The hills of Skye

There are several famous hills and rock formations on Skye; I went and took pics of three of 'em. There's the Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing and the slopes of the Cuillin Mountains, where lie the Fairy Pools.

The Old Man of Storr, close up.


What, you think I walked up there?


Seen from the front. The Old Man is pretty much dead center of the pic.


Right next to where I stopped to take pictures was this cute, little island.


These pictures are from the Quiraing area, just north of Staffin. Great views from up here, folks.


Grrreat scenery.


This purdy lil' tree was hiding snuggly on the side of a little gully.


I believe this is the part of the mountain called The Prison. This is a far as I got. I think The Table is behind the pinnacles to the upper left.


My cozy little B & B is somewhere amongst these buildings.


The Cuillin Mountains.


Water streams have carved deep gashes in the mountain side.


If I'm not much mistaken, the Fairy Pools are to be found along this stream, but I just didn't have the stamina to go look for myself. It was cold and windy and I had a nice, warm, comfy car.

Skye: Fairie Glen

A brief drive east of Uigh lies the Fairie Glen (Glen meaning valley in Gaelic). It is quite small, maybe 100 meters (appx.330 feet) by 200, and roughly divided into 2 small "valleys". There were ruins from some stone structures within this enchanted spot. Possibly fences, possibly walls, possibly both.


Nice trees, both fallen and upright were all over the place.


The road goes ever on and on.


From a vantage point.


Towards Uigh.


A lovely pond.


Lovely tree, Rowan methinks?


The landscape surrounding the Glen was also quite scenic.

Skye: Kilmuir Cemetery

This is the grave of Flora MacDonald. The 24 year old Flora helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape Scotland after his disastrous defeat at Culloden in 1746. He was disguised as her Irish (female) servant. Flora was jailed for a time, but then released. She married Allan MacDonald and they had seven children. They moved to North Carolina in 1774 but returned to Skye in 1779. She died at Kingsburgh and was buried here at Kilmuir in 1790.


A fascinating life and a fascinating story that has captured the attention of many writers and has earned her a place in the famous Skye Boat Song (...rocked in the deep/Flora will keep/watch by your weary head...). The epitaph on her gravestone was written by no less an illuminary than Dr. Johnson: "...a name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour". The original gravestone was stolen piecemeal by tourists, until the present one was erected in 1855 by a great-great grandson.


An informative board told the visitor about Flora and some of the other luminaries here interred.

Skye sunrise

I arrived in Staffin, far north on the island Sunday afternoon, but already early on Sunday morning, Skye showed me some lovin'. Feast yer eyes on this sunrise, my pretty ones.

Heaven's on fire.


The ever changing clouds made for purdy scenery.


Outside the cloud cover, things were softer around the edges.


Back to red fire.


One of the last of these pics.


Over to the north, a goddamn RAINBOW suddenly appeared.


The sun rising on the mountains to the west of me. "And not by eastern window only / when daylight comes, comes in the light. / In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly / but westward look, the land is bright."

Quote of the Day

A boy’s will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.
- H. W. Longfellow, "My Lost Youth"

Isle of Skye

I had intended to take some pictures of Duffus Castle, a ruin just north of Elgin, but my trusty old pocket camera chose that day to die on me. So instead I went to Skye, the almost mythically beautiful island just off the west coast. I'd never been before but I can assure you I will go there again. These are pics I took Sunday Oct 2.

I managed to get in two pictures from an unusually sunlit Loch Ness on the way to Skye. Here is Urquhart Castle.


The Loch itself had a wee bit of fog on. Wewy myftical.


Kyle of Lochalsh is a tiny village on the mainland. Opposite, to the left in the image, is the even tinier Skye village of Kyleakin, which in Gaelic means "The strait of Haakon" - in this case Haakon IV of Norway, who ruled these parts until he squandered them at the Battle of Largs in 1263.


A little further up the island was this cozy little waterfall, which I stopped to photograph. I believe it is called Mealt waterfall.


While standing there, I noticed an airplane crossing the skies.


This is the Scotland I've come to know and love, folks.


A bit further north was this waterfall.


This is the beach in Staffin Bay. Somewhere along here, there are fossil dinosaur print, but I'll be damned if I know where they were. And I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking for them.


Just north of Staffin was a fellow Elvis fan.

Quote of the Day

Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
- Graham Greene

Quote of the Day

Little things affect little minds.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Duff House & Bow Fiddle Rock

From Fraserburgh I drove west to Duff House, in the care of Historic Scotland. It is a stately Georgian house, which has been refurbised extensively and now also houses a section of the Scottish National Gallery. Afterwards I drove up to Bow Fiddle Rock, a geological peculiarity which has gotten its name from its resemblance to a fiddle bow. So why it's called Bow Fiddle and not Fiddle Bow is beyond me.

There was construction work being carried out on the facade.


A statue of Minerva.


If this was the first thing to great me as I came home on a dark and stormy night, I might have wet myself in terror.


The architect had originally planned for a much bigger structure. As with several other Scottish buildings, it all ended in tears, lawsuits and ruin for the people involved.


Nice rock.


Nearby, on the mainland, were actual caves. Wheeeee!

Two weeks late, my trip to Scotland

I started my trip to Scotland by flying in to Dyce, Abderdeen on a Friday. Saturday, I drove up to Fraserburgh, to see Kinnaird Head and the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses. It was actually quite nice up there. Got some information about the strenuous life of lighthouse keepers and their families and some fresh air and glorious views out across the northeastern coast of Scotland.

It looks like the head of a giant C-3PO, but is really a lighthouse reflector.


The mechanics behind how a lighthouse functioned changed over time, and I understood little of it, what with being a bear of very little brain and all. But I believe at one point that lamps and mirrors were involved. And whale oil. Tons and tons of whale oil.


Fraserburg grew up around the castle of the Fraser family and the lighthouse - the first permanently maintained in all of Scotland - was first built on top of an existing castle structure in 1787. Later, when the roof started to give in, a separate tower was integrated with the castle.


The "new" lighthouse, with the fog horn. The siren for the horn was powered by air and the power to make it go WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA was created by some complex machinery that forced air through underground tunnels. Apparently, the whole town shook everytime it sounded.


The retired lamp & reflector of the lightouse today.


The nice little toon o' Fraserburgh.


This building, known as the Winehouse, is probably from the 1500s and no one is quite certain what it was used for.

Quote of the Day

There is no such thing as a good tax.
- Sir Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

The government deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government spends and the amount it has the nerve to collect.
- Sam Ewing

Quote of the Day

If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes.
- H. Ross Perot

Quote of the Day

There are too many people; and too few human beings.
- Robert Zand

Quote of the Day

When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do - lose.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Quote of the Day

The artist needs no religion beyond his work.
- Elbert Hubbard

Quote of the Day

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.
[And the Britons completely isolated from the whole world.]
- Virgil

Quote of the Day

What sunshine is to the black soil, so is true enlightenment to the earth’s friend.
- N.F.S. Grundtvig, Danish writer & scholar 1783-1872

Quote of the Day

You see an awful lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.
- Erica Jong

Quote of the Day

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
[Happy is he who has been able to learn the causes of things.]
- Virgil

Quote of the Day

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands.
- Robert M. Pirsig

Quote of the Day

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright!
- Arthur Hugh Clough, "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth"

Quote of the Day

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- Richard Dawkins

Quote of the Day

A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
- Margaret Fuller

Quote of the Day

'T was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it.
- W. C. Fields

Quote of the Day

The temptation shared by all forms of intelligence: cynicism.
- Albert Camus

Quote of the Day

You never really get to know a man until you've divorced him.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor

Quote of the Day

A sensible man knows you can't please everybody. A wise man knows you can't please anybody.
- Richard J. Needham

October trip to Scotland

I'm going back to Scotland again, over two years after my last trip to that enchanted land. I'll be flying in to Aberdeen on Friday 9/30 and home again from the same place. In between I've planned a fairly ambitious schedule:

9/30: Landing at Aberdeen Airport in Dyce.
10/1: Driving up to Elgin by way of Fraserburgh and Duff. I'll stop by Kinnaird Head and Duff House.
10/2: Drive from Elgin to Staffin on Skye by way of Loch Ness. Stopping in at Duffus Castle and Urquhart Castle.
10/3: Drive around Skye, see what I can see. Got some scenic stuff lined up, but nothing too firm.
10/4: Drive from Staffin to Crianlarich, by A-82 over Glencoe, with a detour to see Glennfinnan Viaduct of Harry Potter fame just north of Ft. William and a further detour down to the edge of Loch Etive.
10/5: Drive from Crianlarich to Callander. Possibly the most ambitious day, as I have planned to see Rob Roy's Grave, Bracklinn Falls and Inchmahome Priory.
10/6: Drive the short way from Callander down to Stirling. Stop by my beloved Doune Castle and Stirling Castle. Sweet Jeebus, how I love those two.
10/7: Drive from Stirling down to Falkirk. Go on the Falkirk Wheel, which I've always wanted to, but haven't even SEEN yet on my many trips to Scotland.
10/8: Drive up to Aberdeen by way of Castle Campbell & Huntingtower Castle.
10/9: Flying home from Dyce.

I foresee windswept moors, misty mountains, cozy pubs, horisontal rain and persnaps the lovely sound of bagpipes in my near future. Oh, and the obligatory initial panic over left-lane driving.

Quote of the Day

I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
- Alexander the Great

Quote of the Day

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.
- Robert G. Ingersoll

Quote of the Day

It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow necked bottles: the less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out.
- Alexander Pope

Quote of the Day

If you’re going through hell, keep going.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.
- Bob Hope

Quote of the Day

All government -- indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act -- is founded on compromise and barter.
- Edmund Burke

Quote of the Day

The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
- George Eliot

Quote of the Day

Hos sucessus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur.
[Success nourished them; they seemed to be able, and so they were able.]
- Virgil

Quote of the Day

"To you, Baldrick, the Renaissance is just something that happened to other people, isn't it?"
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

Baldrick: Don’t worry, Lieutenant; I’ll come visit you.
Lieutenant George: Will you really? Oh bravo! Yes, jump into the old jalopy and come down and stay in the country, and we can relive the old times.
Edmund Blackadder: What, dig a hole in the garden, fill it with water, and get your gamekeeper to shoot at us all day?
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

"Leave me alone, Baldrick! If I wanted to talk to a vegetable, I would have bought one at the market."
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

Lieutenant George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.
Edmund Blackadder: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

General Melchett: Are you looking forward to the big push?
Private Baldrick: No sir, I’m absolutely terrified.
General Melchett: The healthy humour of the honest, Tommy. Don’t worry my boy, if you should falter, remember that Captain Darling and I are behind you.
Edmund Blackadder: About thirty-five miles behind you.
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

Lord Percy Percy: The fashion today is towards the tiny.
Edmund Blackadder: In that case you have the most fashionable brain in London.
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

"Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing 'Subtle plans are here again!'"
- Rowan Atkinson in "Black Adder"

Quote of the Day

A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.
- G. Goebbles

Quote of the Day

How is it possible to expect mankind to take advice when they will not so much as take warning?
- Jonathan Swift

Quote of the Day

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
- Harry S. Truman

Quote of the Day

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

If men are good, you don’t need government; if men are evil or ambivalent, you don’t dare have one.
-Robert LeFevre

Quote of the Day

Responsibility for learning belongs to the student, regardless of age.
- Robert Martin

Quote of the Day

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.
-Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
- Bertrand Russell

Quote of the Day

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

Ah, yes, divorce...from the Latin word meaning to rip a man’s heart out through his wallet.
- Robin Williams

Quote of the Day

The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.
-Tacitus

Quote of the Day

Farming looks easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Quote of the Day

One of the fondest expressions around is that we can't be the world's policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop.
- Colin Powell

Quote of the Day

All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
- James Garfield

Quote of the Day

La vérité est en marche; rien ne peut plus l'arrêter.
[Truth is on the march, nothing can stop it now.]
-Émile Zola

Quote of the Day

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
- African Proverb

Quote of the Day

It is not every question that deserves an answer.
- Thomas Fuller

Quote of the Day

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
- Stephen Wright

Quote of the Day

The law requires a paper towel ad to be scrupulously honest, but allows political candidates to lie without reproach. What’s wrong with this picture?
- Jeff I. Richards

Quote of the Day

The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.
- John W. Gardner

Quote of the Day

It is no longer my moral duty as a human being to achieve an integrated and unitary set of explanations for my thoughts and feelings.
- Bronwyn Davies

Quote of the Day

Man has such a predilection for systems and abstract deductions that he is ready to distort the truth intentionally; he is ready to deny the evidence of his senses only to justify his logic.
- Feodor Dostoyevsky

Quote of the Day

You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
- Dave Barry

Quote of the Day

The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

'Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.
- William M. Thackeray

My trip to the West Coast: Lysebotn

These pictures were mostly taken around the wildly expensive tourist trap at the top of the steep descent down to Lysebotn.

This photo was taken from a spot to the right of the restaurant/souvenir shop. As previously mentioned, the road has 27 hairpin turns and goes down appx.900 meters (2,950 feet).


You can also walk around most of the building on a wooden platform with spectacular views.


This was the view back towards Sirdal, whence I came.


The sheep in the parking lot were much, much friendlier than normal. As soon as I got out of the car, this ewe and her cute lil' fluffball approached me, but their interest waned considerably once they'd established that I had no food.


I counted five waterfalls like this coming down from the mountain on that side.


The view of the horizon from the valley floor. You can sail to America from here.

Quote of the Day

Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.
- Kin Hubbard