Traditions and travel

[Irish Rambler]

Bedrule is situated in the quiet countryside and consists of a row of ten cottages with other family farms and homes scattered around, a bucolic scene as far from war in the Mediterranean.
This highland cattle contentedly munching the sweet grass was our only companion to witness our visit.

 

[Irish Rambler]

From Bedrule its but a short car journey to Edinburgh, a key place in our journey planning.
Edinburgh is famous for many things, the home of Fettes college if your a Harry Potter fan, home also to the fringe festival and book fair but for me its crowning glory is the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
The word 'Tattoo' was taken from an old Dutch army tradition of a regiments drummers and buglers passing around a garrison town and playing the tune 'Tap den Toe', meaning publicans must stop serving soldiers and 'turn off the taps' so the soldiers would return to barracks.
The British plagiarised it and over time abbreviated it to 'Tattoo', originally there were two Tattoo's, one was held in earls court London and the second in Edinburgh.
The London venue, at which I was privileged to be a part of was dropped leaving Edinburgh to carry the flag.
As our seats were 'up in the gods' and the performance took place after dark I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos.
Its a great honour for a regiment to be invited and many countries have also been invited to attend as guests.
At this time of writing the Tattoo in all its pomp and glory is moving to Sydney, Australia to perform for our antipodean brethren.

Photos.
1, 2, 3, The Edinburgh castle arena, pregnant with anticipation.

4, Reception committee checking everything secure.

5, Royal Logistics corps guard of honour.

6,Welcoming the honoured guest Lord Roberts.

7,Grenadier guards bands marches on.

8, Director of music.

9, Grenadier guards entertain the audience.

10, Massed bands march on.

 

[Irish Rambler]

If you're ex military you'll understand just how many hours repetitive practice military perfectionism takes. If your a participant the sergeants have been know to 'blow a fuse' and refer to your educational standards and whether your mother knew your father if someone is too slow on the uptake.
In todays PC worlds lesser men would be a shivering wreck in tears, the true soldier simply ignores it and strives even harder to please.

Photo's.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Just look at that, sheer magic and the music was superb and enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention.

6,7, This is the Trinidad and Tobago defence force complete with tribal dancers, it was 'different'.

8, 9, the laser lighting effects were brilliant.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Stay with me and enjoy the spectacle.

Photos.
1, This is the Bundeswehr German army band.

2, German army 'Glockenspiel' soloist.

3,Super Laser lighting.

4, A steel drum band.

5,6,7,8, This is the French army band (no they weren't playing retreat) and they even brought along their own can-can girls. I'm not sure if it was part of the routine they flicked up their skirts and showed their derrieres or if it was in reference to Brexit !

9, The Scottish have it off to a fine art.

10, But not to be outdone they brought along their highland lassies.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The movie we took at the Edinburgh Tattoo was too large to upload on TF and in order for you to experience the music and pageantry I would respectfully ask you to go on to 'YouTube' and type in Edinburgh Tattoo 2019, sit back and enjoy.

Just a couple of bits about Scotland, never refer to the natives as Scotch, that's whisky. They are Scottish. The spelling of Scottish whisky is different to the Irish whiskey with no e in the word.
Traditionally men from the highlands wear the kilt, each kilt has its own distinctive pattern of the clan it represents.
A clan is anyone whose ancestors are from Scotland, for example those with family names like McCleod, Cameron, McDonald, some of my relatives are Gibson so not all Scottish names begin with Mc.
The full ceremonial kilt is wrapped around the body and tied off over the shoulder, the shorter skirt type was actually invented by an Englishman as the traditional type was a hazard when working the weaving looms.
The soldiers kilt was sometimes removed and cast over the prone soldier in ancient times as camouflage when hiding in the heather.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Moored in Edinburgh's Leith docks is the Royal yacht Britannia, this was used to transport her majesty Queen Elizabeth around the world on official visits. As the ship was getting older her running costs were growing and so she was retired and is now a major tourist attraction.
Here are some photo's from our visit.

1,The original Royal Yacht Britannia.

2, Model of the one we visited, apologies for the quality of photo's but the glass casing reflects the ambient light.

3, Coxswains post.

4,Royal Marines uniforms, a detachment of Royal Marines were stationed on HMRY Britannia for both security and ceremonial duties.

5, Self explanatory.

6,View from the quayside.

7, Looking aft from the bridge wing.

8,9, visitors on the bridge.

10, Looking for'ard to the bow.

 

[Irish Rambler]

I just know you want to peek inside so here we go.

1, Flag locker.

2, Flag codes, but you knew them anyway didn't you ?

3,Informal dining table.

4,Captains cabin.

5, Self explanatory.

6, This Land Rover was stowed on board and used by her majesty and Prince Phillip on visits ashore.

7, Sitting room.

8, The ships bell, the only rope on a ship is that which rings the bell, all others are called lines.

9, Her majesty could track the ships compass course on this.

Prince Phillips yacht where he could sail and relax away from Royal duties.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just a few more pics of the visit.

1, Up until the late 70's the Royal Navy personnel were entitled to a 'tot' of 70% strength rum everyday. The ships purser issued this and the rum became known as 'Pusser's' rum, each mans 'tot' was taken by a ladle from this barrel, when the toast was drunk the sailor would quote the blessing you see on the barrel.
Although the Royal Navy has long since stopped issuing rum you can still buy it today in 40% strength.
An excellent rum if you haven't already tried it.

2, Prince Phillips bed.

3, The queens bed.

4, This bed was slept in by Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their honeymoon.

5,Ships officers bar and lounge.

6,Ships officers dining room.

7,One of Lord Nelsons tunic buttons.

8,Formal dining room.

9,Family photo's.

10, The Royal Rolls Royce, it was hoisted aboard and each time it was stored the bumpers had to be removed for it to fit in its 'garage' on board Britannia.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The modern capital of Edinburgh, known as 'The Granite City' because of the granite stone used in the contruction lies on the Southern side of an inlet called the Firth of Forth, on the Northern side lies the ancient capital of Dunfermline.
Large bridges facilitate the crossing and none more famous than the Firth of Forth rail bridge which was built in 1886.
For many years the legend was that 3 painters were permanently employed, starting at one end and once finished, begin all over again back where they started.
Nowadays modern higher quality paints mean that its now done every ten years.
Beside it a road bridge was built which carried vehicular traffic and a further modern suspension bridge has recently eased the bottlenecks of modern traffic flows.

Photo's.
1, The distinctive shape of the Forth rail bridge. In the foreground is the Kincardine road bridge which is restricted now to buses.

2, The modern suspension bridge now carries vehicular traffic.

3, In the distance on the Northern side of the Firth of Firth lies the naval dockyard in which Great Britain's second aircraft carrier is being built.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Dunfermline on the northern side of the Firth of Forth was the ancient capital of Scotland and here in the abbey lie the remains of Robert the Bruce, known as King Robert.
Maybe you've heard the song
'Speed bonny boat like a bird on the wing, o'er the sea to Skye'.
Carry the lad who's soon to be king, o'er the sea to Skye'.
This refers to when Scotland and England were at war, Robert was defeated and the English united the kingdom. Anyway history is always complicated so I'll stick to our visit and avoid raking up old sores ,.

Photo's.
1,Dunfermline abbey.

2,3,4. Abbey tower,

 

[Irish Rambler]

Dunfermline's Royal connections.

Photo's.
1,2, Self explanatory.

3,5, Ruins of Dunfermline Palace.

4, Garden of peace in the palace grounds.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Carnegie Hall ring a bell ? Carnegie Library ?

What's it got to do with Scotland ?

Photo's.
1, Andrew Carnegie's birthplace in Dunfermline.

The rest are self explanatory.

Apologies for the turned photo, the Gremlins struck again !

 

[Irish Rambler]

Having trouble with photo's, I turn them, save them and upload them and the darn things still come out turned. Give me my toolbox any day. .

Photo's.
1, Communal sink known as a Jawbox. You need to be of a certain vintage to remember them. Yes I am.

2, Explanation.

3, Work place.

4, As explained.

5, Family general purpose/dining table.

6, Known as the 'hearth' or 'grate', used for cooking/heating water, these fires were rarely out and burned all year round. Usually there was an oven on one side and a boiler on the other. These were 'banked up' at night so they were barely lit (we used ours during the winter nights to keep sick animals warm while nursing them back to health). In the morning the fire was stirred back up into life with a poker (small iron rod) to make breakfast.

7,Family beds, the curtains were drawn for privacy and to keep the heat in.

8,9,10. Self explanatory.

 

[Irish Rambler]

More on Andrew Carnegie.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Andrew Carnegies Trust to date has opened 2,811 libraries around the world as well as many other projects to benefit mankind.
His investments in the Carnegie trust today makes 10 dollars every second.

Photo 3 was spoiled by flash, 4 reads better.
Many of the plaques and exhibits are in glass cases so please bear with me, I'm neither a professional photographer nor IT guru.

 

[Irish Rambler]

In post 130 I referred to the Isle of Skye.
Would you like to come with us on a trip o'er the sea to Skye ?

Photo's.
1, If you click on the photo it will expand, the blue line marks our trip to the Isle of Skye starting in Edinburgh. On a cruising note, in a previous life for my summer holidays I cruised solo up around these Western Isles of Scotland in a single engined Birchwood 33' to hone my navigation skills.

2,3 To get you in the mood.

4, It's nice to look at but it can be pretty bleak in the winter. It doesn't get light here until around 10 am in the winter and dark again by 4 pm which is why the clocks change in Britain to daylight saving time to give farmers more light.

5,We took the tour with this bus company and had the benefit of our knowledgeable guide.

6,7. Around 12 degrees Celsius, beautiful but overcast and misty verging on rain. Coming from our home in the South of France where it was 35 degrees it was only natural we started sniffing and took a cold.

 

[Irish Rambler]

During WW2 when Britain suffered defeat by the Germans at Dunkirk Winston Churchill said that 'We may be down but we will not be conquered'.

While the main armed forces were being retrained and rebuilt he wanted the Germans to be attacked at every opportunity wherever possible by small raiding forces.
He enlisted Lord Lovat who suggested that he formed a seaborne raiding force of Commando's.
These men would be highly trained for lightning seaborne attacks against strategic targets.
The 45 Commando regiment was formed and is still very much in action today (it's men recently seized the Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar) it's higher echelon SBS (Special Boat Squadron) works alongside Britain's other special forces the SAS around the world when called upon.

During WW2 their training area was here on the Isle of Skye, away from prying eyes.

Photo's.
1, 2, The Commando memorial on the Isle of Skye.

3,4,5, Remembrance day wreaths around the memorial base.

6, A place to sit, reflect and remember.

7, Memorial plaques to honour the fallen.

8, Together again.

'The people of Great Britain sleep safe in their beds because brave men do dark deeds in the night'.
Winston Churchill.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Our visit to the Isle of Skye covers many aspects of Scottish history not least, the Caledonian canal.
As you can see by the photo's the approaching hotel barge passes through the locks with its American and Canadian visitors aboard..

Photo 5 is an old capstan for operating the lock gates, these are now hydraulically operated.
The rest are self explanatory.

 

[Irish Rambler]

We passed over the Caledonian canal on the first day of our tour of the Isle of Skye and I'll come back on to it with a full description in a later post with facts, figures and hire boat company's otherwise it will throw things out of sequence.

We arrived on the island of Skye by passing over a road bridge, before the bridge the ferry cost £50 each way per bus to cross.
The bridge cost the UK government 28 million to build and a small toll was to be paid, all the equipment was installed, then the Scottish nationalist party got elected, they abolished all road tolls and the toll equipment had to be scrapped.
The SNP sold the debt of 28 million to a Japanese company, the SNP got voted out and the British government had to buy back the debt for 35 million.

If politicians brains were made of dynamite they wouldn't have enough to lift their cap !

Photo's.
1, Fuel prices here on Skye are in £ sterling and about 8 pence a litre more expensive than the mainland supermarkets.

2, Eilean Donnan castle home of the Clan McCrea.

3, 4, The white you sea on the shore is old washed up fishing net, a nightmare to our propellers.

5, Some visitors were not always welcome.

6,Lt Colonel John McCrae, soldier, physician and poet.

7, 8, 9, 10. If you think this is just about Scotland think again, honourable men came from all corners of the globe to answer to the call of arms.

You can read the full version of John McCrae's poem and see the memorial at Ypres if you enter the book name 'Windmills and Wine' by Geoff Woolley on Amazon available as a paperback or e book if you're a Kindle reader.

 

[Irish Rambler]

All these castles were built of stone and occupied strategic positions for defence from marauders, there was always inter clan spats over land, cattle and ladies, initially the 'foreign' invaders were Vikings later followed by the English.
Cool in the summer with turf and log heating and thick walls to absorb and retain the heat they could be habitable enough in winter.

Photo's.
1,2,3, Origins of Eilean Donnan.

4,5 Self explanatory.

6, Beautiful view but water borne raiders could be spotted easily from the battlements.

7, The most efficient fishermen.

8, Game was caught and 'hung' to tenderize the meat before cooking, Rabbits, Hares, Pheasant, Grouse, Geese and Puffins were all part of the diet.

9,Explanatory.

10, A wooden Jaw box sink.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just a few more pics before we leave the home of the McCrea clan, Eilean Donnan.

Photo's.
1, Downstairs staff. Oops don't drop the pots !

2, Preparation table.

3, Large hearth to cater for healthy appetites.

4,Pastry preparation.

5, This is the windlass that would life the iron portcullis grill to allow access to the castle.

6, Collection of arms and a bagpipe with the McCrea tartan.
A bagpipe was made by slaughtering a goat and drawing all through the neck, after the skin was prepared a drone would be attached to each leg opening, the chanter (flute type keys) would be attached to the neck and guess where the player has to blow ?

7, The Isle of Skye road bridge that mentally challenged politicians wasted 7 million pounds of taxpayers money on.

 

[Irish Rambler]

We stayed a night at Portree with its sheltered harbour.
Portree is a lovely small town on the Isle of Skye but with the massive influx of tourists the prices in restaurants have crept up and are now verging on rip off, so beware.

Photo's.
1, 2, 4, Peaceful harbour scene.

3, This is a RNLI Royal National Lifeboat Institute rescue craft, these are based at strategic locations around the coast. The RNLI is totally funded by voluntary contributions and its member only get paid if they get a 'shout' (take part in a rescue).

5, All that water's gotta come from somewhere, if you think of visiting Scotland its prudent to pack wet weather gear.

 

[FoxtrotCharlie]

Good stuff - keep it coming

 

[Irish Rambler]

Dunveggan Castle, family seat of the Macleod clan.

Photo's.
1,Imposing façade.

2, Rather grand entrance.

3, The current chief of the clan lives and works in London most of the time with occasional visits to his clan seat, tourist entrance fees pay for the staff and the castles maintenance.

4, The history.

5, 6 A locomotive was named after the clan.

7,8,9 All rather grand as long as your the chief.

10. The family silver.

 

[BruceK]

Geoff, Did your travels take you to Oban? I remember the Distillery in the centre of town,excellent generous fish n chips, and sturdy Caledonian ferries coming and going. We took a return ferry ride to an outer island, not sure which now, to try the ferries. Unless confused, I recall a wedding at a Hotel, guests (the male ones) in full Scottish dress, kilts etc. And a West Highland Terrier checking into a hotel, receptionist remarking " I like a Westie with attitude".(Here a "westie" is a person from the outer western suburbs, not a term of endearment).

 

[Irish Rambler]

Thank you FC, we aim to please.
As you know there are many people of Scottish descent around the English speaking world who never get the chance to travel and see their roots and traditions, we're hoping they will appreciate our efforts.

G'day Bruce, I've been to Oban in an earlier life when I cruised up around the West coast and islands for my summer holidays. It was a bit of a palaver, I trucked the boat up from Lough Erne to Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland with one of our trucks at the weekend, craned her in and then cruised over the Irish sea. After my 10 days hols I left her here, hopped a ferry/flight back to work until the following weekend. Super cruising but challenging with tides, hazards.
As you already know that in conventional families its tradition to wear the full highland dress, not just for hatches matches and despatches but other gatherings too. Highlanders wear the kilts and lowlanders tend to wear the trews.
Everywhere you go there are distilleries each claiming to be the best of course. The inter-island ferries are run by Caledonian-McBrayne and subsidised by the government.
I'll be touching on that shortly in the following posts.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Bearing in mind Bruce's wise words remember that some words of mine may give the wrong connotations where you live.

Photo's.
1, Right here in the wilds of the Isle of Skye families were touched by the war, at least their loved ones were brought home to lie in peace.

2,3, This is a monument to Flora McDonald who was Bonnie Prince Charlie's 'companion'. When trying to escape the English redcoats she dressed him up in women's clothes but had to admonish him for 'walking like a man' in case he gave the game away.

4, Here in Scotland when a couple marry the lady adopts the mans name during the marriage, when they 'pass on' and are buried together the lady then reverts back to her maiden clans name on the memorial headstone.

5,An old fashioned stile.

6,This old bothy museum is about as remote from the tourist track as can be but apparently stays in business.
Note the ropes over the thatch with rocks tied on the end around the edge of the roof, they keep the thatch on during storms on this exposed island.

7, McDonalds here DON'T serve hamburgers !

8, This waterfall would have made a nice photo but for the rain.

9. Our return journey from Skye to the mainland was by ferry, the sailing was delayed due to a neap tide and force 5 storm.

10, Our ferry was like an overgrown landing craft and the crossing was very rough. Being a neap tide the skipper guided us through rocky shoals with uncanny precision born of years experience.
Because of the weather we weren't allowed out on deck so no photo's I'm afraid.

The larger CalMac ferry in the photo was kept in port until the weather eased later in the day.
Caledonian McBrayne (known locally as CalMac) have the government contract for all Scottish inter island ferries as I explained earlier.
Recently they wished to have two new modern ferries built and being government subsidised they had to touch their forelock to the government ministers, despite the experience of the ferry company and its marine engineers the ministers insisted that the new ferries were powered by dual fuel, diesel and natural gas.
Because of the constant government ministers interference on having a 'green' ferry the contract price went from 95 million each up to 130 million.
The company, (Ferguson shipbuilders) went bankrupt, which meant the government had to take over the shipyard to complete the ferries.
There's no natural gas where the ferries operate and no plans to install any storage or refuelling facilities for the vessels.
Politicians should all be drawn from experienced business backgrounds because the gobshites (Scottish endearment) are a waste of oxygen.

 

[Irish Rambler]

After our 'lively' crossing where some passenger resorted to multi-coloured yawns we arrived in Mallaig on the mainland.

Photo's.
1,Passengers were restricted to this side passage during the ferry crossing.

2, Island ferry timetable.

3,You can see the landing ramp folded back just in front of the minibus.

4, Just below the radar is the maroon coloured wing bridge where the captain skippered the ferry.

5, Going up the concrete ramp.

6, This is a Spanish fishing vessel.
British fishermen are up in arms that other EU trawlers can come and fish in British territorial waters and are not policed.
The once rich fish stocks have been decimated and Britain is in a ludicrous position that it now has to import fish caught in its own waters by French, Spanish, Dutch and Portugese while it own vessels are restricted by quota's and the types of fish they can catch.
This is one of the major reasons for Brexit.

7, British trawlers not allowed to fish over their quota must sit and watch while others fish unhindered.

8, The neap tide gives these lads time beach their boat and repair the rudder.

9, This Spanish wooden trawler also needs some repairs.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Eat your heart out Harry Potter fans ?
One of the reasons in our planning was to catch a ride on the Jacobite express.

Photo's.
1, The Jacobite rain arriving in Mallaig.

2, Interior of the 1st class carriage which will be familiar to Harry Potter fans.

3, 2nd class carriage.

4,5, Scenic route as we travel on the Jacobite.

6,7, Here's the Glenfinnan viaduct you'll be familiar with.

8, The Jacobite is more highly polished than many family cars.

9, Makers name plate.

10, Arrived at our destination in Fort William, admiring the engine.

 

[Irish Rambler]

I mentioned that Harry Potters train ran from Mallaig to Fort William.
As we left the train station in Fort William and boarded the bus we went whizzing past Neptune's stair case on the Caledonian canal, I was hoping we'd get a chance to look at it as we passed.
Plan B, We left Edinburgh and drove North to Inverness which is as far North as we plan to go, from there we'll do the touristy bit.

Photo's
1, Our route to Inverness via Bedrule beside Jedburgh, Edinburgh, just north of there to Dunfermline to Inverness. The black line is our route alongside the Caledonian canal.

2, Hotel Barge approaching the locks at Spean bridge.

3, She has American and Canadian guests on board who would pay up to 3k £ sterling per person per week.

4, Plenty of 'Gongoozlers' to watch her locking through.

5, As you can see the road swing bridge is closing after this catamaran.

6, An old fashioned capstan once used to operate the lock gates.

7, Lock keepers control box.

8, What flag is this ?

9. Thomas Telford the canals engineer.