About Loveofscotland

 

Hi, I'm Craig Weldon and this is my blog where I write about Scotland.

It's my travels, impressions, and general observations of what makes the place tick: if you can imagine Bill Bryson up a hill and not trying to be funny, well, there you go. There's a lot here, so here's a random selection to get you started...

The Light and the Land

Wet feet at a high lochan, tin-tacked with rain.

Kirkcudbright Coast

A tree-lined avenue, bare crowns touching, leading to the sparkling sea.

How Scottish is the Kilt?

Walking down Argyle Street in Glasgow one Sunday morning, I eventually became aware of being kerb crawled... by a bus.

Four Lochs of Argyll

Inveraray, the Campbell Camelot, glinting in the sun.

The Victorian Glamour of Upper Helensburgh

Helensburgh, according to a Weegie friend, is so posh "people don't have cars in their driveways, they have yachts."

Blood and Heather

We came for heather. We got blood. 

A Clyde Sail

We sailed past Tighnabruach, the smell of peatsmoke wafting out to us.

The Ecclefechan Siege

"One day," you say to yourself, "I'm going to visit Ecclefechan." But of course you never do.

Dunnottar

At the eastern end of the Highland Boundary Fault sits Dunnottar, a stone fist punching out into the North Sea. 

Gridiron Glasgow

There's no need to cross the Atlantic to find Gotham. Glasgow has temples of commerce, sin and redemption all of its own.

The Battle of Largs

How many people today know that the Clyde was once an international frontier between Scotland and the Norwegian empire?

Approaching Shetland

Shetland is the most beautiful place in Britain.

Seals and Solstice

This morning, the wind moved mountains and the world was on fire.

Ben Lomond Via Ptarmigan Ridge

So close and familiar, its easy to forget what an awesome hill Ben Lomond is.

The Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon

I have heard it bandied about by people who don't know what they are talking about that camping is supposed to be fun.

Kippford, Rockcliffe, and Castlehill Point

On a hot day, where else to go but the Scottish Riviera?

The Thaw

A February dawn, and the grey canyon of Canongate snakes down the spine of Edinburgh into the underworld of Holyrood.

The Blackbird and the Rowan Tree

On impulse I whistled the first five notes of The Bonny Lass o Fyvie. The blackbird immediately sang it back.  

South Arran Enchantment

 Beyond the seals, the lighthouses start flashing.

Skaill Bay to Stromness

Tranquility on the edge of violence.

The Bramble Pickers

The ultimate act is to put something wild into your mouth. No pasteurisation. No Best Before date. No statutory rights. No guarantee. 

The Driest Town in Scotland

Dry, coastal, yet near the hills? Portmahomack may well be the outdoor lover's ideal home.

Ben A'an

A swirl of leaves filled the air, sun caught in vigorous death. 

The Royal Garden Party

Young women in just-done hair and floaty dresses kick off their heels and cross the grass flat-footed.

Grangemouth and the CIA

Ask a tourist what the main sights in Britain are, and its unlikely Grangemouth petroleum refinery would be high on their list of priorities. 

Skyfall

I once asked a South African what she best liked about Scotland. Her reply? "Clouds."

Ailsa Craig

What's that, you think, that improbable pebble?

Presidents of the United States

Trump's mother was from Lewis, which makes him the most Scottish person ever to lead the USA.

4 Reasons Why You Must Climb a Scottish Hill For New Year

If you were on holiday, wouldn't this be your new Facebook picture? A place just an hour from Glasgow?

Sleeping on Suilven

Watching a spectacular sunrise and sunset from the top of Suilven would be, as I said excitedly to my friends, "a once-in-a-decade experience!"

Duffus Castle

The north of Scotland. It's not all mountains, lochs, and eagles, you know. 

A Borders Christmas

Frost and snow and a black wind out a blue sky, cosy homes with crackling fires; craggy castles.

Camas Bosta: Scotland's Finest Beach?

It was the kind of night when you encounter a stranger on the beach and welcome him into your circle and in return, he reveals a secret: the finest beach he has ever seen.

 The Ring of Rannoch  

"It looks like the set of a 1970s horror film," said my companion. "Screw this, I'm going to the pub."

The Cairngorms Lyric

Thick soup of clouds
tastes of moss and mineral 

Orcadian Elemental

The wind gets everywhere, like water.

Iona - the Island

There are as many legends about Iona as there are pebbles on the beach.

Scotland's Cinque Terre

St Monans raises the levels of picturesque to an art.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Paintings from the Italian Renaissance, a statue of Elvis with a neon halo, and a stuffed giraffe.

Canoeing, the New Doing the Munros

Nowadays, Munrobagging is mainstream. Normal, good looking people who deodorise do Munros.

Morven: The Serpent at the Breast

I always thought Caithness was a flat county, beyond the hills. Morven begs to differ.

The Calmac Conundrum

The Calmac conundrum - a right maritime mystery! 

Dover and the Albans

There may seem to be no connection between Dover and Scotland, yet I can think of at least two.

The Scottish Islands Peaks Race

I tried in vain to spot someone who looked less fit than us. "They all look fitter than you," Graeme offered helpfully.  

The Skye Cuillin: Dark Rampart of Mountaineering Desire

This is the Black Cuillin, the ultimate place; not the highest perhaps but the steepest, rockiest and most naked.

How Welsh is Scotland?

The most forgotten voice of ancient Scotland is an Old Welsh one. It is the voice of the Lowlands before the Angles came. 

On the Moray Coastal Trail

Don't you just want to find a way down to this beach and share its limpid waters with the gulls?

The Cowal Games

The fat runner dropped his head to his chest, and in a superhuman effort, started to gain on the thin runner. A ripple of excitement passed through the crowd. Would he catch up?

Templewood Stone Circle

Templewood: the very name redolent of old nature worship.

Boring Hills and County Tops

This is the tree guarding the path of adventure, the path that leads at last to the wilderness of the foolish cry.

Comments