The Royal Scotsman

5 July 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Bon voyage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Dining car © geograph.org.uk - Thomas Nugent/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dining car © geograph.org.uk – Thomas Nugent/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Belmond Royal Scotsman is a Scottish overnight luxury train, started in 1985 by GS&WR (Great Scottish and Western Railway Co.), and run since 2005 by Belmond Ltd. Its itineraries include 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- or 7-night journeys around the Scottish Highlands, visiting castles, distilleries and historic sites. Once each year, it also makes a 7-night journey around the whole of Great Britain.   read more…

Portrait: William Wallace, a Guardian of Scotland

23 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: Portrait Reading Time:  6 minutes

Sir William Wallace by David of Buchan

Sir William Wallace by David of Buchan

Sir William Wallace (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Uallas, Norman French: William le Waleys) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.   read more…

Inveraray in Scotland

12 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Main street © Holger Uwe Schmitt/cc-by-sa-4.0

Main street © Holger Uwe Schmitt/cc-by-sa-4.0

Inveraray (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Aora, meaning “mouth of the Aray“) is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Located on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, Inveraray is a former royal burgh and known affectionately as “The Capital of Argyll.” It is the traditional county town of Argyll, and the ancestral seat to the Duke of Argyll.   read more…

Dunrobin Castle in the Scottish Highlands

28 March 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Architecture, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Dunrobin Castle and Gardens © geograph.org.uk - Andrew Tryon/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dunrobin Castle and Gardens © geograph.org.uk – Andrew Tryon/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dunrobin Castle (mostly 1835–1845 — present) is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, as well as the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland, Chief of the Clan Sutherland. It is located one mile (1.5 kilometres) north of Golspie and approximately five miles (eight kilometres) south of Brora, overlooking the Dornoch Firth.   read more…

Portrait: John Law, a Scottish-French economist and financier

26 March 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: Portrait Reading Time:  11 minutes

John Law by Casimir Balthazar © Rama

John Law by Casimir Balthazar © Rama

John Law was a Scottish-French economist and financier. He served as Controller General of Finances under Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was regent for the juvenile Louis XV of France, and promoted a novel financial scheme for French public finances known as Law’s System (French: le système de Law) with two institutions at its core, John Law’s Bank and John Law’s Company.   read more…

St Andrews in Scotland, the home of golf

10 August 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

View from St. Salvator's Tower © Jamesmcmahon0

View from St. Salvator’s Tower © Jamesmcmahon0

St Andrews (Latin: S. Andrea(s); Scots: Saunt Aundraes; Scottish Gaelic: Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, 10 miles (16 kilometres) southeast of Dundee and 30 miles (50 kilometres) northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 as of 2011, making it Fife’s fourth-largest settlement and 45th most populous settlement in Scotland.   read more…

Theme Week Firth of Clyde – Great Cumbrae

27 July 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Newton Beach in Millport looking towards Isle of Arran © LucyLou2/cc-by-sa-4.0

Newton Beach in Millport looking towards Isle of Arran © LucyLou2/cc-by-sa-4.0

Great Cumbrae (Scottish Gaelic: Cumaradh Mòr) is the larger of the two islands known as The Cumbraes in the lower Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. The island is sometimes called Millport, after its main town. Home to the Cathedral of The Isles and the FSC Millport field study centre, the island has a community of 1,300 residents.   read more…

Theme Week Firth of Clyde – Isle of Arran

26 July 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  8 minutes

Isle of Arran Distillery - Special casks © flickr.com - sebastian.b./cc-by-2.0

Isle of Arran Distillery – Special casks © flickr.com – sebastian.b./cc-by-2.0

The Isle of Arran (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at 432 square kilometres (167 sq mi). Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2011 census it had a resident population of 4,629. Though culturally and physically similar to the Hebrides, it is separated from them by the Kintyre peninsula. Often referred to as “Scotland in Miniature”, the Island is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault and has been described as a “geologist’s paradise”.   read more…

Theme Week Firth of Clyde – Island Davaar

25 July 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Island Davaar Lighthouse © geograph.org.uk - Calum McRoberts/cc-by-sa-2.0

Island Davaar Lighthouse © geograph.org.uk – Calum McRoberts/cc-by-sa-2.0

Island Davaar or Davaar Island (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Dà Bhàrr) is located at the mouth of Campbeltown Loch off the east coast of Kintyre Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It is a tidal island, linked to the mainland by a natural shingle causeway called the Doìrlinn near Campbeltown at low tide. The crossing can be made in around 40 minutes.   read more…

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