Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 381

The Scottish Thistle is the national emblem of Scotland, and it’s gorgeous to see in the wild. Legend has it that an army from Norway wanted to conquer the Scots. They landed at the Coast of Largs in the middle of the night, in order to surprise the Scottish clans. In order to move stealthier in the dark, the army took off their footwear, but unfortunately, one of the men stepped on a thistle and screamed in pain, alerting the clansmen to their presence. The Scottish won the fight. The Scottish thistle became the emblem of Scotland during the reign of Alexander III, 1249-1286. ... read more

You may have guessed from the title that we are in Bonny Scotland. We have been blessed with plenty of liquid sunshine but for a few hours yesterday we did spot a large yellow thing in the sky that seemed to be eminating heat, after consulting the guide book we discovered that it is commonly known as the sun. We are now selling off our bulk buy of factor 30 on E-Bay. Moaning aside we have passed through some wonderful spots. Loch Lomond was a bit of a tourist trap. Loads of weird and wonderful blue looking species traipsing off tourist buses with smoke coming out of the top of their heads. We later found out they were Glaswegians... ahhhhh. Next stop Ben Nevis. A bit like the M6 going up but still a slog to ... read more

It was our first bit of travelling for a while but we had Naomi with us and we determined to have an adventure. We left the sun behind at Gatwick airport and flew up to Glasgow where the forecast was showers and the first thing the captain said when we landed was 'Crikey! I didn't expect it to be this bad'. Where we stayed dry our luggage unfortunately did not, it could have only been out in the rain for a few minutes but every part of foam in my rucksack was saturated, I ended up wearing it backwards to stop myself being soaked. It was almost midnight by the time we were in the city centre and we had managed to find Babbity Bowsters where our key had been left despite Naomi not being ... read more

Geo: 57.1431, -4.68296We began this morning at 5:45 thanks to our trusty alarm clock, Rich. After getting ourselves in order, it was off to another Scottish breakfast at Mac Donald's. (Ahem.) Stand E was only a brief walk away and while waiting for our bus we explored another really old cemetery. We saw graves of people who were buried before America declared independence. The "newest" monument in the cemetery was a statue of Abraham Lincoln. It was strange.Upon boarding the bus, we met Bill, an animated and well-versed Scotsman (kilt included), who made our day a wonderful one. We headed north from Edinburgh into the Highlands and completely trumped the Friday the 13th garbage by enjoying a SUNNY day. From a distance, we passed Stirling Castle, where William Wallace turned back the English by destroying a ... read more

Relatively speaking, I was on home soil for this trip, and acting as a tour companion for a couple who had flown in from the Far East to take in the sights and sounds of this Scottish gem which many a seasoned traveller sings the praises of. Driving to Skye from home in Yorkshire was, in terms of journey time, something akin to a long-haul flight, and it therefore came as no surprise that the first port of call on the island was to be Kyleakin, a stone's throw from Skye bridge. My newly-purchased satnav took us to the guest house's doorstep, which was as convenient as you could have asked for, and first impressions of the island were as pleasant as any member of our mini tour party could have hoped for. The B and ... read more