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Archive for the ‘Scotland’ Category

In the spirit of Halloween, here is a spooky castle to put you in the right mood.

It is a scary place and if you listen carefully, you can hear the clanging of chains and lost souls crying out in sorrowful moans. A cold shiver runs up your spine. Would you dare stay overnight here?

Well you can, this is Brodie Castle in Scotland. No it is not haunted (that I know of) and is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and you can stay overnight here (look it up).

I was here during the day in mid-summer so no fear of ghosts or anything more spooky other than those clouds. An HDR treatment and a B&W conversion completed the look.

Happy Halloween everyone.

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When you drive around Scotland you will find these old stone bridges everywhere, literally. You don’t even have to get off the beaten track, just drive around the Scottish highlands and you can’t miss them.

Personally, I love them, it gives the Scottish countryside a well defined “look”, something that distinguishes it from other countries and landscapes.

Here is one shot a few years ago, I’m sure I would not be able to find this particular one again, but I would be able to find many others. As you can see the weather was not very cooperative, it rained, but then again, it does that often in Scotland.

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This is my most favorite castle, ever. It is the Eilean Donan Castle on Scotland’s North West coast. It also happens to be the most photographed castle in Scotland, probably because it is such an iconic representation of most people imagine Scottish castles must look like.

The location is spectacular. It is built on a little island (Donan’s island, hence the name) which is connected to the mainland by that stone bridge you see. The body of water is Loch Duich, which is open to the sea. This means the water you see around the Castle rises and drops with the tide.

Just a little further on lies a town with the wonderful name of “Kyle of Lochalsh”. The name just rolls off the tongue beautifully when pronounced in a proper Scottish brogue. The Kyle of Lochalsh is of course the place you go when you want to go to the Isle of Skye.

This photo was taken a few years ago when I visited and it had just rained, as it does a lot in Scotland.

That mountain you see behind the castle is the unpronounceable Sgurr Mhic Bharraich and behind that is the Saddle, one of the more famous maintains of the Scottish Highlands and a popular hiking destination.

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On our trip through Scotland, we stayed a night at the Achray House Hotel along the North Eastern shore of Loch Earn in Scotland. What a treat! Achray House is a boutique hotel offering a rejuvenating stay to people who want to get away from it all. It’s not a big hotel which is a good thing as the level of service goes up and the owners, Jane and Alan Gibson, have time to meet with you personally. They offer comfortable and spacious rooms (I had the room with that window you can see way on the left of this shot), many of the room have views of the Loch. Too bad we could only stay for one night as the area offers many beautiful sights. I understand that no less than 35 golf courses can be found in the vicinity!

Their dining experience is also top class and we enjoyed some of the local offerings for dinner (I had lamb and my son had venison). After dinner, the owner, Alan and I had a taste of some 6 different single malt Scottish Whiskys as a night cap. What else does one do when in Scotland?!

By the way, to make sure I did not insult the Scottish, I made sure I could spell the word “Whisky” correctly. In looking this up, I found out that the Irish spell it Whiskey while the Scottish spell it Whisky. However, it seems that the jury is still out on how the plural is spelt. Whiskies, Whiskys and Whiskeys are all acceptable it seems. Anyway, I digress . . .

Achray House also offer a fine traditional cooked Scottish breakfast, which is included by the way, personally prepared by Alan. Again, it was delicious and made sure we were well nourished for the day ahead.

Early Morning on Loch Earn

The views of the Loch are simply breathtaking and I got up early the next morning to get some shots of the low hanging clouds clearing the surrounding hills. This view is from the jetty right in front of the hotel. I’ve been to Scotland many times and it is views like this that always stay with me.

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Along road B976 in Aberdeenshire, in the Scottish highlands, lies this beautiful valley. I don’t know its name (or even if it has one), but towards the end of summer, the heather turns purple, covering the hills in a stunning blanket of color. I was probably there about 3 weeks too soon, but, as you can see in this picture, there was already some purple around.

I find this place hauntingly beautiful. It is so different from other beautiful places such as mountains or forests. This is . . well . . . .  just different, but beautiful never the less. To me it represents one of the classic “views” of Scotland, rolling hills, no trees, heather . . . . and usually, rain. On this day, we had glorious weather however. Blue skies filled with white fluffy clouds, warm, sunshine . . . just perfect.

It was a favorite picnic place of my parents, both of whom have now passed away and whose ashes lie scattered in this beautiful valley . . . They are together again, for all eternity. . .

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This is Taymouth Castle in Scotland. It stands at the eastern end of Loch Tay, just outside the village of Kenmore.

This castle has some significance to me as I can trace my lineage back to the Campbells of Breadalbane, the Scottish clan that built this castle in the early 19th century. It seated the Campbell Earls and Marquises of Breadalbane for a while.

This heritage may sound strange coming from a guy with such a Dutch name, but my mother is Scottish so I can lay claim to being 50% Scottish. My mother’s grandmother was the illegal daughter of the daughter of the guy who owned this place . . . or something like that, it’s all very mysterious and the details have been lost over time – along with any formal claims to this place of course

If you look closely in this picture, you can see the castle is surrounded by a wire fence. When I was there (August 2010) it was empty and all restoration work on the place had stopped. Apparently, there was a plan to turn this castle into the first 6 or 7-star hotel in the UK, but work stopped in 2006 and the company restoring the place was declared insolvent in 2009. The future fate of this place is still unknown at time of writing.

When looking at this place, which is huge by the way when you are up close, it is hard to imagine what it must be like to own and run it. Mindboggling in fact and I can not even begin to guess at the cost. Anyway, it is good to get lost in dreams about being the “Lord of the Castle” and money “not being an object” – ha!

One good thing though, the grounds have been turned into a golf course which is open to the public. So, while I might not be able to ever live here, I’d like to go back one day and have game of golf . . . .

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And yet another photo from Dunnottar Castle, this time one from inside the walls.

This was one of my most favorite places to visit as a kid, I am sure it drove my parents nuts as I could not get enough of the place. The ruins, the magnificence of all sparked my imagination and I could almost “see” what it must have been like in its heyday.

Today, there is little left of the majestic buildings other than ruined and crumbling walls. The nicely kept greens make for a stark contrast – manicured lawns vs. broken brick walls.

As you can see, I have again applied some textures to the background, after initially blending three images as an HDR process. The dramatic sky, the evenly exposed buildings are all hallmarks of HDR processing. I also like how these images present themselves as Black & White, but I will save that for another post.

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Another HDR shot of Dunnottar Castle, which I visited a year and a half ago.

I remember scrambling over these ruins as a boy and always loved going there every time we visited my grandmother who used to live in Aberdeen.

Other than the “normal” HDR treatment here, I decided to blend in some textures, giving that that “mottled” look. I find it adds some extra drama to the picture.

This castle lies near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, north east Scotland.

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I visited this castle with my daughter a year and a half ago. It was her first trip to Scotland and it was a great experience to show her some of the places that really impressed me when I was a kid. I remember scrambling over these ruins as a boy and always loved going there every time we visited my grandmother who used to live in Aberdeen.

As you can see, Dunnottar Castle has an awesome position on top of this rock that sticks out into the sea. Access is via a narrow land bridge. It perhaps no surprise that this castle has played an interesting role in Scottish history. Perhaps the most famous is the event of a small garrison holding out for eight months against the mighty army of Cromwell, saving the Scottish Crown Jewels from destruction. The crown, scepter and sword are now on display in Edinburgh Castle.

William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, the Marquis of Montrose and the future King Charles II, all graced the Castle with their presence at some time in history.

This castle lies near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, north east Scotland.

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Perhaps the most famous castle in Scotland, the Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich, on the West Coast of Scotland. Many movies were shot here. Among them; Highlander with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery and the James Biond film “the world is not enough” with Pierce Brosnan.

It’s situated on a little island called Donan (Eilean Donan means Donan’s island) that is connected to the mainland via the stone bridge you see below. The surrounding waters rise and fall with the tide as the open sea is just a few miles miles away.

I took this shot just after heavy rains (it rains a lot in Scotland) and the tide was in. Just a few hours earlier, when the tide was out, kelp-covered rocks are exposed making for a less interesting scene.

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