Some places we've been and some places we're going.

Archive for June, 2025

The Journey Home

Our holiday was over and it was time for the glorious? flight home. Unlike when we drove up to Aviemore this time we didn’t take the “scenic route” with all its enormous trucks and holiday makers instead going south west on the familiar A9 though it has changed over the last 40 odd years having been “dualled” in some parts with work still going on in others.

  • “Dualling” going on.
  • Carries more passengers these days.
  • Not that we saw.
  • Where are all the hikers?

The Slochd is a pass through the mountains between Inverness and Aviemore where I finally managed to get a photo of what used to be called, “The German’s Head”now, “The Soldier’s Head”. It’s not a place where you can stand, deciding on the best angle with cars whizzing past just over the Armco barrier and possibly nasty ticks lurking near your legs hoping for a tasty treat.

Between Aviemore and Kingussie Alex surrendered to the auto pilot and was astonished when the steering wheel turned within his hands to negotiate bends. It was unfazed by oncoming traffic though we passengers weren’t trusting it completely. For a while we took to quieter roads and the scenery was far more interesting.

  • It’s all under control… we trust.
  • Yetts o’ Muckart???
  • They take golf seriously here.


The drive into Glasgow was very stressful and Satnav Sally let us down, we had to resort to reading road signs! It was a big relief to park the car at the hotel and go for a wander about. The next morning we dropped the car off, it had been a fantastic introduction to a hybrid vehicle.

  • A lovely, smooth, responsive and quiet car.


We had hours to wait after check-in at the Airport so we were happy to find a nice place to sit with a drink and watch all the activity around us. There was a little display on a windowsill of a “St Kilda mailboat”, the history of that little island is intriguing. Its residents were certainly resourceful. The weather was lovely when we arrived in Scotland but it was very dreary as we left.

Alex was asleep before the plane had reached the runway!

  • A quiet place…for a while.
  • Watching people people watching.
  • St KIlda Mailboat
  • Dreary weather
  • Passengers boarding in the rain.
  • Bye, Bye Glasgow.

We thought we had enough time to calmly find our way to the departure lounge for the next leg of our flight but we were rushed through by officials every step of the way. There was a bus to take us from the arrivals area and we had no control over the speed of that! When we found ourselves in our seats on the plane we kept hearing “Final calls” for passengers on Emirates flight EK477 to Adelaide. The plane seemed to be only about half full when it took off, maybe it was the 1am departure time that made people choose a different connection or maybe there were issues with connecting flights. Whatever, we were on our way again. and it didn’t take long for the first lot of food to arrive!

  • On the runway.
  • Bye, bye Dubai.
  • One of my GF meals.
  • Sunrise somewhere southeast of Dubai.
  • In the heavens.
  • First glimpse of the WA coast.
  • Somewhere over WA.
  • Sunset over Australia.

That was the end of our holiday, back to “old clothes and brose”.

Category:

Scotland 2025, Uncategorized

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Boats, Big and Small

Unlike in Australia wherever you are in Scotland water doesn’t seem to be far away and where there’s water there are often boats. Some are fishing boats and they come in different sizes.

  • Caledonian Canal
  • Caledonian Canal
  • The Minch
  • Port of Ness
  • Stornoway

There are pleasure boats in every harbour, big or small. The “ Fryderyk Chopin” is a two masted sailing ship built in Poland and we saw it in Stornoway Harbour. Since 2011 it’s been used as a sail training ship.

  • The Fryderyk Chopin


When we were in Cromarty we saw a small ferry, the “Renfrew Rose”, come into the harbour and offload some cars. In the photo it looks as though the car is driving on but it was actually reversing off having come from Nigg, about 3 miles north of Cromarty. The ferry only operates from June until September when the seas aren’t rough.

There are a lot of Oil Rig related industries in the area and boats to service them.

The ferries that take passengers from Ullapool to Lewis are much bigger. Caledonian MacBrayne operate those ferries. The “Hebridian Princess” came into Stornoway harbour when we were there, she used to be a ferry but is now one of the smallest luxury cruise ships afloat. The ship only carries 48 passengers and her relatively small size means she is able to enter places larger ships simply can’t go.

  • Hebridian Princess
  • Old ferry in front of the new.

A yacht we saw in Stornoway Harbour was, “Le Champlain” that one takes 184 guests, has 118 crew members and obviously offers a luxurious experience.


It’s astounding seeing the big cruise ships entering the inlets leading to the harbour. At Stornoway a large area has been created to cater for them because the harbour just wasn’t big enough. The “Queen Anne “ was moored there while we were on Lewis. Buses bring passengers into town and we also saw Zodiacs bringing people ashore from a smaller Cruise Ship.

  • The Queen Anne

The Coastguard was zooming about one day when we were walking around the harbour.


We were told by a local that they avoid going into the town when the big Cruise Ships are in port and I can understand why. When we went to see Lews Castle one morning it was milling with busloads of people and difficult to see displays etc but in the afternoon there were only a few people wandering about, the buses had taken the travelers to another place of interest. Stornoway has a population of approximately 7000 and the Queen Anne can accommodate 2,996 passengers with 1225 crew so it’s easy to see how the locals could feel overwhelmed by tourists.

Souvenir shops do a great trade though especially selling Highland Cow related products.

  • Queen Anne

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Scotland 2025, Uncategorized

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Sheep, Sheep and more Sheep

Alex’ family left Lewis before he was born but when we visited his family in Keose in 1974 his uncle still kept a house cow which spent the winter in “the byre” beside the house along with his weaving loom. This time I can’t remember seeing cows on the island but sheep were everywhere. Blackface, Cheviots and crossbreeds. In the past the only sheep kept were the Scottish Blackface because they were tough enough to survive the harsh winters and their wool was used by crofters to make warm, waterproof fabric.

Cute black face and cute black knees.

When the fabric was originally made the crofter’s wife would have spun the wool but since it was commercialized in the 1800s the spun wool and the commission for the next Tweed is usually dropped off at the Crofter’s and the finished Tweed picked up. The only wool used now to make Harris Tweed is a mixture of wool from Cheviot and Blackface sheep and to qualify as “Harris Tweed” it must be produced manually on a pedal loom.

Cheviots, the red dye is the owner’s mark.

A friend’s son is a shepherd on the mainland and for 7 months every year he has Cheviot sheep agisted on his land because it is cheaper for their owner to have them trucked from Lewis and pay for the winter agistment than to buy in the extra food they need. Blackface sheep don’t lose their wool but but we visited at the beginning of summer and many of the sheep we saw were shedding theirs.


I think most of the sheep we saw were crossbreeds because Cheviots don’t have horns and Blackface don’t lose their wool.

  • Impressive horns.
  • Fancy my pink ruff?
  • Shamefaced?
  • Almost bald.

How could I forget these? I think they are Hebridian Sheep.

Category:

Scotland 2025

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