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
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
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.
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