Convoy Over

The fleet was in at Fraserburgh....



You can just about see the seal in the smaller basin.....



Moved onto the Granite City and wildcamped on the esplanade, here is a pic of the Mercat Cross (17th. century) which stands in the Market Square of Aberdeen, has carvings of Scottish rulers etc., think thats Charles ! at front...



Many large supply ships in port...



Left there to follow the Dee valley west......





....Alec....

Longest ever convoy! About 6 weeks.

Good to see you are doing some of those bits of Scotland that get missed like Aberdeen.

Watch it u after September u may not get in to bonnie Scotland hahaha , anyway yr jealous cos Angie won't let u go why don't u go on the sick hahahahahahah

There's a whiskey called the Kenmore I think... great pics of the waterfalls and the tombstones too!

Just took another look at Pennan, it doesn't look too bad. I'm not so much into the touristy places. A nice beach and a pint is all one needs really.

A wee poem in celebration of your Scottish travels

To Exiles

Are you not weary in your distant places,
Far, far from Scotland of the mist and storm,
In drowsy airs, the sun-smite on your faces,
The days so long and warm?
When all around you lie the strange fields sleeping,
The dreary woods where no fond memories roam,
Do not your sad hearts over seas come leaping
To the highlands and the lowlands of your Home?

Wild cries the Winter, loud through all our valleys:
The midnights roar, the grey noons echo back;
Round steep storm-bitten coasts the eager galleys
Beat for kind harbours from horizons black;
We tread the miry roads, the rain-drenched heather,
We are the men, we battle, we endure!
God's pity for you people in your weather
Of swooning winds, calm seas, and skies demure!

Wild cries the Winter, and we walk song-haunted
Over the moors and by the thundering falls,
Or where the dirge of a brave past is chaunted
In dolorous dusks by immemorial walls.
Though rains may thrash on us, the great mists blind us,
And lightning rend the pine-tree on the hill,
Yet we are strong, yet shall the morning find us
Children of tempest all unshaken still.

We wander where the little grey towns cluster
Deep in the hills, or selvedging the sea,
By farm-lands lone, by woods where wildfowl muster
To shelter from the day’s inclemency;
And night will come, and then far through the darkling,
A light will shine out in the sounding glen,
And it will mind us of some fond eye’s sparkling,
And we’ll be happy then.

Let torrents pour then, let the great winds rally,
Snow-silence fall, or lightning blast the pine;
That light of Home shines warmly in the valley,
And, exiled son of Scotland, it is thine.
Far have you wandered over seas of longing,
And now you drowse, and now you well may weep,
When all the recollections come a-thronging
Of this rude country where your fathers sleep.

They sleep, but still the hearth is warmly glowing,
While the wild Winter blusters round their land:
That light of Home, the wind so bitter blowing -
Do they not haunt your dreams on alien strand?
Love, strength, and tempest - oh, come back and share them!
Here’s the old cottage, here the open door;
Fond are our hearts although we do not bare them, -
They're yours, and you are ours for ever-more.

Neil Munro (1864 - 1930)

Stayed the night beside the Crinan Canal near Cairnbaan.....



Beach just south of Bellochantuy on the Kintyre penninsula.......



Called in to Campbeltown to catch up on Laundry....couple of German bikes never seen before....



Wild camped with some travellers in a car park at Carskey Bay just around the corner from Southend (no not that one Glen)......



Mum left this little fella in the dunes.....




Popped around the corner to take a look at Machrihanish Bay..........



Any guesses, name of this famous beach/bay......



Finally parking up on the street in Tarbert...(visited here on Convoy 1).....





.........Alec................

Hi John,
Thats a bummer, with your water works. Last week I had a house sitter....apparently all was OK.
In Helensburgh at mo....pi55ing down.
Offto the Trossachs tomorrow...

...Alec.....

Heading south toward Bute, stopped at Dunans Castle..................



Then came upon more graveslabs at Kilmodan, village of Glendaruel....





Passed high above the Kyles of Bute (poor pic - raining hard).....



Onto Tighnabruaich.........





.........Alec..........

They have been on the case for number of years, looks like a funding issue. There is a delightfull stone bridge over a small gorge to access the castle. Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford, he seems to have been everywhere. Structure analysis of bridge has been done.....but remedial work ....no.

....Alec....

beautiful pics mate,ta

Great pics Alec keep em coming buddy .
.... Tom ....

Spent acouple of days parked on the streets of Stirling, just off the city centre. Main objective was to see the castle and watch pipe band parade...................



Main building with the brighter coloured Great Hall next to it as it would have been 500 years ago....



The battlements......



Some beutiful ceilings in the main quarters .........





The KIng and Queens bedchamber........(he looks a bit gay!)..........



A well crafted Hammer Beam Roof to the great hall (this is a replacement - took a year to complete).............




James the fifth who was responsible for the castle as it stands now, had over two hgundred figures carved in stone, in prominent he placed himself......



With Venus next to him - no cherub!.............



This weekend was 700 years since Robert The Bruce triumphed over Edward 2nd at Bannockburn on the edge of the city, so plenty going on.
The old stone bridge (now a footbridge) over the river Forth....




...........Alec.............

::drive::Fantastic photos Alec ,get my van back tomorrow & my join u at some point will see where u are at the wkend Ching Ching mate