Scotland

West Coast of Scotland

From Glasgow we drove to the Kintyre Peninsula. It is a beautiful out of the way area with miles and miles of coastline. From there we drove north to Oban, then down through the middle of Scotland on our way back to England. We saw fabulous fall color and experienced cold, wet Scottish weather.

Kintyre Peninsula

Tarbert, Scotland - A small fishing village on the north end of Kintyre Peninsula

Tarbert parish church

Stained glass window in the church.

Tarbert Castle ruins dating back to the 13th century.

Tarbert Harbour - The two boats in the foreground are Loch Fyne Skiffs named "Wee Dooker" and "Iolair". They look a little neglected but the town still uses them.

Campbeltown, Scotland - A town on the far end of Kintyre Peninsula. It is known for Scotch whiskey production and shipbuilding.

Florist shop in Campbeltown. What a great store front.

Linda McCartney Memorial Garden - Paul and Linda McCartney spent a lot of time in Campbeltown before she died. They owned a large farm in the area.

One of the best sunsets of our trip. This was our view while eating dinner. We stayed in this campground for two nights. Our parking spot was about 10 feet from the beach. Both nights we had fabulous sunsets.

Oban, Scotland - a resort town on the Firth of Lorn

View of the port of Oban from McCraig's Tower

View of the waterfront and McCraig's Tower on the hill top.

Corran Esplande - right on the waterfront. The buildings are small hotels and B & B's.

View of Dunollie Castle from the waterfront in Oban.

McCraig's Tower - It sits on a hill top overlooking Oban, the bay, and the islands beyond.

Yard art!

Falls of Dochart in Killin, Scotland

Fall color on the River Dochart

Falls of Dochart - one of Scotland's most impressive waterfalls.

River Dochart flowing under one of the channels of the Bridge of Dochart.

Fall color reflected on a calm lake along the road. We are heading back to England.

Scotland

Glasgow and Stirling Scotland

Glasgow - We only spent two days in Glasgow, but easily could have spent a week. Glasgow is a wonderful city. There are very old parts and very modern areas. The transportation is good with lots of walking paths and pedestrian streets in the downtown area. The first day we visited a couple of museums because it was pouring down rain. The second day we walked along the River Clyde.

The Riverside Museum - The museum houses the city's transportation collection. The building is very unusual. Also the way the collection is displayed is very different. The tall ship Glentee is reflected in the windows. It is also part of the museum.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - One of the six cars built for the movie of the same name.

A male ship's figurehead. 

Selfie - Bill and Patti in Glasgow.

Glasgow Science Centre

Imax Theater at the Glasgow Science Centre

Clyde Auditorium also known as "The Armadillo".

Clyde Arc - A bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow.

Stirling - Stirling is a busy college town. Stirling Castle sits on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful old town. Wallace monument sits on top of another nearby hill. We visited both the castle and the monument.

Castle entrance and the Palace from Queen Anne Garden.

Another view of the Palace and Quenn Anne Garden.

Outer defense wall of the castle.

The Great Hall. King Bill is seated on the dais.

Shirling Heads ceiling in the palace.

A Shirling Head in the Shirling Head Gallery. The gallery has many of the surviving pieces after the original ceiling collapsed in 1777.

Fireplace in the Queen's Inner Hall of the palace.

One of the seven new tapestries created for the Queen's Inner Hall. The tapestries are based on the Hunt of the Unicorn.

View from Stirling Castle toward Wallace Monument.

Wallace Monument

To get to the top of the monument you climb 246 steps in a tight spiral staircase. Thank goodness there are three levels to stop and view displays. The spiral staircase is so tight you get dizzy climbing up and down.

View from the top of Wallace Monument. Rain squalls kept passing through while we were on top and the wind was howling. In spite of the bad weather we watched the college crew boats working out on the River Forth.

England

Hiking in Northern England

Wet Sleddale

Wet Sleddale is a reservor near Shap, Cumbria, England. Our park4night spot was a trailhead parking area next to the lake. 

We went for a walk in the morning. The trail wonders through pastures surrounded with stone fences.

An old stone bridge crossing a stream.

A rare sight in England - a barb wire fence.

Shap Abby - near Shap, Cumbria, England

View of Shap Abby. When we hiked the Coast to Coast trail in 1995 we walked through here.

The abby was built in the 1200's. Now they are working on preserving what remains.

More of Shap Abby.

The road to Shap Abby. This is a typical road country road in England, just wide enough for the Sprinter to drive down. This was one of the best ones we drove down, you could see vehicles heading toward you. Most of the roads have high hedges or trees blocking your view ahead.

Sheep at the local farm auction.

Keld to Tan Hill on the Pennine Way, Yorkshire, England

Keld, England

The village greeters. The brown chicken was especially friendly, she just wanted to be petted. I have never seen a chicken so friendly.

More village inhabitants. These guys were curious but very timid.

The trail followed the river for about a mile.

We started the day hoping the sun would come out, but this was all we got.

Heading into the clouds. The rest of the day it poured down rain.

Vindolanda - an ancient Roman Fort

View of Vindolanda. The fort is only partially excavated. Each year they do a little more.

More of Vindolanda.

More of the buildings that have been excavated at Vindolanda. There is a wonderful museun on site that displays some of the items they have found.

Hadrian's Wall - 

It was built by the Romans in AD122 and is 73 miles long. We hiked along the wall from Cawfield Quarry to Once Brewed and back. The wall is amazing.

View of the wall looking toward Cawfield Quarry.

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall - It goes on and on.