Preston Mill, East Lothian, Scotland. May 2019. Spackles and I were having enormous fun driving around the countryside of East Lothian picking off the sights. Our next stop was Preston Mill, a former 18th century watermill famed for producing oatmeal. Even as we were parking I could see what a magnificent structure it was. Especially […]
Read MoreJohn Muir’s Birthplace. Dunbar, Scotland. May 2019. You simply cannot escape John Muir in the Scottish town of Dunbar. After all, there’s a statue of him out on the High Street. You’ll also find a giant bear sculpture, located near the Spot Roundabout, which symbolises the great man’s travels through America. Furthermore, one of his […]
Read MoreDunbar Battery, Scotland. May 2019. The historic Scottish town of Dunbar once had a grand defence bastion situated on an elevated section of the harbour on Lamer Island. It was built in 1781 during the American War Of Independence to protect the town from the fearsome naval captain, John Paul Jones. The defence post was […]
Read MoreBelhaven Beach, Dunbar, Scotland. May 2019. My visit to Belhaven Beach was an especially spontaneous one! It was a moody early evening and Spackles and I had been snugly installed inside his farmhouse in the nearby village of Stenton. One minute we were drinking tea and wolfing down Mother Spackles’ excellent homemade gingerbread. The next […]
Read MoreRemembering Old Times in Haddington. May 2019. A strange feeling swept over me as my old friend Spackles and I turned the corner and the car glided onto Market Street. It had been a whopping twenty one years since I’d lived here, but there was no doubting it… this was Haddington alright. As Spackles searched for […]
Read MoreGlenfinnan, Scotland. July 2015. The minuscule hamlet of Glenfinnan lies in the Lochaber area of The Scottish Highlands. It’s just a thirty minute drive west of Banavie, the village my sister lives in outside the town of Fort William. Set deep in the heart of some truly stunning Scottish countryside, Glenfinnan is a location of […]
Read MoreThe Waterloo Monument, Scotland. January 2016. There are some hidden gems scattered around The Scottish Borders for anyone willing to do a bit of research. I’d lost count of the number of times my dad and I had spied The Waterloo Monument from the car window. At 150 feet high and perched atop Peniel Heugh […]
Read MoreBowmont Forest, Scotland. I’ve racked up quite the collection of Scottish forests over the years. Whenever I return to The Scottish Borders to catch up with my mum and dad, the main item on the agenda is invariably dog-walking. Back when my parents lived near the market town of Kelso, Bowmont Forest was the prime location […]
Read MoreOnce Upon a Time in Orkney. October 2000. In late 2000 I found myself in the oh so familiar state of between jobs in the isolated Scottish outpost of Fort William. I was cold, fed up and bored. Consequently, it was something of a relief when my old friend David got in touch to say he was […]
Read MoreMemories of Sweethope in The Scottish Borders. 2003-2015. The tiny hamlet of Sweethope lies deep in the heart of The Scottish Borders, about a twelve minute drive from the market town of Kelso. I moved here in 2003 with my mum, dad, brother Cory and Inde the dog. I remember being less than excited about […]
Read MoreOnce Upon a Time in Doha. June 2001-June 2002. I arrived in Doha in the summer of 2001 without a clue as to what I would actually do there. My entire family had relocated to the Qatari capital for my father’s job. I’m talking mum, dad, sister, brother, dog… the works. I was at one […]
Read MoreAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. April 2003. Many moons ago a bunch of friends and I jumped on a train in Bratislava. Our subsequent journey took us east through the centre of Slovakia and then north along The Tatra Mountains into Poland. Our destination was the city of Krakow, where we’d planned three nights of carefree […]
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