Seeking reader participation in the selection process for the 2018 wall calendar.
INTRODUCTION
When I began covering my holiday in Scotland I brought up the subject of my plans for a 2018 photographic wall calendar, which will be my third such. This post now takes the story forward, and seeks to bring my followers in on the selection process.
THE CANDIDATES
Some of these pictures were nominated by Oglach (“Oglach’s Selections“), a couple by my aunt Celia, and the rest are others that I consider especially worth sharing. Most of the selections are Scottish for obvious reasons.
MY AUNT’S PICKS
My aunt Celia nominated two from the return journey from Scotland:
MY ADDITIONAL SCOTTISH SELECTIONS
These are the Scottish pictures that I have selected as possibles on my own:
One of these steamer pictures will definitely feature.
I may assemble a composite image of several “Jacobite ” pictures.
At least one of these Glenfinnan Viaduct pictures will feature.
Bridges on Skye will definitely feature somewhere.
This is the stretch of Loch Alsh on which Ferry Cottage, where we stayed, sits.
OGLACH’S SELECTIONS
I have of course shown these before, but for completeness sake here they are again:
NON-SCOTTISH PICKS
These are the pictures from outside Scotland that I consider worth a second look.
NOMINATIONS
You can nominate by commenting on this post identifying the pictures by name. If you right-click on a picture and select “open image in new tab” from the drop-down menu that appears you can see its name. If you have a blog of your own you can nominate by creating a post featuring your choices and putting a link in the comments (this will earn you a reblog as well by the way). Those whose pictures make the cut will be acknowledged on the page(s) that they get in the calendar.
Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts about a Scottish holiday. Having finished the account of my experience with The Jacobite, this penultimate post for the Thursday deals with the return journey from Fort William to Glaick.
LEAVING FORT WILLIAM
Before heading back to the cottage in Glaick where were staying we visited the Morrison’s in Fort William to stock up on food, including some ingredients which feature in the next post in this series. That done we headed off back towards Glaick, me with the camera at the ready.
Setting the scene for several posts about The Jacobite.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the latest installment in this series of posts about my Scottish holiday. We have reached the Thursday, on which day my parents were scheduled to look at houses in the Fort William area (about two hours drive from where we were staying) and I was hoping that The Jacobite, a steam train journey from Fort William to Mallaig, an hour in Mallaig and then back, would be available as a way to fill my day.
THE PRELIMINARIES
The advance bookings for The Jacobite had closed, but tickets were available for purchase on the day. With this in mind we set forth from Ferry Cottage at about 7:30AM. Barring the very start of it I had never previously experienced the route between Glaick and Fort William before, and although the best pictures I got of it were on the way back having mentally noted potentially good possibilities on the way down, I did get a few pictures on this journey.
The white spots at the top of this hill are unmelted snow.
FORT WILLIAM STATION
We got to Fort William station just after 9:30, and an inquiry at the ticket office saw me pointed to a queue for the train. I joined this queue although I was not expecting success (I was assuming ill-fortune so that I could not be disappointed, only get a welcome bonus). However, as time passed and the queue moved forward with no-one being turned away I began to speculate on the possibilities. Then came the moment when I was the next person to be served and I thought that it would be seriously rough luck to miss out at that juncture. I was duly issued with a ticket and took my place in coach C. Lady Luck’s support had been limited – although I had a seat it was an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel, which meant that taking pictures of the journey would be a challenge.
The Jacobite, Fort William StationInside Coach CSlightly blurred, but proof that even from an aisle seat I could take pictures through the window.The ticketThe back of the ticket.
Setting the scene for a series of posts about my recent holiday in Scotland.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this first in what will be a substantial series of posts about my recent holiday in Scotland. Although I still have a lot of photo editing to do from said holiday I do now have enough photos at my disposal to start the series, and I will look to interleave the rest of the editing with producing posts for you.
THE HOLIDAY TIMELINE
I travelled up on May 26th and back on June 4th. These two dates were entirely taken up with travelling (14 hours each way approximately). In between these two days there were:
Saturday – most of the day spent waiting for my parents to arrive so we could go up to the house that would be our base for the week, three miles from Kyle of Lochalsh.
Sunday – a quiet day featuring some walking in the immediate vicinity of the house
Monday – A walk to Kyle of Lochalsh, lunch there and a bus back. A quiet afternoon.
Tuesday – a visit to the Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye.
Wednesday – a brief visit to Plockton to book the a table at the Plockton Inn for supper, a trip to Applecross and then back to Plockton for the supper (the birthday meal).
Thursday – The Jacobite Rail Journey (steam train between Fort William and Mallaig, a section of railway known to vast numbers of movie goers as the route of the Hogwarts Express).
Friday – the final full day.
THE LOCATION
Kyle of Lochalsh is on the mainland of northwestern Scotland, very close to the Isle of Skye, to which it is nowadays linked by a road bridge. Ferry Cottage, where we were staying is located at Glaick (pronounced Glike), three miles from Kyle of Lochalsh. Here are some maps for further clarification:
SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE AREA
Here are a few photos from the immediate area in which we were staying:
Kyleakin viewed from high aboveFerry Cottage, where we stayed.
Kyle of Lochalsh from above
These last two pictures show the stretch of shoreline that includes Ferry Cottage.
THOMAS’ CALENDAR CHALLENGE
I saw some quite amazing scenery while in Scotland, and it has become something of a tradition to produce a photographic wall calendar each year. A number of my Scottish pictures will undoubtedly feature. If in the course of this series of posts you see a picture that catches your eye as worth a place in the calendar there are two things I invite you to do:
Post a comment identifying the photo that has caught your eye and/ or…
Create a blog post about the picture that has caught your eye explaining what it means to you and why you think it should be included. If you do this I will reblog your post.
Should you succeed in convincing me to include the picture in my calendar I will give you credit for doing so. I end with two final pictures, the second of which is almost certain to be in the calendar:
A rarity – the lighthouse is framed twice over, once by the bridge and once by the masts of the boat in the foreground.This is the view across Loch Alsh from outside Ferry Cottage on a sunny day (yes, Scotland does have such things) with the additional feature of the world’s last remaining ocean going paddle steamer – this will almost certainly be in the calendar.
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