Scotland - 2012 and 2017

Scotland

The saltire (St Andrew's cross flag), unicorn and the shield with the lion rampant - symbols of Scotland

July 2017 - Orkneys and Shetlands
July 2012 - Edinburgh and East Coast

July 2017

A quick visit to the Shetlands and Orkney as part of a "working" cruise of the Norwegian fjords.

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

City Hall

Kirkwall Hotel

Masonic building

Ruins of Bishop's Palace

P
Post Office

Saint Magnus Catherdral - Kirkwall

St Magnus Cathedral - Britain’s most northerly Cathedral. St Magnus Cathedral known as the 'Light in the North' was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St Magnus.

Lerwock, Shetland Islands

July 2012

We were in Scotland as part of a Rotary exchange - living with local families - a great experience!

Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Sir Walter Scott monument

Carved doors

Supreme Court

The Royal Mile

Really?

This is a bar (see below)

Named for the coal miners

Converted police box

Not sure what eyebrow threading is....

I put this in to demonstrate the "skew" feature in Photoshop - this is taken from the above photograph and skewed to make is head on

The Arabic writing says ruman, meaning Pomegranate

St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

St Giles' Cathedral is on the Royal Mile. It is the mother Church of Presbyterianism and contains the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland's chivalric company of knights headed by the Queen).

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times. Most of the principal buildings of the castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Several Scottish kings and queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle.

The William Wallace memorial as seen from Stirling Castle - the famous battle of Stirling Bridge took place between the two locations in 1297

Castle church

Great hall

English lion

Scottish unicorn

Castle palace

Palace ceiling

RRS Discovery - Dundee

The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antarctic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. Five months after setting sail on 6 August 1901 from the Isle of Wight, she sighted the Antarctic coastline on 8 January 1902. During the first month Scott began charting the coastline. Then, in preparation for the winter, he weighed anchor in McMurdo Sound. The ship would remain there, locked in ice, for the next two years; the expedition had expected to spend the winter there and to move on in the spring. Despite this, the Expedition was able to determine that Antarctica was indeed a continent, and they were able to relocate the Southern Magnetic Pole.

Balmoral Castle

Coats of arms at Balmoral Castle - the summer residence of the Queen
The V and A are for the original owners - Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Portraits of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort Albert in the Aberdeen City Hall (copies of orginals at Balmoral)

HM Yacht Britannia

Queen's bedroom

Complete with its own Rolls Royce

Officers mess

Family dining room

Drawing room

NCO mess

Crew quarters

Sick bay

Launch (I think they call it a barge)

Sailboat Bloodhound

Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle is located near Glamis, Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, but best known for being the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Elizabeth married Prince Albert, who later became King George VI. She was later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, mother of the current queen. Her second daughter, Princess Margaret, was born at Glamis.

Rick in a kilt - the tartan is the Ancient Urquhart

Piper and highland dancer

St Andrews

The 18th hole at the Royal and Ancient course at St Andrews, the birthplace of golf

Royal and Ancient course at St Andrews

18th green

The beach was the location for filming the movie Chariots of Fire

Ruins of St Andews castle

Chapel of St Salvator, University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

St Andrews

For you royal watchers...

St Andrews

Firth of Forth Bridges

Highway bridge to the left and rail bridge on the right

Firth of Forth rail bridge

Train on the Firth of Forth rail bridge - it is a huge bridge

Linlithgow Palace

Linlithgow is the birthplace and early home of Mary Stuart, also known as Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587).

Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel - replaces a series of locks

Locks on canal above the wheel

On top of the wheel

Falkirk boat basin

Anstruther

Prawn traps at Anstruther

Loch Katrine

Aberdeen

Scottish cross in cemetery on the campus of the University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen

King's College Chapel at the the University of Aberdeen

War memorial in King's College Chapel

War memorial in King's College Chapel - St Andrew (Scotland) and St George (England)

War memorial in King's College Chapel (note military theme)

Aberdeen harbor entrance

Aberdeen harbor - major support center for North Sea oil

The Havila Fortune oil rig resupply vessel - registered in Nassau

Highlands west of Aberdeen

New Haven Harbour

Tullibardine Distillery

Tullibardine Distillery - since 1488

Barley is sifted here

Washed

Cooked

Fermented

Distilled

Stored in bonded warehouse - note years

A barrel with Scoth from 1952

Sampling the various finishes

Cooperage in Stirling - French wine and American whisky barrels are reused to age Scotch

Cooperage in Stirling

For some reason unknown to me, American distillers can only use a barrel one time - the Scots can use them numerous times

Rehabilitating barrels

After a barrel is no longer usable, it is shaved out and refired - basically a new barrel

Tanker trucks bring Scotch to a bonded warehouse where it is stored for a minimum of three years

The Highland Games at Cupar

Highland dance contestant

Shot putting with advertising on his kilt

The caber - 17.5 feet long, 175 pounds

William Wallace monument

Inn at Sheriffmuir - site of a battle in 1715 between, who else, British troops and Scottish (Jacobite) rebels

Gravesite of Rob Roy McGregor

Stained glass from museum of the Black Watch regiment

Highlands

Highlands hotel

Green Machines - Emily and one of our hosts in Scotland (she works there)

Private driveway

Typical scenery

Highland cattle

The Royal Mail - the mailbox was installed during the reign of one of the King Georges (GR)

Does it get more British than this?

Folk singers impromptu concert - the instument on the left is a bouzouki

Local pub

Great shot by Emily from a moving train - this is the Barns Ness Light, East Lothian

East Lothian