Photo Friday: Pretty Portree on the Isle of Skye

Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland; June 2009

After my trip to Orkney last summer, I travelled back south via the Scottish Highlands, the Isle of Skye and Glasgow. I was blessed with gorgeous weather while I was in Skye and went hiking, hill climbing, cycling and dolphin watching.
Since I was getting around on the limited public [...]

Photo Friday: Tidal power device on test in Orkney

Orkney, Scotland, UK; June 2009

The series on stone-age Orkney was one of my favourite things I did on the blog last year. But the day or two I spent playing tourist came after several days working on a story that is very much rooted in the modern era.
The real reason I went to Orkney was [...]

Carnival of Cities for 30 December 2009 – From New York to Nairobi

Happy new year! I am delighted to be hosting the Carnival of Cities this week. What a great round-up of interesting posts about cities around the world. To all the participating bloggers, thank you and don’t forget to promote this post!
Please note, the Carnival of Cities is a blog carnival for posts about any single [...]

Prize draw – Standing with Stones

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Skara Brae post to win a copy of the DVD Standing with Stones. I have used the ‘Truly Random Number Generator’ to virtually pull the names out of a hat and I have two winners, Antonia Malchik of Perceptive Travel and Maria of Fab Mums. I will [...]

Photo Friday: East meets West – Tai Chi at Urquhart Castle

Scottish Highlands, UK; June 2009

The setting: One of the farthest turrets of Urquhart Castle, a ruined medieval castle on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland.
The players: Two middle-aged Japanese tourists practise their Tai Chi in the summer sunshine, overlooking the sparkling blue waters of the loch. Nessie stayed at home.
It’s unlikely that the original [...]

Stone-age Orkney: Hobbit homes in the village of Skara Brae

See where the real-life Flintstones lived at the 5,000-year-old village of Skara Brae in the third and final post on stone-age Orkney. Plus, I am giving away two copies of the DVD Standing with Stones – for details on how to enter, please see the end of the post.

When the village of Skara Brae was [...]

Stone-age Orkney: Fairy Mounds and Maeshowe

Part two in my series on stone-age Orkney is on the neolithic burial chamber of Maeshowe.

Fairy Mounds feature heavily in the folk lore of Britain and Ireland. The mounds are believed to be the dwelling place of fairies (or faeries), elves or the sidhe. Fairy favour could bring prosperity and happiness but woe betide [...]

Photo Friday: Standing Pebbles in Orkney

Orkney; June 2009

My friend and I were sightseeing around mainland Orkney when we stumbled across this circle of Standing Stones – or rather, Standing Pebbles!
I don’t know who did this but it tickled my fancy as a joyful and creative response to the environment. I could imagine doing this with a child – but equally, [...]

Stone-age Orkney: Standing Stones and the Ring of Brodgar

Thousands of years ago in Britain people liked to erect giant stones in circles. Theories abound about how and why but no one is exactly sure. Was it religion? Was it science? Clearly it was a matter of some importance given that it would have taken considerable effort to achieve. Whatever the reason, the engineering [...]

Photo Friday: Hill walking in Scotland

Inveraray, Scotland; June 2009

The population density of the United Kingdom is one of the highest in the world – there are 61 million people packed into a rather small island. You wouldn’t know it in the hills of Scotland.
About five out of six people in Britain live in England and within England, the population is [...]

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