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OLD NAKED PHOTO ALBUM PAGE: HOLIDAYS NORTH OF THE BORDER
This page has some pictures of, and from, Scotland:
Home of the Brave and the Spurtal. Birthplace of Sean Connery and deep fried Mars Bars...
• Grave thoughts. It was outside of Fort William I think that we spied this very photogenic and full on Hammer Horror graveyard.
• This is the most beautiful place on Earth. End of discussion.
• I wanted to drive the perilous road across the Applecross (not a very Scottish name, to my mind) peninsula. And so I did. That's FREEDOM at work!
• Feeling a bit pooped a mere 1,300 feet up Ben Nevis. Only another 3,000 feet to go.... No, I didn't manage it!
• While on Ben Nevis I passed this waterfall, where I could be seen looking much happier.
• As far north as I've ever been, and maybe ever will be. I strike a pose at the end of the quay at John o'Groats. See also my 'further north' Norway page.
• I relax in a wooly jumper next to the famous sign-post in John o'Groats. Compare with my trip in October 2002 when I visited Land's End in a thin shirt.
• The Wallace Monument beyond Stirling Bridge - where many Englishmen were slaughtered by a much smaller force of Scots in 1297, a plaque happily relates.
• Passing point and loch somewhere remote in the Highlands. Note the very Scottish weather.
• Ben Nevis lost in clouds beyond the churchyard outside Fort William which I also visited in 1999. See the picture above!
• Monument to David Stirling, founder of the SAS, beside the road from Stirling to Doune at sunset.
• Me with the famous Coconuts at Castle Anthrax (also known as Doune Castle) where many scenes for Monty Python and the Holy Grail were filmed.
• Doune Castle near Stirling. It's quite nice.
You want more about my Grand Scottish Adventure? I covered a total of 1,386.7 miles at an average of 51.3 MPH and 21.7 MPG. That's 63.7 gallons of fuel at about 77p per litre. I'll do the maths for you: £223 worth of petrol in 79 hours! That's an actual average speed of 17.6 MPH, day and night, over the four days of my trip... Want something a little more visual? Then click a link below for a video clip or two, or more.
• A video of me feeling the effects of The Falls of Foyers beside Loch Ness. (1Mb / 9 second / MPEG)
• A 888Kb / 70 second WMV video of John o'Groats. Discover how moved I was by being so far North.
• Me being (coco)nutty in Monty Python's footsteps at Castle Anthrax/Doune. (528Kb / 40 second / WMV)
• A 5.97Mb / 81 second MPG video of me bottling on Ben Nevis. Or click here for a little 538Kb .WMV file.
• A 2.82Mb / 39 second MPG video of me philosophising at around 2,000 feet on the way back down Ben Nevis.
• A 6Mb / 83 second MPG file of Doune Castle, where The Holy Grail was filmed, or here for a small WMV file.
Many more videos from Scotland are available on the VIDEORAMASCOPE page.
A picture of my visit to Scotland also appears on this site about the crazed visitors to Doune Castle.
Scotland 2005. Ben Nevis, The Wicker Man, Glasgow (ugly) and Edinburgh (lovely):
• On the way into Scotland I stopped off at this famous (and rather cheesey) location.
Climbing Ben Nevis. June 25th 2005.
• Before Ben Nevis. Note the pirate's hat and my dangerously wide smile.
• Curly became the UK's highest bear on this trip. Given he'd been carried up, he doesn't look that happy about it. [More Bears]
• Ben Nevis is tall. Very tall. This is me looking mildly pooped at the top.
• Snowy on top of Ben Nevis. No, not Tintin's dog...
• Beside the UKs highest Trig Point. Having failed to reach much beyond 3,000ft here in 2003, this felt good!
• The climb, as a height and distance chart.
• The climb, as a map of the route.
• After Ben Nevis. Note our collective look of 'I'm glad that's over!'.
Visiting the locations used for the filming of The Wicker Man.
• Plockton, where the opening scenes of the village were filmed. Note the palm trees.
• A closer view of the Plockton Hotel. It's seen a couple of times in 'TWM'.
• The Harbour Master's House, where Edward Woodward as Sargent Howie first lands on the 'island'. Plockton's not on an island, you see. Other than the UK...
• May Morrison's shop in Kirkcudbright, now an art gallery/shop near the police office.
• The bar of the Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown was used as The Green Man pub interior.
• Estate offices near The Mason's Arms in Gatehouse of Fleet used as The Green Man pub exterior.
• Anwoth Old Kirk was where the graveyard and school scenes were filmed.
• The school really was a school.
• Classic view of a monument the churchyard. Or should I say graveyard?
• Castle Kennedy was used for the 'jumping over the fire' dance and the procession scenes towards the end of the film. No standing stones though!
• The "We carry death out of the village" and library scenes were filmed at the library, built in 1911, is on the main road in Whithorn.
• St.Ninian's Cave on Burrow Head were used for the final scenes of the film.
• The Wicker Man's Legs still standing below a remote and windy caravan park.
• Sunset over Burrow Head. 22nd of June 2005. The day before my father died. Sad, but true.
Other Scottish snaps.
• PS at AE. I visited the UK's shortest named place. It wasn't all that.
• At a little tower castle I stopped to have a look around, and almost missed this 'cellar' room.
• Ahaaar, me hearties! Feeling very much like 'Capt'n Paul', even though I was on dry land.
• The Museaum of Modern Art in Glasgow. I loved the addition of traffic cones to the statue outside.
• Castle Stalker was used as Castle Aaargh! towards the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• The view from McCaig's Folly above Oban. A really lovely little town.
• Eilean Donan castle, one of the most famouse in Scotland.
• A view of Edinburgh castle where a military tattoo is held yearly.
• Another view of the castle. I have to say, I thought Edinburgh was beautiful.
• The Glenfinnan Monument to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
• World's End Close. A place name, or a warning?
• Applecross, 2005. I paused for this photo on my way beck from hiding a geocache at the top of the pass.
• The Gateshead Flasher - also known as The Angel of the North, which I saw on my way home.
• A detail shot of this giant Anthony Gormley sculpture in Northumberland.
• A 8.7Mb / 55 second MPG file of my climb up and down Ben Nevis or here for a smaller 705Kb WMV version.
Many more videos from Scotland are available on the VIDEORAMASCOPE page.