Steamed Up Dogs

This amusing sign was seen at the small train station at Boat of Garten in Scotland. The station master must have a sense of humor as well as a love for dogs.

Scottish Lichen

This statue of a boy was in the gardens at Ballindalloch Castle in Scotland and has been overgrown with lichens giving it an ancient, eroded look. 

Lichens can survive quite happily in outer space, have been about for millions of years and are sensitive indicators of air pollution. They add amazing colour and texture to our surroundings from the limbs of ancient oaks and high mountain rocks to the mortar in our walls and churchyard gravestones. They provide a home to insects and nesting material for birds. Some lichens smell like fish while others are used to help make perfume! The characteristic orange of Harris Tweed was traditionally produced by a dye extracted from rock dwelling lichens.

Scotland has an amazing diversity of lichens, with just over 1500 species. Clean air, diverse habitats, relatively cool summers and mild winters all contribute to this diversity and abundance. Scotland is important for lichens on a European and even global scale.

Ailein Duinn

Capercaillie-2 by HighlanderImages

Karen Matheson OBE (born 11 February 1963) is a Scottish folk singer, who frequently sings in Scottish Gaelic. She is lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Heritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Elaine Morgan. She and Morgan received much acclaim for their joint lead vocal on the Breton language song "Diwanit Bugale", the French entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Rob Roy singing the song "Ailein Duinn" (Dark Alan) which reached #65 in the UK Singles Chart.

She grew up in the small village of Taynuilt in Argyll. She was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year's honours list. Matheson also appeared as a guest musician on Spirit of the West's 1997 album Weights and Measures.

Full Flight of The Fiddle

Capercaillie by HighlanderImages

This is Charlie McKerron, the fiddle player of Capercaillie, in full flight playing "Inexile" at a concert played in Kuala Lumpur in May 2008. Capercaillie is a folk band from Scotland formed by Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson and who play a contemporary mix of celtic, gaelic and folk music.

The group originates from Argyll, a region of western Scotland and is named after the Western Capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus, a bird native to Scotland. Their 1992 EP, A Prince Among Islands, was the first Scottish Gaelic-language record to reach the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #39. Another of their singles, "Dark Alan (Ailein duinn)" reached #65 in the same listing in June 1995. The band recorded its first album, Cascade, in 1984. The albums Secret People (1993) reached #40, and To the Moon (1995) peaked at #41 in the UK Albums Chart.

They have adapted traditional Gaelic songs and music using modern production techniques, and often mix musical forms, such as "Cosich A' Ruin", which combined traditional lyrics with drum and bass.

The Royal Scotsman

The Royal Scotsman is a Scottish luxury charter train run by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. The train is composed of nine cars; two dining cars, five state cars, one crew car, and one observation car. The two dining cars are named 'Victory' and 'Raven' with seating for sixteen and twenty people respectively.

Originally launched in May 1985, the train, in its current form, dates from May 1990. The owners put together a set of carriages (all rather different), which were rented in and called The Royal Scotsman, launching in the Spring of 1985. The carriage leases ran for five years and it was a success – the train won the Queen's Award for Export. 

After the initial five-year period elapsed, the decision was taken to purchase outright a different set of carriages, designed to the owners specifications. Working with designer James Park, ten Pullman carriages were subsequently bought and transformed with all the interior woodwork made to specification by a specialist woodworking company in Bournemouth and shipped to the construction site and installed. This second rake of carriages replaced the first in May 1990. The new rake incorporated many improvements – each cabin now had its own private facilities, steam heating was replaced by electric heating, seating for all at the same time in the Observation and Dining Cars and capacity moved from twenty-eight to thirty-two. In 1997, the capacity was further increased from thirty-two to thirty-six.  

The running order of The Royal Scotsman carriages is: Observation Car with verandah viewing platform; Dining Car Number One (Raven); Dining Car Number Two (Victory); State Car number one, two, three, four and five; and a Service Car. The sequence is in running order from the rear so guests can best enjoy the passing countryside.

At one end of the train is perhaps the most distinctive vehicle, the open-ended Observation Car, converted from the Pullman kitchen car, Snipe. Originally built in 1960 by the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company, it entered service in 1961 as a First Class kitchen car. In 1989, the car was bought from its private owner, Michael Bailiss, and converted it to its current luxury configuration, able to comfortably hold all thirty-six guests at any time.

Adjacent to this is Dining Car Number One, which is still referred to by its former Pullman car name, Raven. Colin Angell, a firm of cabinet makers from Evesham, Worcestershire, won the contract to transform a 1962 second-class Pullman carriage into Raven, with a capacity for twenty guests.

Next in the formation is Dining Car Number Two, known as Victory and so called since it was built in 1945. Victory was built as a London & North Eastern Railway Director's Saloon and acquired from Sir Bill McAlpine. The transformation was completed in a number of weeks - from its bright orange curtains and brushed aluminium fittings to wood panelling, inlaid with intricate marquetry, mahogany veneer cupboards and specially made dining chairs and tables – not to mention a state of the art modern kitchen. Eight marquetry panels with intricate designs of thistles, flowing ribbons and butterflies line the walls and an inlaid frieze of several different woods runs on into the corridors. Victory can accommodate up to sixteen guests, ensuring all guests can dine at the same sitting, across the two dining cars.

The five State Sleeping Cars follow. These cars, like the Verandah car, were originally built as Pullman Cars in 1960 by the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company.

The sleeping cars provide fourteen twin, two double and four single State Cabins, beautifully fitted out in rich marquetry. All cabins have fixed, lower beds, dressing table, full-length wardrobe, individually controlled heating, cooling ceiling fans, opening windows and cabin service call button. Each cabin has its own private facilities with shower, wash-basin and toilet and a constant supply of hot water.

Abbotshall Parish Church

Abbotshall Parish church is in my home town of Kirkcaldy in Scotland and contains some graves of my distant family. Around the middle of the seventeenth century it was decided that a new church was needed to ease the pressure on the Old Kirk in Kirkcaldy, and thus the parish of Abbotshall was created. The land was on the Abbotshall Estate which was owned at the time by Sir Andrew Ramsay, and became a Burgh of Barony. The first church is said to have been built in 1679, although there is a reused date stone from 1674 on the present church. There is no record of the appearance of the church before it was rebuilt in 1788, and the rebuild is the church which stands today. In 1876 the parish was absorbed into the Burgh of Kirkcaldy. There is a graveyard containing some good examples of historic gravestones and a mort house.

Strathspey Railway

The line was opened on 1 July 1863 between Dufftown and Abernethy (later Nethy Bridge). It was extended to meet up with the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway (later the Highland Railway) at Boat of Garten on 1 August 1866. The Strathspey Railway actually met the Highland line at Tullochgorum, some 3 miles north of Boat of Garten, but the two lines ran parallel until reaching Boat, the physical junction being to the south of Boat of Garten station. The same year, 1866, saw the Strathspey Railway become part of the larger Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR).

The railway served the numerous distilleries that operated in the Spey Valley, many of these distilleries having their own small tank engines, or 'pugs' as they were known.

In 1923, the railway became part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) and through passenger services were advertised from Boat of Garten to the South via Aberdeen. The line became part of British Railways in 1948 and many cost-saving measures were considered, including the introduction of diesel rail buses in the late 1950s.

The Strathspey line closed to passengers on 11 October 1965, the same date as the closure of the Highland line between Aviemore and Forres. Grantown on Spey, which had previously been served by two separate stations, was now left without any rail connection.

Goods traffic lingered on for a further three years, mostly the whisky trains, until this too ceased on 4 November 1968. The track was lifted the following year. The short section between Aberlour and Dufftown remained open for goods traffic until the end of 1971.

Although the two stations at either end of the line are open, serving two heritage railways, (the Keith and Dufftown Railway at Dufftown and the (second) Strathspey Railway at Boat of Garten on the Highland Railway's Aviemore to Forres route), no part of the original Strathspey Railway has been preserved. However, the section between Ballindalloch and Craigellachie has now been converted into part of the Speyside Way, which runs between Ballindalloch and Spey Bay.

Many of the railway's attractive stone-built station buildings still exist today; some have been converted for private usage, while others are near derelict. The former station building at Aberlour has been converted into a tearoom and visitor centre. Two of the three bridges over the Spey still survive: the joint road/rail cast-iron arch bridge at Carron and the impressive lattice girder bridge at Ballindalloch, the latter is now a Category A listed building.

St. Brycedale Church, Kirkcaldy

Today's church is close to home .... in fact it was my home! This is St. Brycedale Church in Kirkcaldy, Scotland as viewed from the cemetery of the Old Kirk which is situated just over the road. The church is now called St. Bryce Kirk when the two churches joined together in November, 2000. 

The Old Kirk is the oldest church in Kirkcaldy and is the Category B listed  parish church, on Kirk Wynd. The earliest mention of the Old Kirk is the record of its consecration in 1244 to St Brisse and St Patrick by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. The building's deterioration in the late eighteenth century resulted in major renovations in 1807. Only the square western tower, which dates from around 1500, was retained. In 2011 the Old Kirk was purchased by the Old Kirk Trust using a £75,000 loan from businessman John Sim, son of the late Reverend John Sim, minister of the church from 1960 to 1987. 

The story of St. Brycedale Church begins in 1843 when the Disruption of the Church of Scotland took place. In conflict with the idea of patronage, where the landowner / local gentry choses the minister, large numbers of clergy and laity left the national church. The result in Kirkcaldy was the establishing of a Free Church in Tolbooth Street.

When the premises became too small for the energetic and expanding congregation it was decided to build a new Church. The site at the top of Kirk Wynd - "in open parkland on the outskirts of the town" - was donated by Provost Don Swan in 1876 and the new church was designed to seat 1150 people. Also included in the plans were a vestry, a ladies' room, a young men's hall to hold 150 and a Sunday School room to hold 300. The spire was to be 200 feet high. And the cost? An estimated £11,500.

The architecture was Gothic of the 13th century, the structure being built of Fordell stone with the inside walls of the Tower being built of a hard stone from Gallatown Quarry. In March 1881 the church was officially opened.

Since 1881 there have been only eight Ministers serving in St. Brycedale. The development of the "new" St Brycedale Church was the brainchild of the present Minister, the Rev. J. Kenneth Froude, centring on the recognition that the building was extravagantly large for the needs of the relatively small gathered downtown congregation who used it only once a week for just over an hour.

The old church has been divided in two, horizontally at the level of the gallery, creating a two-storey structure. The upper part is now the Sanctuary, still a very large church as can be seen in the inside view of the building. The lower part, at ground level, consists of two large and several smaller rooms, an open reception area and a coffee bar. These new facilities allow more flexible use of the premises. The Church Centre which is open all day, every day, for people of all ages - from toddlers to senior citizens - is used by many organisations and charities and the general public.

West Coast Paradise

One of my favourite spots to visit in my home country of Scotland is the north west of country and the little village of Plockton is one of the most idyllic and quiet spots to stay at for a couple of days just to unwind. This part of the country seems to have a micro climate helped by the Gulf stream currents and you can see some tropical style trees and plants growing here. The sheltered sea loch provides a safe refuge for the fishing boats and few pleasure yachts as can be clearly seen in this image.

The Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is a historic region of Scotland. The area is often, incorrectly, prefixed with "Scottish" since there is no need to qualify the term. It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots (English) replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name for the highlands, A' Ghàidhealtachd, literally means 'the place of the Gaels' and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. The average population density in the Highlands and Islands is lower than that of Sweden, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Argentina.

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling. Although the Isle of Arran administratively belongs to North Ayrshire, its northern part is generally regarded as part of the Highlands.

Craig Hill Stands To Attention

Craig Hill is a Scottish comedian, TV presenter and actor known for his cheeky, irreverent and camp act. His act comprises stand-up, comic characterisations and improvisation styles with musical diva impersonations, notably a parody of Shirley Bassey singing the football chant ‘Who Ate All the Pies?‘.

Calum's Seal Trips

This little shop in the middle of the main street of Plockton, Scotland was geared up for visiting tourists. The shop had canoes for hire, fishing nets for sale, holiday gifts and a variety of tourist trips including "Calum's Seal Trips". I'm only guessing but maybe the shop belonged to Calum. Just a wild guess!

A Throat Surely Touched by the Hand of God

Sean Connery described "her  throat as  surely touched by the hand of God" and the Billboard magazine described her as "the finest gaelic singer". 

Karen Matheson OBE (born 11 February 1963) is a Scottish folk singer, who frequently sings in Scottish Gaelic. She is lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz's group L'Heritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Elaine Morgan. She and Morgan received much acclaim for their joint lead vocal on the Breton language song "Diwanit Bugale", the French entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Rob Roy singing the song "Ailein duinn".

She grew up in the small village of Taynuilt in Argyll. She was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year's honours list.

Matheson also appeared as a guest musician on Spirit of the West's 1997 album Weights and Measures.

She is married to fellow Capercaillie member Donald Shaw, and they have a son named Hector and hector is 10 years old

Battlefield Band Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from different regions throughout Europe, Northern Africa, the Persian Gulf, and the Caucasus. 

This photo was taken at a concert with the Battlefield Band from Scotland and this is Mike Katz playing the bagpipes, with much gusto by the look of it.

Safe Haven

This early morning photo of Plockton harbour highlights how beautiful and peaceful the west coast of Scotland can be. The long sheltered sea lochs (or as the Norwegians would call them fjords) offer a safe refuge for the many small fishing boats that are used in this part of the country.

Anstruther

Anstruther is a small fishing village on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, very close to my home town. The meaning of the name Anstruther in gaelic is "small stream" and the small stream called the Dreel Burn in the foreground is more than likely the small stream in question.

It was originally a fishing village, and is home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum, but its main industry is now tourism, although other small scale manufacturing and service industries continue. Pleasure craft now moor in the harbour, and there is a golf course. Anstruther Pleasure Cruises operate sightseeing/wildlife cruises from the harbour to the Isle of May on board the 'May Princess' from April till October, the Isle of May is considered the UK's No.1 Puffin location, there is also an abundance of other interesting wildlife and seal colonies on the Island. The Waid Academy, the local state comprehensive school, is often a focus of the community and through its secondary role as a community centre offers a wide range of activities & sports, and hosts entertainment for young and old. Sports Hall, Gym, Swimming pool etc. are also situated here and open to public use.

It has a double award-winning fish and chip shop, Anstruther Fish Bar, which won Fish and Chip shop of the year in 2001-2002 and was awarded the same prize once again, by Sea Fish Organisation, in 2009, as well as other fine fish and non-fish takeaways, and relaxed and formal dining restaurants. There is also the other famous Wee Chippy restaurant which has been voted the best place in the world for fish and chips.

But 'n Ben

A but 'n ben is a small 2 roomed house in Scotland, the but end being the kitchen and ben being the bedroom. This little quaint thatched-roof cottage in Plockton really epitomized my idea of a but 'n ben complete with an old plow and wooden barrel to add to the atmosphere. Perhaps this was just an outhouse to the main large house in the background or maybe was a small rental holiday house. Whatever it was so nice to see an authentic old building in such good condition with the well painted white walls and varnished front door.

Blue Lobster Pots

Fishing around Scotland is still a major part of life and in many of the seaside villages and towns there is a harbour for all the fishing boats. These bright blue lobster pots were seen stacked on the harbour wall at Plockton.

Lobster traps are usually constructed of wire or rope and wood. An opening permits the lobster to enter a tunnel of netting. Pots are usually constructed in two parts, called the "chamber" or “kitchen”, where there is bait, and exits into the “parlour”, where it is trapped from escape. Lobster pots are usually dropped to the sea floor about a dozen at a time, and are marked by a buoy so they can be picked up later.

West Coast Dawn

This is an early morning view at Plockton on the north west coast of Scotland with a glassy smooth sea and moody atmospheric skies. It was certainly very peaceful and apart from the occasional sounds of the seagulls it was deadly quiet. Yes this is a very soothing way to start the day with a slow walk along the seafront breathing in the fresh west coast air.

Yellow Lichen, Xanthoria Parietina

This lichen is a common site on much of the Scottish coastline rocks. Xanthoria parietina is a foliose, or leafy lichen. It has wide distribution, and many common names such as common orange lichen, yellow scale, maritime sunburst lichen and shore lichen. It can be found near the shore on rocks or walls (hence the epithet parietina meaning "on walls"), and also on inland rocks, walls, or tree bark. It was chosen as a model organism for genomic sequencing (planned in 2006) by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI). In the past it was used as a remedy for jaundice because of its yellow color.