Tag archives for Scotland
Driesh and then Mayar [Munro 2 & 3]
Driesh is the closest munro to our new house in Scotland, and Mayar is only a couple of miles on the same ridge from it. So on Saturday 22nd July Alex and I went for a walk to bag two more munros by doing Driesh, and then Mayar. We did them in that order because of the proximity, even though most of the guides have the walk in the opposite direction. Our route was up the Kilbo path on the side of the Shank of Drumfollow to a saddle between Driesh and Mayar. We then detoured East for a mile to the summit of Driesh, and then back to the same point to approach the summit of Mayar from the East. We then turned North and walked to the source of the Fee Burn and then descended into Corrie Fee…
Moving North
I haven't written for a while, and there are good reasons behind that, we're moving North! Until February all my spare time was spent online looking at houses in Scotland that we could move to. Moving North Finding a New Home in the North The February half term week was spent with a massive driving expedition across Scotland. We stayed at Blackridge, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Over the course of the week we saw several houses on both coasts of Scotland and both south and north of the central belt. In the end we chose a fab house outside the area we'd been expecting, in NE Scotland between Dundee and Aberdeen. Preparing to Move The living room in the old house being packed ready for moving north. (Photo: James Kemp) Since then it's been a mix of packing books, of…
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Book Review – Scotland’s Stories of Home by Alan Warner
Scotland's Stories of Home by Alan Warner My rating: 4 of 5 stars A good collection of wee stories and poems from the Scottish Book Trust. Most of the content only uses a couple of pages in print, so there is a lot of content crammed in from a variety of sources. Some of it is from established writers but most seems to be from ordinary people sharing their memories of what home means to them, whether now or when they were growing up in Scotland. There's a high level of social history from the mid to late 20th century baked in here. Primary sources rather than analysis bit worth reading nevertheless. It's well put together and an easy read, although there are a few thought provoking bits. For example, how many people really died during the Clydebank Blitz? It's…
Edinburgh’s Camera Obscura
I was in Edinburgh visiting family at the weekend and amongst other things we visited the Camera Obscura up at the top of the Royal Mile. Despite many visits to Edinburgh I'd never been there before. My expectations were of a panoramic view in a classic Camera Obscura. The attraction is so much more than this. The whole place is packed full of optical illusions, most of which you are invited to directly interact with. Two of my favourites, which unfortunately I don't have pictures of because I was too busy enjoying them, were the mirror maze and the vortex tunnel. The mirror maze was a series of mirrors mounted at 60 degree intervals as you looked at them. ( from above they'd be at 60 degrees from each other). Although quite a small space from outside it was very…
Scottish Independence – Predicting the Results
Earlier today someone passed me an interesting table on the expected times that each of the councils in Scotland expect to declare their results and the percentage of the electorate that they cover. As well as that there was an indication on how likely the people living in that area were to vote Yes. Prediction on how the result so far will change as they are announced So this leads me to my second from last piece of analysis on the Scottish Independence referendum. I'll look at the results compared to the predictions when the detail is available. It's going to be an interesting night. Some of the areas with the most Yes support are expected to be in the first wave to declare their results. Early on (from about 2am) it will look very much like Scotland has voted…