "No, we won't go that way today!" Phew.
;D ;D Yes, I was questioning myself too, but I took the plunge.... wrong term given the sheer drops!!
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 02:06:54 AMJohn Lennon... crashed his car driving round Loch Eriboll
Is your pic the very place?
No, but it is quite a twisty road, and it did seem to go on forever....
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 03:12:10 AMNo, but it is quite a twisty road, and it did seem to go on forever....
Ah - and did you take the picture on a wild and windy night?
I did indeed!
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 01:13:40 AMHappy birthday! Have a great day!
Thank you. It's been pretty good so far: I've been swept away by my first experience of the singing of Anna Moffo, for a start.
The Ullapool view is taken from the harbour, looking roughly south along Loch Broom.
Ardmair Bay is a couple of miles north of Ullapool, where we stayed several times in a cottage. It makes a sort of giant natural amphitheatre - a great place to play guitar on the shore, looking out to sea.
Lovely. I remember driving through/past it, it's (yet another) stunning location, as you say.
Quote from: DaveF on June 11, 2024, 03:40:20 AMAh - and did you take the picture on a wild and windy night?
I should elaborate a little - as part of an exceptionally gruelling (but beautiful) day of driving I drove from Mendelssohn's Oban southward, in the quickly gathering gloom and storm, to the road which seems to have lain behind Macca's thinking when he conceived of
The Long and Winding Road. (Herein: the LWR.) Rather less romantically put, it is the B842, which runs saucily down the inner leg of the Kintyre peninsula towards his Scottish retreat. I didn't get all the way there - it was, as you rightly guessed, a wild and windy night, and it was one of the longest days driving I have ever done, having started waking in a harbour carpark on Skye, from where I had taken an early ferry through the fog back to the mainland, then stopped for a bit o'Bax at Morar, then driven all the twisting west coast south of that point to Ardnamurchan where I took a long, long trip up its arduous single track road to the end of the lonely peninsula (a Judith Weir destination) and back, then through the mountains to Loch Linnhe, then taken another ferry at Corran, then driven on to Oban - passing, out of the blue and delightfully, this favourite sight:
From Oban to Kintyre is another long drive, and so I was, to put it bluntly, knackered.*
So the truth is (confession time!) I stopped and turned back after I had driven a few miles on the LWR itself. And in fact the picture was taken a few yards
before I actually joined the LWR, in case I didn't see any more fortuitous road signs like this one! (I didn't.)
*I drove on and on afterwards, too, back up Kintyre, along Loch Fyne, through the mountains to Loch Lomond, then to Glasgow for a final destination, and then bombing it down the motorway, back into England, stopping at about 1 a.m. to sleep as best I could in the tempest-lashed car park of Tebay Services 8) What a day that was!
Stack Pollaidh (in the middle)
Great! I took some similar photos, from the same viewpoint (approximately) but yours is much better! Very striking mountain!
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 10:48:57 AMGreat! I took some similar photos, from the same viewpoint (approximately) but yours is much better! Very striking mountain!
I think it must be a much-photographed view, by travellers along the A835. The quality of the view is pretty much in the hands of the weather, don't you think?
Changing moods at Ardmair Bay:
Wow, these are beautiful
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 11, 2024, 01:12:40 AMNot from me. It's my birthday today and we're off out for coffee and a crossword puzzle.
Co-là-breith math!
Quote from: Luke on June 11, 2024, 02:06:54 AMCorrect (well, he sailed from Oban, but you're right about the sketch). Not only that, he drew it from exactly where I took this photo. I drove round till I found it. The sketch dates from the day he wrote a letter home which contains the first ideas for 'Fingal's Cave' - i.e., the day before he actually went to Fingal's Cave.
Well, that'll be John Lennon: it was where he went on holiday as a kid (and where he took Yoko as an adult - he crashed his car driving round Loch Eriboll which rather ruined things). I stopped briefly in Durness on my night drive along the north coast - it's where the road simply turns left, and now you're heading south! - and I took a photo of the John Lennon Memorial Garden. Originally my book was going to have a few sections on various pop/rock things (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake a couple more) but I took them out, not without having done the work. And in fact my no.27 is VERY closely linked to your Durness fact. There's a clue in the photo.
;D ;D Yes, I was questioning myself too, but I took the plunge.... wrong term given the sheer drops!!
Ah, I was expecting a true
currac an duine mhairbh.
At the very least, the place where Richard Allen became a one-armed drummer.
Quote from: JBS on June 11, 2024, 06:49:35 PMCo-là-breith math!
Tapadh leat!
(No, I don't speak gaelic, and had to use a Google cheat!)
One more Ardmair Bay mood:
Very atmospheric!
Something frankly ridiculous (as against all these sublime photos)... the Firesign Theatre's first Sherlock Holmes parody, "By the light of the Silvery," (a live show at the Magic Mushroom) has a Scottish astronomer stealing the moon (for a day or two at first, then he got bolder and bolder.) Do you realize what this means, Watson? Today, a million babies were born with their sun in Sagittarius and their moon in Glasgow!
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 12, 2024, 12:32:45 AMOne more Ardmair Bay mood:
Like many of
@Luke's photos (and your own as well), this particular photo is album cover worthy!
Those 'changing moods' ones are really spectacular.
Quote from: Mirror Image on June 12, 2024, 07:27:40 AMLike many of @Luke's photos (and your own as well), this particular photo is album cover worthy!
Maybe the ferry was trying so hard to get away because I was playing guitar on the shoreline ...
Quote from: Luke on June 12, 2024, 07:58:43 AMThose 'changing moods' ones are really spectacular.
It was the advantage of staying in a cottage on the shore. I claim no credit for the photos. I was just there for a week, pointing and clicking more or less in any direction whenever the Bay put on a new display.
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on June 12, 2024, 08:18:57 AMMaybe the ferry was trying so hard to get away because I was playing guitar on the shoreline ...
I could write that chord.
Quote from: Karl Henning on June 12, 2024, 08:22:28 AMI could write that chord.
Show that chord to this guy, Karl ...
Quote from: Karl Henning on June 12, 2024, 08:22:28 AMI could write that chord.
Les musiques pour repousser des bateaux
A few more from a cycling trip along the road to Achiltibuie.
Makes me want to go back up there right now.
One of those Summer Isles is currently up for sale...
BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nnvn01ynqo)
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/a389/live/69b717f0-27dc-11ef-9588-6d96e597ad15.jpg)
I'll take two. Or are they doing a BOGOF?
Quote from: steve ridgway on June 13, 2024, 06:20:23 AMOne of those Summer Isles is currently up for sale...
BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nnvn01ynqo)
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/a389/live/69b717f0-27dc-11ef-9588-6d96e597ad15.jpg)
Oh, cool! Lugging water up those ladders would not be fun though. All kinds of birds that I haven't heard of before (not geese).
PD