One lighthouse and a hundred wet horses
Aug. 1st, 2011 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anteros_lmcAt last LJ has let me upload my holiday pics so now I can SPAM all you guys!
Sandgreen Bay
We spent most of our holiday at the Galloway end of Dumfries and Galloway where the weather unfortunately was pretty crap. We did have a few glorious days but we also had several very stormy nights with proper gales and torrential rain. However our old VW camper van is very weatherly and when you batten down the hatches and turn her nose into the wind she can ride out almost any storm. Despite the patchy weather we had a lovely time bimbling rounds beaches, gardens and impossibly picturesque little towns.
We also went to visit Mull of Galloway lighthouse, one of the Stevenson lighthouses, built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis, in 1828. The light was automated in 1988 but you can still visit the lighthouse tower which is 26m high and has over 100 steps. It started out very overcast the day we visited but by the time we had climbed the tower it had cleared up and the view from the top was gorgeous. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katriona_s I wish I'd had your address I would have sent you a postcard from a Stevenson tower!)
For the last few days we moved to Kirkcudbright which is an very pretty artists town at the mouth of the River Dee. During the late 19th century the town was home to the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists art movements and it's still popular with artists today. It's also where a lot of The Wicker Man was filmed :) While we were there we were lucky to catch the Riding of the Marches, an annual event commemorating the granting of the burgh's royal charter in 1485. This involves over a hundred riders riding around the border of the burgh and stopping to drink a stirrup cup at hostelries along the way. After laying a wreath at the war memorial, where a lone piper plays The Floors o' the Forest, the riders then return in the town square where the charter proclamation is read and an award presented to the best turned out horse and rider. It really was spectacular seeing such a huge number of horses coming clattering through the streets in all their finery, and they really were going at quite a lick! Unfortunately the heavens opened just as they reached the harbor square but it was still a very impressive sight.
I had high hopes of spending a large part of my holiday lying in my hammock reading but alas the weather rather put paid to the hammock, though it was the envy of every campsite we stopped at! However I did manage to finish reading John Bryn's Crime and Punishment in the Royal Navy Discipline on the Leeward Islands Station 1784 - 1812 (dull but informative) and Lt-Commander C. F. Walker's Young Gentlemen: the story of Midshipmen from the 17th century to the present day (entertaining but dated) and I started reading Louis Garneray's The Floating Prison: An Account of Nine Years on a Prison Hulk During the Napoleonic Wars (hugely frustrating) and Charlie Cochrane's Lessons in Seduction (highly enjoyable :) We also visited Wigtown, the town full of bookshops, where I picked up a whole pile of stuff including Sam Willis' Fighting Ships 1780 - 1750, the ultimate AoS coffee table book.mylodon, who also has a copy, can testify that if you screwed four legs onto this book you really could make a coffee table. It's huge!
Sandgreen Bay
We spent most of our holiday at the Galloway end of Dumfries and Galloway where the weather unfortunately was pretty crap. We did have a few glorious days but we also had several very stormy nights with proper gales and torrential rain. However our old VW camper van is very weatherly and when you batten down the hatches and turn her nose into the wind she can ride out almost any storm. Despite the patchy weather we had a lovely time bimbling rounds beaches, gardens and impossibly picturesque little towns.
 Galloway, a rare sunny day! |
 Sands of Luce, midnight |
 Sands of Luce, rainwashed |
 River Dee, sunset |
 Logan Botanical Gardens |
 Threave Walled Garden |
 Logan waterlilies |
 Threave eucalyptus |
 Threave house |  Logan eucalyptus bark |
We also went to visit Mull of Galloway lighthouse, one of the Stevenson lighthouses, built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis, in 1828. The light was automated in 1988 but you can still visit the lighthouse tower which is 26m high and has over 100 steps. It started out very overcast the day we visited but by the time we had climbed the tower it had cleared up and the view from the top was gorgeous. (
katriona_s I wish I'd had your address I would have sent you a postcard from a Stevenson tower!) Mull of Galloway lighthouse |
 Fog horn! |
 At the bottom |
 Start counting! |
 19th century Fresnel lens |
 Stevenson tower |
For the last few days we moved to Kirkcudbright which is an very pretty artists town at the mouth of the River Dee. During the late 19th century the town was home to the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists art movements and it's still popular with artists today. It's also where a lot of The Wicker Man was filmed :) While we were there we were lucky to catch the Riding of the Marches, an annual event commemorating the granting of the burgh's royal charter in 1485. This involves over a hundred riders riding around the border of the burgh and stopping to drink a stirrup cup at hostelries along the way. After laying a wreath at the war memorial, where a lone piper plays The Floors o' the Forest, the riders then return in the town square where the charter proclamation is read and an award presented to the best turned out horse and rider. It really was spectacular seeing such a huge number of horses coming clattering through the streets in all their finery, and they really were going at quite a lick! Unfortunately the heavens opened just as they reached the harbor square but it was still a very impressive sight.
 Kirkcudbright harbour |
 An anchor worthy of Sir Edward! |
 One for the cannon fans |
 Kirkcudbright Riding of the Marches |
 Riding of the Marches |
 Stirrup cup |
 One hundred wet horses |
 Charter proclamation (note the breeches and tricornes ;) |
I had high hopes of spending a large part of my holiday lying in my hammock reading but alas the weather rather put paid to the hammock, though it was the envy of every campsite we stopped at! However I did manage to finish reading John Bryn's Crime and Punishment in the Royal Navy Discipline on the Leeward Islands Station 1784 - 1812 (dull but informative) and Lt-Commander C. F. Walker's Young Gentlemen: the story of Midshipmen from the 17th century to the present day (entertaining but dated) and I started reading Louis Garneray's The Floating Prison: An Account of Nine Years on a Prison Hulk During the Napoleonic Wars (hugely frustrating) and Charlie Cochrane's Lessons in Seduction (highly enjoyable :) We also visited Wigtown, the town full of bookshops, where I picked up a whole pile of stuff including Sam Willis' Fighting Ships 1780 - 1750, the ultimate AoS coffee table book.
mylodon, who also has a copy, can testify that if you screwed four legs onto this book you really could make a coffee table. It's huge!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 06:14 pm (UTC)And you had horses and bookstores too. Sounds really perfect.
(Still, I am selfishly glad to have you back.)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 08:49 pm (UTC)You really ought to move to the West of Scotland, you'd be in your element here!
The horses were amazing! I've never seen so many all together like that. It was a lovely holiday all in all, but is is lovely to be back, especially now LJ has reappeared. I despatched a postcard in the leaky jolly boat, has it managed to find its way across the pond yet?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 06:17 pm (UTC):DDDDDDDDDDDDD
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Date: 2011-08-01 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 09:29 pm (UTC)I will certainly bear that in mind if we ever go back!
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Date: 2011-08-03 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 07:00 pm (UTC)But where is the spaniel pics? :(
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Date: 2011-08-01 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 08:31 pm (UTC)I've got the Sam Willis book. Reading that is one of the best ways I know to get cramp but OH the pictures.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 09:01 pm (UTC)The Sam Willis book really is a bit of a liability isn't it?! It's very pretty but you risk putting your back out every time you pick it up. Still, I was quite pleased to get an almost perfect copy for twelve quid!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 08:49 pm (UTC)Thanks. But I have nothing to compare to your outboard patio! XD
a Stevenson lighthouse!
They were known as the Lighthouse Stevensons, which is also the title of a book about them by Bella Bathurst. The construction of the Bell Rock lighthouse was one of Stevenson's greatest achievements.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 11:56 am (UTC)You could use that book to hold down a sail in a storm!
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Date: 2011-08-02 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 01:14 pm (UTC)Oh... these beach, sky, river, garden, cliff and small town... you really made me envy your Scottish habitation!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-02 09:22 pm (UTC)