Tag Archives: Scotland

Weekly Photo Challenge – Scale

09 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by in creativity, photography, weekly photo challenge

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This week’s prompt is .. scale

The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is just stunning. One of natures masterpieces.

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This sculpture by Louise Bourgeois is 9 meters tall.
The photo is taken at Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao but I first saw this spider at the opening of Tate Modern in London.

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The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland is another unexpected yet beautiful sculpture, in daylight or at night. In local folklore, these giant water horses guard the canals of the region.

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This photo from the Paralympics 2012 reflects the scale of support, effort, energy, joy from athletes and spectators.

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And to finish off the topic with 2 literal interpretations of the prompt, scale on the fish for our dinner the other night, and scale on a piano.

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Scale

Scotland – Falkirk, Stirling and Pitlochry

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in all about me, days out

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Falkirk Wheel is a fascinating piece of engineering and ingenuity. Rather than creating the usual series of locks to link two canals that are at different levels, this wheel has been built as a rotating, counterweighted boat lift. The glass roofed visitor centre explains the process and has a café where you can watch the wheel in action. As one gondola, containing boats and water, descends from the higher canal aqueduct, the opposite gondola rises from the basin and lower canal. All performed with minimal energy due to the Archimedes principle. Clever stuff. Usually there are tourist boat trips on the wheel but due to annual maintenance last week, we could only see the wheel and not experience it in motion.

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Falkirk has another tourist attraction, The Kelpies. Two beautiful horse sculptures, thirty metres tall, made from stainless steel, which stand in the Helix parkland, beside the canals. We walked through the park to view the sculptures from a distance and up close. We also joined a tour, which told about the mythology of the water horses, the local history of the canals and heavy horses who worked the area, also the millennium vision that created the kelpies. The bonus of taking the tour was going inside one of the horses, seeing the internal design and engineering of the structure.

We stopped later in the day, at dusk, as the horses were floodlit from inside and the light reflected in the canal.

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Stirling is another Scottish town full of history. It is the site of battles against the English, such as Bannockburn. The Wallace Monument sits on one hill, the castle sits on another hill. The castle was both a fortress and a royal residence for several hundred years. The tour guide refreshed my Tudor and Stuart history, Mary Queen of Scots, crowned as a baby, her son, James VI of Scotland who became James I of England. The castle staterooms are displayed with minimal furnishings, as example, a simple four poster bed frame to indicate the nature of the room, while paintwork and ornate ceilings were emphasized. The kitchens have displays and soundtracks to indicate the hustle to feed a full castle. A workshop was in use where replica tapestries are being woven by hand. Our afternoon was an interesting snapshot of history.

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Back in 2011, we drove across the Forth bridge, up around Perth and on to Pitlochry where we stopped for coffee and a walk around. We took the kids for a walk to the river, over a suspension bridge and up past the fish ladders where the salmon swim up and through the dam, into the loch above. The scenery was stunning with the autumn colours. There was some cloud and even mist on the hills as we drove up, but we had some sunny spells. Aussie Mate and Aussie “soon to be” son-in law were on a search for some snow but it had not been cold enough that October, so there was no snow even on the Cairngorm Mountains. We drove back along the banks of Loch Tay via the Falls of Dochart.

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I’ve enjoyed all three trips to Edinburgh. First class train travel was an added benefit, travelling via York, Durham, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Berwick on Tweed. The section around the English and Scottish border is lovely as the train tracks hug the coast and passengers get glimpses of the sea, cliffs, coves and beaches.

Scotland – Edinburgh

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in all about me, days out

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We are just back from a few days in Edinburgh. This was my third trip in three years. One was an autumn family trip as part celebration of 18th and 21st birthdays, with C~M, S~E and Aussie “soon to be” son-in law. One was a mini break in spring with my mother, ladies who lunched and enjoyed some civilised sightseeing. This has been a couple’s break. So I’ll write about this trip to the city, Falkirk and Stirling but with additions from the previous visits when we ventured to Pitlochry and Roslin Chapel, toured the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Edinburgh is a beautiful rugged city, built on several volcanic hills. It has lots of history, grand buildings, alleyways, steep stairways and open spaces. It is a busy cosmopolitan city with various foreign accents mixing with the lilting local Scottish accent.

It is exciting to go to a new place but it also nice to return, to know the landmarks and your way around. We still browsed and found new routes to new points of interest but we did not need to get out the tourist map as we walked along.

The castle looked striking in the dusk and evening floodlights. We went back in daylight to get the views of the city, estuary, surrounding countryside. We didn’t go inside the castle this time, but have good memories of wandering around the grounds, the apartments, seeing the Scottish crown jewels, the memorial, the prisoner exhibition and cells. The Great Hall exhibits old weapons, swords, guns, spears. St Margaret’s Chapel is a tiny little chapel but pretty with colourful stained glass windows. We had joined the crowds outside, to see the one o’clock cannon that is fired each day.

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Heading north, roads and stepped alley ways lead from the castle via gardens or The Mound to galleries and museums, to Princes Street, the shopping area, the tram network and further towards the Georgian area of the city.

The Royal Mile leads east from the castle down hill to the Palace of Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament. The view opens out to the surrounding hills and crags. The Royal Mile is one of the oldest streets in the Old Town, now populated with tourist shops, tartans and whiskey, amongst the historic houses and churches.

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Edinburgh is famous for it’s Fringe Arts Festival that takes place every August. There are comedy clubs open all year and a variety of art, music and theatre worth enjoying, along with the varied pubs and restaurants.

The Royal Yacht Britannia is moored at Leith, north of the city, on the Firth of Forth. The tour around he royal yacht is fascinating, with lots to see, history, photos. We had sight of the royal bedrooms but actually walked through the royal decks, sun room as well as crew quarters, the state dining room and lounge, reception room. There is a Tea Room so we stopped and had refreshments. My Mum and I had a pot of tea and a scone on the royal yacht.

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Musselburgh is also on the Forth estuary, a town a few miles east of the city, with a pretty little harbour and a lot of fishing history. Roslyn Chapel, the Knight’s Templar chapel mentioned in “the Da Vinci Code” is to the south of the city. It is a little place, tucked away in a village but only a few miles from the Edinburgh ring road. It is a very ornate chapel with unique individual carvings and stories.

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