Oban again

December 19, 2019

I nearly had a heart attack when I got off the train and turned on Google maps to find the Claredon Hotel.  I was sure it was the closest (and cheapest) to the station but the App told me it was 12 miles away in Connel Ferry. Thankfully the App was way off. £31/night, near […]

Read the full article →

Crianlarich

December 14, 2019

On the map Crianlarich would appear to be a major transport hub with the train from Glasgow splitting here to Oban on the sea or Fort William and with two major roadways passing through but it is a wee village of less than 200 people but I’d never been there and was on my way […]

Read the full article →

A bit more Glasgow

December 12, 2019

  Some day I’ll get to see Glasgow from the observation tower by the science center but that must be after April 1 & when there is little wind as it shuts down when the wind gets too high so I went from walk along the Clyde to begin the day The lady on the […]

Read the full article →

Paisley Day Runner

December 9, 2019

A short train ride from Glasgow and a cracking day found me in Paisley On the high street I marveled at this LEGO Santa and reindeer. Santa in position for bairns to sit for a photo and Rudolph’s nose is being finished I was aware that the big historical draw for the town is the […]

Read the full article →

Dundee sights and friends at The Hill Bar

December 6, 2019

Captain Scott left Dundee in 1901 for his trip to Antartica. The ship has been refurbished and is one of Dundee’s highlights.  Hence the penguins that frequent the city It’s birthed next to the new V&A, a building that in it self is a sculpture I like these CR Mackintosh inspired benches and his Oak […]

Read the full article →

Old Friends in Dundee

December 5, 2019

On my third visit to this seaside city, I came to see friends not stuff having learned about jute, jam & journalism in the past. Connor Berg & Kyle Buchan & I had met over 18 months ago at the Nether Inn and decided that was a good place to reconnect. Only one of us […]

Read the full article →

The Smith Gallery in Stirling and a visit to Dunblane

December 4, 2019

The Stirling Smith Gallery was a nice local museum/gallery Cattle by JD Adam 1878   Maurice Poirsin 1875 Les moulieres a Villerville.  Mussel gatherers heading home after a hard day The Pipe of Freedom.  Thomas Smith, whose name adorns the gallery,  1869 depicts a former slave enjoying his freedom with the Emancipation Proclamation in the […]

Read the full article →

The Wallace Monument

December 3, 2019

I asked on the way down, not up, there are 246 steps from the entrance to the tower view point, Luckily with 3 stopping points along the way, the first being the Hall of Heroes.   James Watt & John Knox George Buchanan & Thomas Chalmers Adam Smith & Robert Burns Thomas Carlyle & Mary […]

Read the full article →

Bannockburn

December 3, 2019

Culloden, Boyne, Crecy, Gettysburg, Bannockburn. Forever they were simply fields. Then for a few long hours or days thousands died and more gave untold gallons of blood and no matter which side, all were fighting for a cause they held dear. One the fight stopped these quiet fields were quiet once again. But now and […]

Read the full article →

Rainy first day in Stirling

December 2, 2019

As I usually do upon arriving I took a stroll around the city.  Joked that I didn’t know the Wallace Monument was in the heart of the city! It isn’t. The Poet. It’s more unusual to not find a statue of Rabbie Burns in a Scottish city than it is to find one. Some cretin, […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →