Here There and Everywhere.scot

24/11/2022

Yesterday the lovely Liz and I revisited beautiful Crail. The bold Brian and jollyJackie were first-timers and the East Neuk turned on its charms. The early evening light was … there are no words.

11/07/2022

Sone off you may already know that Glencoe is one of my favourite places. But you have to see it in person. No photo that I’ve ever seen can do it justice.
So I add this, my latest pic, to the long list of ‘good but not good enough’ photos. I’ll keep trying though.

10/05/2022

Loch Lomond. A seaplane. Some ducks. And ducklings. Nice.

03/04/2022

Here, There and Everywhere? You never know where we’ll get to next. Like the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset. And the tank ‘Fury’ from the movie of the same name.

30/03/2022

Finlarig Castle, an early 17th Century castle on a peninsula between the River Lochay and Loch Tay. Built by Black Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy it features a beheading pit for prisoners of noble blood. Commoners were hanged on a nearby oak tree. Nice. Worth a visit (Rob Roy MacGregor did in 1513).

21/12/2021

A fresh influx of visitors at Fort Augustus yesterday.

12/12/2021

What a sight! Couldn't resist taking this shot the other day. Just magnificent. Ben Lomond, the most southerly of the Munros at 3196 feet, stand guard over lovely Loch Lomond.

24/10/2021

Is this the most photographed tree in Scotland? Are these the most photographed rocks? On the banks of Loch Lomond that must surely be favourites for each title. Still look good on a bleak-ish October day. A few centuries ago it was Loch Leven (but that made three Loch Levens) so it was changed to Lomond after Ben Lomond (Hill of the Beacon). Not a lot of people know that. 😀

25/08/2021

I’ve always taken my pictures of the Forth Bridge and accompanying bridges from a sea level perspective but these pictures explain why the Forth Bridges Viewpoint is so called.

25/07/2021

Yesterday the lovely Liz and I were on the David Douglas Trail, the Majestic Tree Trail and the Scottish Tree Trail all courtesy of Dawyck Botanic Gardens near Peebles in the Borders. Fantastic place - a peaceful, tranquil, sylvan experience with lots to see and learn.
David Douglas (the noble Douglas Fir is named after him) was a 19th C botanist and plant hunter employed in 1823 by the Royal Horticultural Sciety as a field collector to work in overseas countries hunting for new and rare species of plants and trees. It was the start of ten years of collecting, during which time he walked, canoed, snow-shoed or rode on horseback across some 10,000 miles of unmapped territory in North West America and the Pacific coast, introducing into Britain more plants and seeds than any other scientist before or since.
Today, there can be scarcely a park or garden in Britain not made more beautiful by trees or flowers first brought home by Douglas of the Fir – lupins, phlox, Californian poppy, yellow globe tulips, red flowering currant, clematis, the beautiful Sitka spruce and hundreds more of our best-loved trees and flowers.
He died young, at the tender age of 35 in Hawaii, in suspicious circumstances which invite the question 'Did he fall or was he pushed?'. Look it up on Wiki.
There's so much at Dawyck to learn and discover about trees, plants. lichen, algae and fungi – and learn we did. Even down to recognising what could be a deciding million pound question on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. The question is this: What organism, or litter-bug, lives and feeds on dead organic matter?
Answer: a saprotroph. (If you win remember my cut.)
Enrich yourself at Dawyck – useless information it ain't.

04/06/2021

A wee trip today down to the Scottish Borders market town of Kelso. One of my favourites it must be said.

Home to Kelso Abbey, founded by a 12th century Tironesian community during the reign of Alexander I.

Home also to Floors Castle, a William Adams designed stately home finished in 1726 and the residence of the Dukes and Duchesses of Roxburghe.

And home to the Kelso Bridge, designed by John Rennie who later built London Bridge.

The lovely Liz and I preferred to take in the rays today and had a soujourn along the riverside walk (the river being the Tweed).

My ‘Alnwick Castle and the Harry Potter Trail’ tour makes a stop here.

04/06/2021

03/06/2021

03/06/2021

09/05/2021

My pal, Mike Walker, shared this with me today. Very much worth more exposure. I like this.

08/11/2020

23/10/2020

Now here’s something you don’t see in Edinburgh much. A deserted High Street. 😢 Come back as soon as you can everyone. I’ll be here. 😀

23/10/2020

Not far from home today: The Meadows in Edinburgh, on a grey, dreich day but the colours are almost luminescent.

25/08/2020

Ever thought where the inspiration for a tweed suit or handbag comes from? Scotland, of course. Find these beautiful colours at The Pattack Falls, Strathmashie Forest, Cairngorm National Park.

04/08/2020

Here it is. A virtual tour like no other. A 'real' time tour of my fabulous Scotland.

The world may be at a standstill but that doesn't mean you can't visit your favourite places. And, if Scotland is one of your longed-for destinations then it's open for you. I'm a tour guide and have written a book based on my favourite tour from our beautiful capital, Edinburgh to romantic Loch Ness.

See the breathtaking landscapes, learn our unbelievable history and listen to the music as you go (a Spotify soundtrack). Make your way up to the magical Scottish Highlands and ... you won't even have to leave home. Buy it here. A snip (as we say in Scotland) at £5.99. www.herethereandeverywhere.scot/book

01/08/2020

My first book launches today. A virtual tour of Scotland’s West Highlands. Download it here. www.herethereandeverywhere.scot/book Only £5.99. Enjoy the blether, the chat and the craic.

31/07/2020

STOP PRESS! YIPPEE! YIPPEE! – MY FIRST REVIEW EVERYONE.

31/07/2020

The MV Dayspring nestles on the shore beneath the bulk of Ben Nevis. Better known to locals as the 'Corpach Wreck' it is not, officially anyway, a wreck. Despite being land bound for nearly a decade it is not polluting the area, not posing a hazard and is not causing any trouble – no laws are being broken. And so, according to the Receiver of Wrecks, it is not a wreck.

Tomorrow my book launches. Here, There and Everywhere: The Glencoe and Loch Ness Monster Tour.Saturday, 1 August 2020 at zero hundred hours. www.herethereandeverywhere.scot/book. Priced at £5.99 it's a thrifty price for value-for-money tourists. Go on, take a virtual tour.

30/07/2020

This a memorial at the Well of the Seven Heads on Loch Oich – just a wee story of brutal clan rivalry and vengeance (you'll love it!). One of many to be found in my soon to be released guide book Here, There and Everywhere: Glencoe and Loch Ness Monster tour. Launches on Saturday 1 August 2020 at this link. www.herethereandeverywhere.scot/book