Tag Archives: Scottish scenery

Balmerino, Fife, Scotland

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I was about 20 or 25 years behind everybody else where reading Rosamunde Pilcher is concerned as it was only last year when I got around to reading anything by her. If you’ve read her book September you might remember that the story is set in Scotland and the main characters are Lord and Lady Balmerino. At the time I thought that it was a made up name but since Duncan (eldest son) moved to Dundee we’ve been driving past a road sign which points the way to Balmerino Abbey and last Saturday we got around to visiting it. The photo below is the view on the way to the abbey.

Balmerino from the road above

It actually looks far more beautiful in real life, there aren’t many parts of Fife which are very scenic but this area in the north of Fife is not bad.

I loved this gateway, it’s all dry stone walling, no mortar involved and this is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Balmerino farmhouse gate

This Spanish chestnut tree is in the grounds of the ruined Balmerino Abbey. It has been tested and apparently it’s between 400 and 435 years old. You can see that some of the branches are being supported by massive metal poles, in the same way that the Birnam oaks are.

Spanish chestnut tree

On the left of this photo is part of the chapter house of the abbey and the huge cross is where the original altar was. Ermengarde de Beaumont founded the abbey and she is buried in front of the cross.

Chapter house at Balmerino

If you’re in the area it’s definitely worth a visit, Balmerino itself is very small but in a lovely setting by the banks of the Tay. It’s very remote though and you have to get into a car for the necessities of life as there are no shops, it would be about an eight mile round trip to buy a newspaper!

Seals and Swans in the Firth of Forth and River Leven.

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For the past few days it has been absolutely chucking it down over the whole of Scotland and Glasgow has had the most amount of rainfall there since records began – and if you know Glasgow at all you’ll realise how bad it has been! Lots of flooding all over the country but we’re fine here. I just wish someone up there would turn off the taps! To cheer myself up I’ve been having a look at some photos which I took a couple of weeks ago in the time of blue skies. This one is of the old bridge at Dumbarton on the River Leven and there is a swan with cygnets just going under the bridge. These swans went at quite a lick and I had to run to get this photo, not something I do often, I’m more a dignified walk sort of a person. The River Leven often has well over 100 swans floating around this area but most of them seemed to be elsewhere.

Swans in River Leven, Dumbarton

The Leven is just a wee river which flows into the River Clyde at Dumbarton Rock which you can see in this photo, but it’s still very dangerous and it seems that just about every summer some lads drown in it. They just want to have a lark but don’t realise how cold it is and it’s full of weeds which can fankle (entangle) you too.

Dumbarton Rock

I took this photo last week from the Fife coastal path at Kirkcaldy, just beyond Seafield Tower, walking towards Kinghorn. The rocks there are favourites with the seals and they were making themselves heard that day. Unearthly noises come from them at times, well they would be unearthly I suppose as they’re in the sea, but you know what I mean, positively eerie sounds.

Seals 3

I can quite see how the ancient sailors used to think that the seals were mermaids singing, especially when they hadn’t seen women for years!

Seals 1

I suppose it helped if they were in the water too rather than basking and looking enormously fat. It’s possible that some of these seals were about to give birth, maybe that’s what all the racket was about.

Seals 4

I can hardly believe that we had such lovely weather just last week. We seemed to be in a pattern of one lovely day followed by a wet one for a while but now it looks and feels like November and the schools are going back next week. That could be the cue for the sun to be splitting the pavements and a return of summer. Well maybe.

Rest and be Thankful

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At last we managed to get away to the west of Scotland, the Cowal Peninsula to be precise, which is just about an hour away from where we were brought up. As you can see it’s lovely there. It’s a very popular destination with tourists, apart from the fact that it is very scenic, there are also lots of things for you to do and visit, if you want to do more than just admire the scenery.

These photographs are of the Rest and be Thankful, a strange name for what is now really just a stopping/parking spot at the top of Glen Croe, which has a very steep climb to the top and if you were walking you would have to rest quite a few times before you reach it – and then be thankful you’d made it.

As you can see, there is a wee farm cottage right at the bottom. I don’t think I would like to live there, I imagine that when it is raining all the water is going to end up there. It must surely be damp.

This photograph is taken from the same place, different direction. I suppose the wee patch of water would be described as a lochan but compared with the many other lochs in the area it’s just a puddle. But the hills are lovely, especially when the sun shines on them.

Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond

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I was doing the ironing on Sunday afternoon which is the thing that I hate most housework wise, so I always have to have the TV on to try to ease the boredom of it all.

It was golf. The end of the Scottish Open to be precise which took place at Loch Lomond Golf Club. The best thing about it was the scenery, they showed some lovely views of Loch Lomond and as I was brought up within walking distance of the place, it didn’t half make me feel homesick.

So when we went to Glasgow the other day we just had to travel back to Fife via Dumbarton and Stirling, stopping off at Balloch on the way.

The place was empty of people even although it was a beautiful evening but I suppose if you have that on your doorstep you do take it for granted – I know I did. It was only 7 o’clock with hours of daylight still left, but nowhere was open to hire a boat or anything – strange.

I must admit it did look even better on TV, this is just a teeny wee bit of the loch with the mountain of Ben Lomond in the background.

There are plenty photographs of Loch Lomond here.