Scottish Highland Trails

25/01/2025

Happy Burn’s Day to all those celebrating our national poet today! Looking forward to some haggis tonight 😋🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃

We’re somewhat obsessed with dogs in our house at the moment, having just got a new puppy, so here’s Burns’ poem The Twa Dogs. It’s his idea of a conversation between a working collie called Luath and the local laird’s dog Cesar. The dogs are friends despite being from different social backgrounds and in the poem they discuss their human owners and the inequality between rich and poor. Although at the end Luath concludes that despite everything the poor man is happy, because a rest after a day’s toil and the company of family is all anyone really needs. Here’s to that! 🐾🐾🐾

'Twas in that place o' Scotland's isle, That bears the name o' auld King Coil, Upon a bonnie day in June, When wearin' thro' the afternoon, Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame, Forgather'd ance upon a time.

24/01/2025

Hold on to your hats! Definitely a two pegger tomorrow 🫣 Red warning in place for wind for south and central Scotland, stay safe folks! 💨💨💨

21/01/2025

Following on from our last post we’re still in the sunny north east 😀 ☀️

Here’s some shots from a recent visit to Crathes Castle, a classic Scottish tower house located close to Banchory in Royal Deeside. The Burnetts of Ley were gifted the lands here by King Robert the Bruce in 1323, when the estate was part of a royal hunting forest. The present castle was built in the 16th century by Alexander Burnett. It was to be his family’s home for the next 350 years! The gardens are particularly beautiful, even in wintertime 💚🏰🌳🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

17/01/2025

You might have seen this story in the press: check out the bar bill a group of 15 recently racked up while staying at the Fife Arms, a beautiful boutique hotel in the village of Braemar in Royal Deeside. Bertie's Bar at the hotel does have an impressive selection of over 500 drams behind the bar but even still, £159k on whisky is pretty obscene!! 😳😱🥃

In unrelated news, Big Dave has just asked if we can remortgage the house so he can pay off a small debt...🤣🤣🤣

01/01/2025

A couple more local ones from tonight.

Photo credit Matt Morton

01/01/2025

View from our back garden just now!
Happy New Year 🥳

31/12/2024

Happy New Year to one and all! With best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. Lang may yer lum reek 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥳🥂🎆

30/12/2024

High winds and rain forecast for Hogmanay, and snow on New Year’s Day 💨🌧️❄️
Pubs will be busy though! 🥃🎆🥳

24/12/2024

Wishing all our friends and followers a very merry Christmas!🎄🎁🎅

12/12/2024

Did you know, fact fans, that the oldest football in the world can be found in Scotland? Discovered behind wood panelling in the Queen’s Bedchamber at Stirling Castle during restoration work in the early 80s, the ball is thought to date from at least 1540. There is an entry in the records from April 1497 for an order of ‘fut ballis to the King’ (James IV) so could it even be one of those? Or maybe it belonged to the young Mary Queen of Scots, who was known to have enjoyed the odd kick about! 👸👑⚽️

Made of cow hide and an inflated pig’s bladder, it’s about half the size of a modern ball.

On display at the Smith Museum which is a wee treasure trove of fascinating objects relating to local history 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

04/12/2024

Wee jaunt to today and a visit to the wonderful Riverside Museum of Transport 🚃🚂🚘
Plus great coffee & brunch at singlend_merchantcity perfect spot if you’re in town!

30/11/2024

Happy St Andrew’s Day! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

🏰

30/11/2024

Amazing footage of orcas in Shetland 🐋

28/11/2024

Back in the game today after a wonderful (and well deserved!) holiday to the Emerald Isle 🇮🇪💚☘️

On today’s agenda: a guided tour of the fantastic National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

You could spend a week in this place, there is so much to see, but today we concentrated on some of the highlights of the Scottish collection. The museum was also a welcome shelter from the chilly temperatures, it was -5 C when I set off this morning! 🥶🥶🥶

31/10/2024

🎃👻💀Happy Hallowe’en! 💀👻🎃

This is Glamis Castle, said to be one of the most haunted places in Scotland 😱😱😱

At least 6 spooky apparitions are said to haunt its rooms and corridors, including the ghost of an Earl who came to a sticky end after playing cards with the devil on
the Sabbath. And there is the grey lady, said to be the ghost of Janet Douglas, wife of the 6th Lord Glamis. Accused (falsely) of planning to poison King James V, Janet was convicted of witchcraft and burnt at the stake in 1537. The grey lady has been seen often, sitting quietly at prayer in the castle chapel 🖤

11/10/2024

The Northern Lights were visible across Scotland last night. This is Peebles in the Scottish Borders 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙

Photo credit: Mark Samson

10/10/2024

Thinking of all our pals in Florida this morning. Stay safe folks, hoping clear skies and calm weather are back with you soon 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇸