Tag Archives: Scotland

The Diary of a Slow Traveler – Amateur Traveler and other blogs

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As we start to plan our next trip I found myself immersed in travel books and searching the web for inspiration.

I love travel books, travel programs and just surfing the web about travel. I am watching Michael Portello’s train journeys at the moment. Even Escape to The Country and Escape to the Continent have provided useful travel trips. Travel books are fun, but more recently I have found that they are more useful to people planning their trips than to us!

So I thought I’d mention how we have used blogs and forums and some of the sources we have relied upon for inspiration and valuable information in our travel.

I found out about rail travel from the man in seat 61. Relying on Mark Smith’s advice I have graduated from having the travel agent book my train travel to being completely comfortable travelling through Europe, reading timetables and making my own bookings. Sure I have missed trains and misread timetables but that has led to some pretty amazing experiences like an unforgettable Bastille weekend in Paris when we should have been on the train to the Amalfi Coast!

As we plan our trips I type a country or place into the search engine and see what I can find.  Continue reading →

Standing Stones and Burial Chambers, The Orkney Islands

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Ring of Brodgar

I caught up with a former colleague recently who was just back from a cruise that included a day in the Orkney Islands, a place we’d had the pleasure of spending a week last year. With such a short time in the Orkneys he’d only had the opportunity to see some of the many spectacular sites including the Ring of Brodgar.

My colleague said that his guide had said it was extraordinary how those standing stones were exactly as they were at Stone Henge. This was something I had not heard before.

We too had been to the Ring of Brodgar and that certainly was not mentioned by our tour guide.

It’s not surprising that he’d heard a different story to us, as they are just stories about seemingly random locations where a group of stones were placed a few thousand years ago.

So what of standing stones? Continue reading →

The Italian Chapel,Orkney Islands

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    The Italian Chapel

Who said Nissan huts were boring?

Nissan huts are almost ubiquitous on the Orkney Islands as a result of the Orkney’s place in war history.  One of the more unusual uses of Nissan Huts on the Orkney islands is The Italian Chapel.

Cement Blocks – Churchill Barriers

Located on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands, The Italian Chapel was built by Italian prisoners of war during WW2. The prisoners were moved from the heat of North Africa to the chilly Orkney Islands, primary to build the Churchill Barriers and are responsible for The Italian Chapel.

The Churchill Barriers were built to protect the Scapa Flow anchorage, following the sinking of HMS Royal Oak by a German U-Boat in late 1939. The Churchill Barriers link Orkney Mainland to South Ronaldsay via Burray , Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. The Churchill Barriers link Orkney Mainland to South Ronaldsay via Burray, Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. While the Churchill Barriers are interesting and might make the subject of a post in the future this post is about The Italian Chapel.

View of the Churchill Barriers from the air

View of the Churchill Barriers from the air Source: https://www.visitorkney.com/things/history/the-italian-chapel

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The story of Betty Corrigall, Hoy, Orkeny Islands

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The story of Betty Corrigall is sad and so fitting of Hoy.

Hoy a small wind swept island in the Orkney Islands and is home to a very sad story of love and despair. In the late 1700s a girl, just 27, fell in love with a sailor and became pregnant too him. It was a time when such a thing was shunned, particularly in such a religious place.

Betty was alone for her lover on learning she was pregnant returned to the sea, never to be seen by her again. What was she to do? She would be shunned by all and sundry. She would have no means to support her soon to be born child. For her it was a hopeless situation.

Tragically she felt she had no alternative but to take her own life. Continue reading →

Time to take it slowly, Edinburgh to York

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    Durham Cathedral

After a few days walking the streets of Edinburgh it was into the hire car and off to York.

We’ re just over halfway into our trip and I was feeling like I had sensory overload.

I’d packed so much into our time in Scotland. There was so much I wanted to see, that I’d broken with the vow of Slow Travel. Our arrival in Edinburgh and our decision to rent an Airbnb apartment rather than stay in a hotel or B&B meant we could go at our own pace. Continue reading →