Fancy, old churches

Perhaps ‘churches’ isn’t quite the right word – one is a chapel and two are cathedrals. But the three buildings that I show you here are quite fancy and admirable.

At Orkney there was an Italian chapel, which was built by and for the Italian prisoners of war during World War 2. The walls on the inside are beautifully painted – they couldn’t use real bricks, so they painted the walls to make it look like they used brick!

St Magnus Cathedral was also at Orkney, in Kirkwall the main town. It has a lot of history (google it if you want the details!)

You don’t normally associate the skull and crossbones imagery with churches, but here in St Magnus Cathedral is a memorial stone for some people who died. There were many such memorial stones throughout the building.

Lovely stained-glass window:

Another cathedral that I saw was Dunkeld Cathedral. It is on the mainland of Scotland, not at Orkney like the other two were. It has also had a long history.

Stained-glass at Dunkeld Cathedral:

A real pipe organ. No-one was playing it when we were there, but I think they are amazing instruments, they make loud music without the use of electronics or speakers.

MacKay land

On my trip to the north of Scotland, we travelled through Clan MacKay land, which is in the Sutherland area of north west Scotland. In Australia, we hear a lot about traditional land-owners, so I was pleased to see the land of which I can claim to be a ‘traditional land-owner’ (my great grand-father and generations before him lived there). Of course I don’t have a claim to a single piece of this land and traditional land-owner rights aren’t recognised in Scotland because the history of change in ownership is different. Anyway, here are some photos of me and the scenes of ‘MY’ land.

Me with ‘my’ traditional country behind me:

“Welcome to MacKay country”

Birds, whales and animals

Here are a few of the birds, whales and animals that I saw in Scotland.

Puffins

Killer whales/orcas

Lovely white sheep

Dark sheep

Big cows

Deer (sorry, not the best photo)

Squirrel

Sunny photos!

Scotland’s not been having a great summer this year, but I did manage to find some sunny moments when I was there. Here are some of them.

Loch Ness. Yes there are clouds too, but you can see the sun reflecting on the water.

An almost cloudless sky – at Orkney.

Also at Orkney.

Orkney.

Orkney again.

My ancestral ground – MacKay country in the far north of Scotland.

When this photo was taken it was so sunny that I have a shadow, and it was warm enough for me to have bare arms!

Blue sky at St Andrews.

Buildings and castles

In my travels around Scotland, I saw various buildings and castles. Some are ruins and some are still used today. I share some of my photos of them with you in this post.

Doune Castle

Dunrobin Castle

Next to Dunrobin Castle

Earl Robert’s Palace in Birsay (Orkney)

The Earl’s Palace, in Kirkwall, Orkney

Cool spiral staircase in The Earl’s Palace

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Glasgow University in the background

Normal buildings in a street in Glasgow

First glimpses of Scotland

When I flew into Scotland, we were above the clouds, so it wasn’t until we got low enough below the clouds as we were arriving that I caught my first glimpses of Scotland on this trip, and obviously I saw a lot more in the ensuing two weeks! Anyway, here are just a few of the photos I took from the plane as we were coming in to land. I wish I could tell you what little villages or townships we can see in the photos, but I don’t know either!

Fanshawe Pioneer Village

Another interesting thing that I did while I was in Canada was visit Fanshawe Pioneer Village. It shows you how the pioneer settlers to Canada lived in the earlier years. Many of the buildings were originals which have been moved to this location for the display. Here are some of the photos I took.

A house:

A classroom:

Purple Hill Loyal Orange Lodge, complete with orange trimmings and lilies.

A loom place:

There was a printing press building which had the blocks that they used to use for printing. Here is an example of a what’s-it-called with the blocks in it ready for printing.

Lastly, better not be naughty, or you might end up in the stocks!