Showing posts with label Scotland trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scotland trip. Show all posts

Thursday, September 2, 2010

ON THE ROAD TO SCOTLAND

 

Pictured above on the right is the flag of Northumberland and on the left, Scotland's flag, the flag of St Andrew, at Carter Bar, where the Mad Three (MadChauffeur, Cathy, and me) crossed the border from England into Scotland.

Note: The following commentary does not match up with the pictures, which were all taken after we crossed the border into Scotland.


 

Even after the final plans for the trip were arranged, I told my travel companions that I would not really believe that the trip would happen until we were on the road to Scotland. Not until we crossed the border, did I became a true believer. Before that time, I feared that someone would get sick, or die, or back out, or some other roadblock or tragedy would get in the way. But finally, we were there, in the fast lane, making our way to Oban.


 

The evening before we left, we had dinner at La Tasca in Newcastle, MadChauffeur having made the arrangements in quite a satisfactory manner. Gathered around the table were the Mad Three, Mrs MadChauffeur, Themethatisme, his wife, Petty Witter, their German houseguest, a lovely 14 year old girl, Lisa, and a friend of MadChauffeur and his missus. As arranged, we ordered dishes we liked, and we all passed the dishes around, each of us serving ourselves whatever foods we liked. Thus, we had the opportunity to sample a large variety of very tasty Spanish food. After the meal, we took a walk along the River Tyne and across the Millennium Bridge.

If anyone took pictures at the gathering, I don't remember. I did not, because I was too busy enjoying myself.


 

The following morning, we left Newcastle, but not as early as MadChauffeur would have liked. There were ongoing negotiations each evening over the time we'd start out in the morning, because neither Cathy nor I is a morning person, and I believe that most days the negotiations went our way. We were two against one, after all. Of course, MadChauffeur may take a different view.



My fellow travelers, MadChauffeur and Cathy (with her seemingly ever-present shopping bag), headed, I believe, toward a ferry which we never caught, because it was not running that day. The memories of what we did on which day begin to run together.

More to come, of course, continuing in helter-skelter order with regard to the timetable.

UPDATE: By popular demand, another picture of MadChauffeur by Cathy. That's him on the right and Mimi (or is it Mimo?) on the left.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

KIRKSTALL ABBEY

After our visit to the Abbey House Museum in Leeds, Doorman-Priest and I headed over to the site of the Abbey proper.


 

Completed between 1152 and 1182, Kirkstall Abbey still stands substantially to its full height, its massive structure presenting a unique example of early Cistercian architecture. Although its community was disbanded in 1539, it has continued to attract the attention of increasing numbers of visitors, for no other building so completely illustrates this early period of English monastic life.

For further information on the history of the Abbey, see their website.

 

The Abbey is splendid. I never saw an ancient ruin of a church or abbey that I didn't love, and Kirkstall is no exception. My only regret is that the area is fenced and gated, and we did not get to walk inside the ruins. For me, the feel of a holy place, where prayers were said over centuries, is only experienced from the inside.


 

DP told me that on special occasions, services are still held in the Abbey. To hear that prayers are still being said in the holy place, even until today, pleased me a great deal.


 

In my earlier post on the Abbey House Museum, I mentioned that the day began with rain, but as you see in the pictures, the sun shone upon us by the time we walked around the Abbey.


 

Since I'd seen the lovely ruins of the Abbey up on the hill in a previous visit and longed to have a closer look, I'm thankful to my good friend DP for taking me to visit.

More to come on our day in Leeds, in which we continued to enjoy beautiful weather.

I'm afraid that I'm jumping around the timetable of my travels, but bear with me. I write as I write.

Note: The pictures are mine, with the exception of the photo at the top, which is from the slideshow at the Abbey website.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

ABBEY HOUSE MUSEUM - KIRKSTALL ABBEY


On my way from Scotland back to the airport in Manchester, I stopped in Leeds to visit with my dear friends, the Doorman-Priest family. DP, the paterfamilias of the family, who blogs at The World of Doorman-Priest, took me first to visit Kirkstall Abbey and the Abbey House Museum. I'd seen the Abbey situated high above the road when I was in Leeds last year and liked the looks of it, and DP told me that it was worth a visit, and indeed it was. In truth, I never saw an old church ruin that I didn't like and want to visit.

The morning started off with rain as DP and I headed for the Abbey grounds after coffee near my hotel. By the time we arrived at the site, the sky was lightening and the rain was less. We visited the House Museum first.

Welcome to Abbey House Museum where you can experience the sights and sounds of life in Victorian Leeds in the year 1880! A journey through the carefully recreated streets and houses of Abbey House Museum is a great day out for all the family.

And so it is - a mini-replica of a High Street with shops containing vintage artifacts from the late Victorian period. My favorite was the pub, which was nicely done and which you see pictured below. I believe the pub was DP's favorite spot, too.



Below is a photo of a vintage artifact dressed in a vintage artifact. DP made me do it! I blame him.



On to Kirkstall Abbey, but in another post. The Abbey deserves a better placement than following the above. The things I do for you people!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

BOAT RIDE TO STAFFA AND TRESNISH ISLES

From the island of Mull, the mad three went by ferry to Ulva, where we took a boat ride to the Isle of Staffa and around Tresnish Isles. Below are a few of my pictures from the trip. As usual, click on the pictures to see the larger view.


 

The "Hoy Lass", our boat to the islands.


 

The sign in the loo, which I could not resist documenting for its cleverness and humor in strongly making its points.


 

Cormorants and one sea gull on a rock.


 

The fin of a basking shark.


 

Gorgeous scenery along the way.


 

The view from on high on the Isle of Staffa.



Fingal's Cave from Cathy's Facebook pictures. I did not make the descent to the cave, because the way looked tricky for an old lady. Cathy and MadChauffeur went and said it was wonderful. Now I wish I had gone.

If you are a Facebook friend of Cathy, you can see several sets of great pictures from our travels posted there.


 

A rock pool near Staffa, which I found enchanting.



The wake of the boat as we made our way back to Ulva.

All arrangements for the excursion were made by MadChauffeur. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy being IN CHARGE throughout the entire time he traveled with Cathy and me.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

FOR CAMINANTE - ISLE OF SKYE

From the comments:

Caminante said...
Take a picture of the Isle of Skye as my mother's family is from there. Pretty picture.

Not one, not two, but three pictures, Caminante. I hope you think they're pretty.


 



 


 

A MAGICAL MOMENT

 

A beauty, yes? While we were on the Isle of Skye, Cathy stopped our car to photograph sheep in the field. It seems that my friend can't get enough of photographing sheep. Sharing the field with the sheep was the beautiful horse pictured above. When we approached the fence, she (I believe) came to us.


 

That's Cathy's arm and hand in the picture above. Beauty (my name for her) seemed eager for our touch. We both patted and stroked her, and she seemed to revel in the affection.


 

Beauty was eating the grass over on my side of the fence, and I pulled the grass and began to feed her. Very gently, she took the grass from me with her velvety lips and ate. Well, I suppose it doesn't take much for me to find magic, because surely having Beauty eat from my hand was a magical moment on the Isle of Skye.

The top and bottom pictures are Cathy's, and the middle photo is mine.

Friday, August 27, 2010

DRUNK ON SOUL MUSIC?



Is it possible to get drunk on music? As we rolled through Scotland in MadChauffeur's wheels, along with the chills and thrills of riding fast on one lane roads with two way traffic and "Oooh!" and "Aaah!" scenery around every curve, we had SOUL in spades. I love soul music and have done so since my teens, however, I have never listened to soul music for such a sustained period of time in my whole life. By the end of 8 days of hours of listening to the music, I was a-groovin' and a-tappin' away in the car. If there had been room, I'd have been a-dancin'. I felt drunk on SOUL.

Here's a top-100 list and more of the greatest of soul and R&B recordings. I know we heard a good many of the artists and some of the songs, but as I said, I was drunk, and one tends to lose one's sense of accurate recall when enebriated, so I can't say for sure.

Cathy brought along opera and classical music CDs which did not get played until MadChauffeur abandoned us at the Glenuig Inn, and we hired our car for Cathy's turn at driving. Since I also love opera and classical music, I was quite happy with the change in sound, but without the total immersion in the music for hours on end, I did not get drunk.

And speaking of drunk (Did I really say that?!!!), I developed a taste for single malt (Bruce and Caminante alert!) under the influence of the wicked Cathy. Now I'd tasted the drink before and never liked it, but this time around, I acquired a taste for it, and I blame Cathy. She made me do it.

I posted the following comment at MadChauffeur's blog using Cathy's Notebook with the tiny keyboard, and thus was born Mimo, my evil Doppelgänger.

Hi everyone. Mimi here from Newcastle.

Johnathan has a sweet side that he doesn't reveal very often. He was quite kind an patient with me when we went shopping for the prop0er shoew for me for trekking in Scotland. He picked ouu thick socks for me qnd even noticed when the clerk at checkout was charging me too much for my shoes. He's a lovely man, you know even if he's shy aqbout letting that part of himself shop.

Mimo

Do you see? My Doppelgänger took over my comment, and she can neither spell nor type. Just so you'll know, I deny responsibility for anything that Mimo says.

Below is a picture of the boots, which are quite comfortable and were just the thing for the oftentimes wet terrain in Scotland, having good grips on the soles along with ankle support.



The boots were half-price, and the clerk at checkout was charging me full price until MadChauffeur noticed the mistake. My only caveat about the purchase is the shoelaces, which do not stay tied even with a double knot and are also too long and sometimes trail on the ground. Plus, already the tip of one lace came off, which would make it impossible to thread should the shoelaces come out. So it's new shoelaces for the boots, which, all things considered, still makes them a wise purchase. I had no room in my luggage for the boots, so the only way I could get them home without having to carry another bag was to wear them.

Oh dear! I hope that my future posts on the trip will not stray so far into stream-of-consciousness mode. Once I have my 500-plus pictures uploaded and culled, I hope to be a bit more settled in my writing.

À bientôt!

HOME AGAIN...

...exhausted and happy to be back here safe and sound in sleepy Thibodaux. Yesterday was a grueling, 20 hour travel day after my fantastic and fabulous trip to Scotland and England. I've a load of pictures and wonderful memories of my travels, but I'll need time to settle in here, take care of all the business that piled up while I was gone, and process and reflect on the journey, which was a dream come true for me. From where I sit at my computer, the trip already seems like a dream.

My main projects today are to wash my clothes and sort through the mail which piled up while I was gone, and that's just for starters. Have patience, my sweets, and you will hear it all.