In Dublin's fair city, Where the girls are so pretty,I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,Through streets broad and narrow,Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!" … read the whole song at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Malone … under Lyrics …. :-) …I did not find her and did not caress her cleavage as hundreds of others have done to the point of polishing up the bronze ... This will be a backward look to three interesting towns/cities in... read more

First Sleep Belfast...arrive after 22.00 ….very late at night...in the dark … via the Cairnryan ferry. “Travel on the biggest ferries ever to sail between Scotland and Northern Ireland, Stena Superfast VII and Stena Superfast VIII. These sister ships travel from Cairnryan to Belfast in a crossing time from only 2 hours 15 minutes with a choice of up to 6 daily crossings so you can travel when it suits you.” from their website. Of course as luck would have it I was on the last of the six that day... so were a lot of other people ...some who had gone shopping and were returning with dresses bought for that all important Christmas Party … which one has to book for already … since end of September the ads have been out! Of course I ... read more

Coming from Inverness the railway passes thru Thurso and then continues on to Wick where there is also an airport. The stay at Thurso House B&B was like being at home. Shiela and her husband were extremely welcoming. The town itself is small filled with stone built houses and buildings. The walls of these houses are over two feet thick ...50cm ? Never did see the shops...to busy planning to go to the most northeastern tip of the UK. "John o' Groats lies on Britain's northeastern tip, and is popular with tourists as one end of the longest distance between two inhabited British points on the mainland, with Land's End in Cornwall lying 876 miles (1,410 km) to the southwest. It is not the most northerly point on the island of Britain." (from wiki) Nearby Dunnet ... read more

It is amazing how many place names have been copied here from the ones in Canada .... OK ..... just kidding :-) Oct11 ...Two days...three sleeps in Stornaway.... such a nice neat town. A castle dominates the opposite shore and a comfortable walk thru the park leads to it. In the cafeteria... a Starbucks....Pumpkin Latte. REALLY!?...in Scotland ...off the Mainland. Passed right by. Had been to the Woodland Cafe where many people were enjoying lunch, snack, or tea and I had had lentil soup. The morning of the first day had been spent on the bus riding to Port Ness. What a difference from the landscape inTarbert on Harris. Towards Port Ness at the tip of Lewis, the scene was one of undulating hills covered in rusty grass and interspersed with peat banks. Some of these ... read more

img=https://www.theflagshop.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/c/scotland-flag-std_4.jpg October 8, Sunday .... Must add the cross of St. Andrew because I am in Scotland and all the signs are in Scottish and English...that takes a bit of getting used to...the Scottish is on top not like in Ontario where the French is below .. then again in Quebec it is also reversed...thank all thoughts of repratism. "The village of Uig is located on Skye's stunning Trotternish peninsular. We are in a beautiful protected bay. We have good restaurants, a lively bar, hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation, a campsite, shops, a petrol station, a pottery, brewery, bike hire, boat trips, ferry service to the Western Isles and a local and mainland bus service. Uig hosts lots of wildlife including buzzards, herons, oyster catchers and a resident ... read more