Newcastle upon Tyne

1 August 2010 00:34

At last, we managed to get away for a few days and we did actually do what we had planned to do for ages, which was to visit the north-east of England starting with Newcastle.

We each had one grandparent who was born in Newcastle, there has always been a lot of toing and froing between that area and Scotland. Men always had to go wherever the work was in the coal mining and shipbuilding industries. The men in our families were the shipbuilding type and ended up settling by the River Clyde near Glasgow and leaving the River Tyne behind.

There are actually four bridges in this photograph.

The Tay Railway Bridge

14 June 2010 08:17


We were in Dundee yesterday, so I thought I would take the chance to photograph the bridge, including the scary stumps of the old bridge. The one which collapsed in a very high wind over 100 years ago.

Looking down on the remains of the original bridge from a train is not a very pleasant experience. Luckily, if it is a nice bright day you will be distracted by the lovely view of the hills of Perthshire in the distance.

William Topaz McGonagall that eccentric Dundonian ‘poet’, famously wrote one of his truly dire poems about the incident.

As you can see there is work going on to the fabric of the bridge at the moment. The same can be said of just about every bridge that I’ve seen recently.

Falkland, Fife.

26 April 2010 10:24

The village of Falkland in Fife is dominated by the Royal Palace of Falkland.

My photo is a stitch of two because I couldn’t get the whole Palace into the one frame. Shame about the red car.

The village and Palace are well worth a visit if you are in the area. It’s stuffed full of ancient history but it also played a part in more recent times with The Chapel Royal being used by the Polish Airborne Forces during World War 2, when they were stationed nearby. They were allowed to use it as there wasn’t an ordinary Roman Catholic Church in the vicinity.

I really liked the royal (real) tennis court. It’s the oldest one in Britain and was built for James V in 1539. When we were there , a match was actually taking place. It is a sort of cross between tennis and squash.

An ancient street in Falkland

The village itself is very quaint and has a variety of interesting houses. Some of them are absolutely tiny but people are still living in them today. I think they were probably inhabited by weavers originally.

Doorway lintel, Falkland.

It was traditional to carve the initials of the original house owners as well as the date on the door lintel. This is known as a marriage lintel.

Gatehouse, Falkland estate.

Falkland Estate is on the outskirts of the village and has a very pretty gatehouse. As you can see there is a pond by the house. It’s usually full of ducks and moor hens but it was deserted when I took this photograph.

Stone bridge, Falkland estate

The lovely wee stone bridge just leads into a field. It crosses the burn (stream) which fills the pond. The burn continues its way from the pond and under the house. That is the one thing that puts me off the house. I would hate water running underneath my home, especially as it is a rushing torrent and noisy.

You can walk through the estate which has a very smart cricket pitch, which I think is probably a bit of a shock to English tourists, but cricket is actually quite popular in more rural areas. We’re just not very good at it.

Glasgow Scotland Street School

24 October 2009 21:21

We managed to fit in a visit to Glasgow just at the end of the school holidays here. My husband is a teacher so he will be back at the chalk face on Monday.

We drove over The Squinty Bridge for the first time. I really like it, I think it’s quite elegant. They’ve been doing some radical road tweaking recently (as usual) so it was all a bit confusing.

Day 330/366 - The Squinty Bridge

Eventually we got to our destination which was the Scotland Street School. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1905 and used as a primary school until 1979, it has now become a museum of education. The building is really stylish and very different from the very plain Victorian school which I went to.

It must have been nice to have some lovely coloured tiles and windows instead of the very utilitarian design of most schools.

They still had the belt (tawse) for punishment just like the rest of us, until it was banned in 1982 or thereabouts. They have one on show but I have one hanging up in my dining-room. It is quite a talking point as younger folk can’t believe that you could get ‘six of the best’ from such a heavy, thick strap of leather until fairly recently.

I can hardly believe it myself really, although I witnessed it plenty of times. I always managed to avoid it but lived in fear of it. Sometimes if a teacher couldn’t get someone to own up to a misdemeanour – the whole class ended up getting it.

Teachers must have had plenty of stamina then, anyway I digress.

If you are into Rennie Mackintosh architecture and design you will enjoy a visit to this school.

Perth, Scotland

14 October 2009 21:54

Had a nice day out in Perth yesterday. We visited the J.D. Fergusson Gallery which has a good exhibition of his art – as you would expect. They have hundreds of his little sketches, mainly from the 1910 era when he was in Paris. I love to see artists’ doodles. He really seemed to be able to capture whole personalities on wee scraps of paper.

Upstairs, the gallery has works by various Scottish colourist artists and by people who were influenced by them. Here are three by Fergusson himself.

Fergusson paintings

Fergusson paintings

These are by other artists.

Three non-Fergussons

Three non-Fergussons

If you’re interested in art and are in the vicinity of Perth then this gallery is definitely worth a visit. For some reason it isn’t advertised in The Guardian Guide under exhibitions, which I usually rely on to keep me informed of what is going on.

The building itself is an old converted water tower and it is nice that they have been able to convert it into a useful facility. Admission is free too, which is always nice.

If you are interested in The Colourists, you should try to get a look at the Scottish Colourists 1900 – 1930 by Philip Long.

Book cover

Book cover

As we were close to the river we went for a stroll along the embankment, which has been spruced up in recent years and has stylish metal gates leading on to the river steps.

Embankment gates

Embankment gates

Unfortunately, it was a bit of a grey day yesterday. The river Tay was about as placid as I have ever seen it though and old bridges always look good. Perth Bridge was built in 1755 so it’s looking pretty good for its age.

Bridge over Tay at Perth

Bridge over Tay at Perth

I reckon it will be another week or two before the trees really start changing colour though and then the whole of Perthshire is really worth a visit, just for that.

Riverbank trees and Church

Riverbank trees and Church

The River Forth

2 October 2009 23:26

I’ve been up to my ears in gloss paint for quite a while now. Our skirting boards are 12 inches high and it all takes a very long time, but I’d been putting it off for about 5 years and it couldn’t wait any longer.

So I was in desperate need of some fresh air after all that and took myself off for a walk by the River Forth at Dalgety Bay. The water was very placid but it was a wee bit misty, so not the best conditions for a photograph. As usual, parts of the Forth Bridge are swathed in plastic or something similar as the work continues – forever – so it would seem.

Edinburgh from Fife

Edinburgh from Fife

Forth Bridges from Dalgety Bay.

Forth Bridges from Dalgety Bay.

Forth Bridges towards Lothian

Forth Bridges towards Lothian

I’m not really a seaside person. I do like rivers, but the sort that run through the middle of an old town and have a lovely arched stone bridge going over them are more my cup of tea. Hills and lochs are really my thing.

Speaking of which, here is a photograph of the loch from Linlithgow Palace, where Mary Queen of Scots was born. It’s a lovely place to visit if you are into history. Beware of the hissing swans though.

Linthligow Loch

Linthligow Loch

In recent times Linlithgow has become famous as the supposed birthplace of Scottie, the chief engineer on Star Trek’s USS Enterprise. How mad is that?