Category Archives: United Kingdom

Inverness, Scotland

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Loch Ness

Our most northern stop in the UK was Inverness, Scotland.  There was nothing specific from a photographic or tourism viewpoint that brought us here.  We used Inverness as a base to drive even further north into the Highlands and dine in the town of Tongue.  Of course we also wanted to explore Loch Ness as another one of those tourist ‘must-see’ places.  The above photo was taken from a lunch spot we discovered on the much less touristy east side of Loch Ness.  On the west side, restaurants seem to be around every curve in the road, but on this side, we were just about to give up on finding any restaurant when we found a real gem with the view above.
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Isle of Skye, Scotland

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Old Man of Storr Sunrise

For some unknown reason we only scheduled four days in the beautiful Isle of Skye, yet an entire week was spent in Edinburgh and a week in York.  This planning was a bit backwards in hindsight.  Much more time could have been spent in this stunning island countryside.  The one day available to hike to the beautiful and unique Old Man of Storr provided only very dumpy light (photography speak), so I turned around and explored other parts of the island rather than devote an entire day to a single spot.  The Old Man of Storr is the monolith in the distant background of the lead photo above.
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Oban, Scotland or ‘Is This a Vacation?’

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Oban Moon

Oban Harbor, On Vacation

 

Continuing our practice of alternating between large cities and small towns on our European tour, from Glasgow we next headed for the small town of Oban, Scotland.  While some scotch drinkers will recognize this a a brand name, most have likely never heard of this fishing village/tourist town on the west coast of Scotland.  The scotch distillery is right in the middle of town.  Along with my goal of tasting the local cuisine of where we visit, I went for my first scotch tasting here.  I am no expert and that may be a good thing, both physically and financially.
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Glasgow, Scotland

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Red Flowers

When traveling we try to alternate between visiting a rural location and a big city, so Glasgow followed our stay in Ballintoy, Northern Ireland.  Our condo was right downtown near then main shopping and business areas.  Not much in the way of great photography, but of course Doug, the visiting photographer, got me out to make the most of it.  The photo above shows a typical color of the buildings in Glasgow, contrasted with some very bright red flowers.

When you click on “Continue Reading” a slide show of six photos will play at the TOP of this article.

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Experiencing Scottish Cuisine

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HaggisBlood Sasage-IMG_1470Continuing with my feeling that eating the foods the locals eat helps one experience the region, I have tried, on more than one occasion, both blood sausage and Scottish haggis.  Is there any other kind?  The haggis is traditionally made by the butcher in town who closely guards all his special ingredients and cooking methods.  What is common in all haggis is it mostly consists of a sheep’s innards, the heart, liver, lungs, esophagus and other various parts.  You are supposed to put a bowl under the esophagus while cooking to catch the drippings as it usually hangs out of the cooking pot, not completely fitting inside.  This mixture is boiled for numerous hours whilst you are soaking the cleaned and rinsed sheep’s stomach in cold water for up to ten hours.  The boiled innards are then sewn inside the stomach with some oatmeal added to absorb the liquid.  All this is then cooked for three more hours.  Don’t forget to poke a few holes in the stomach to let air out when cooking.  Traditionally it is served with neaps and tatties, or blended turnips and mashed potatoes.

The blood sausage contains four cups of pig’s blood per normal recipe size recipe.  It is generally a breakfast item, served with eggs.  Cheers!

Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland

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Dark Hedges

Dark Hedges

 

The most northern tip of Northern Ireland is one of the more scenic places we have visited from a photographic viewpoint.  Part of that can be attributed to a visit from a photographer friend who made me get ‘out and about’ more than I normally would have, so thanks, Doug!  This is also the place where the well-known Dark Hedges and the Giant’s Causeway are located.  We visited each multiple times in different lighting conditions.

When you click on “Continue Reading” a slide show of ten photos will play at the TOP of this article.
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Carrick-A-Rede Bridge crossing

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Carric a Rede Bridge

What is now a fun tourist attraction in Northern Ireland near the town of Ballentoy used to be the means of getting to a very important salmon fishery for a hundred fishermen.  When first erected the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge was simply a thick rope spanning the 60 feet between ridges and 1,000 feet in the air.  The fishermen would carry their equipment over in the morning and the fish they caught back in the evening, going hand over hand.  The distant island serves as a breakwater for the ocean waves from the Atlantic.  We could see large waves crashing the rocks on one side of the island, but calm waters for the fishermen to string their nets on the other.  This point is no longer used by the fishermen as the Atlantic Salmon is on the endangered species list.  A salmon fisherman’s house still on the island is shown in the picture below, click the ‘continue reading’ button below to see it.
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Characters Along the Way…

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Painter

Previously I went on a rant stating I did not like guided tours, tourist trap experiences and many museums, preferring instead meeting the local people as best I could.  (August 23 post)  Here is one such fun encounter with a local.  When I first saw this old man in his 90’s, he was painting his ocean front cottage on a rare, warm sunny day in Northern Ireland.  It seemed as if he was getting more paint on himself and the window panes than on the sashes and frames.  Does he plan to later use a razor blade to scrape the paint off of the window or is this good enough?

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Swansea, Wales

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PoppySwansea, Wales is generally not a tourist destination town, no tour buses, no cruise ships.  More than once, we were told by those familiar with the town to not go.  It is mostly a working class town with no major sites to see.  The nearby town of Mumbles has an arcade and pier which seemed to be a vacation spot for many UK families with children.  We selected Wales simply since we thought we would not wish to drive further from Chipping Campden, England, working our way to Ireland.  We found Swansea to be refreshingly very much like a US city.  We saw stop lights at intersections instead of roundabouts, large grocery stores, motels with breakfast included and wider roads in town.  Since eating the local foods is a large part of experiencing the region, I was treated to kippers (smoked herring);  laverbread (seaweed puree) and cockles (shelled muscles) at our hotel breakfasts.
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Chipping Campdon, England (the Cotswalds)

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Row Houses

There is not a single new looking building in this quaint old town that has managed to retain loads of charm and avoid all forms of commercialism.  Closer inspection will reveal that many of the homes are recently built, but are of a similar quarried yellow stone so they all fit into this old town feel.  They may be adjacent to an authentic thatched roof home dating back hundreds of years.
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