The British Countryside Pool's Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
[Friends View]
Tuesday, October 17th, 2023
| Time |
Event |
| 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
Sgorr Dearg, 1,024 metres and Sgorr Dhonhuill, 1,001 metres, part of the Beinn a Bheithir range in A https://www.flickr.com/photos/144291588@N06/53263522869/in/pool-62326588@N00 Scotland by NJC. has added a photo to the pool:
Commentary.
No-one talks of fjords in Scotland.
Here, they are known as sea-lochs.
There could be regarded as up to fourteen fjords in Scotland and two or three former fjords, cut off from the sea since previous Ice Ages.
Some are a mere three miles long, several 15-20 miles long
and one, Loch Fyne, up to fifty miles long.
Loch Leven is one such fjord or sea-loch.
It is sumptuously beautiful, colourful, ancient and wooded.
All the sea-lochs are sufficiently varied to deserve
multiple visits and endless awe and wonder.
In this image the mountain range known as Beinn a Bheithir
forms a backcloth to Loch Leven, where it narrows and is bridged, at Ballachulish.
Sgorr Dearg and Sgorr Dhonnuill are linked by a horseshoe arete that is often completed as one climb.
The Pap of Glencoe, left, is a peak that always catches the eye.
Autumn often enriches the colour, textures and tones
of such sea-lochs as Leven, making it spectacularly impressive.
The shapely mountains often reflect in its calm waters
and add a gleaming symmetry to a superb landscape. | | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
Reflections, headlands, woodland and a pyramidal peak called the Pap of Glencoe from near to the eas https://www.flickr.com/photos/144291588@N06/53263423658/in/pool-62326588@N00 Scotland by NJC. has added a photo to the pool:
Commentary.
No-one talks of fjords in Scotland.
Here, they are known as sea-lochs.
There could be regarded as up to fourteen fjords in Scotland and two or three former fjords, cut off from the sea since previous Ice Ages.
Some are a mere three miles long, several 15-20 miles long
and one, Loch Fyne, up to fifty miles long.
Loch Leven is one such fjord or sea-loch.
It is sumptuously beautiful, colourful, ancient and wooded.
All the sea-lochs are sufficiently varied to deserve
multiple visits and endless awe and wonder.
In this image the mountain range known as Beinn a Bheithir
forms a backcloth to Loch Leven, where it narrows and is bridged, at Ballachulish.
Sgorr Dearg and Sgorr Dhonnuill are linked by a horseshoe arete that is often completed as one climb.
The Pap of Glencoe, left, is a peak that always catches the eye.
Autumn often enriches the colour, textures and tones
of such sea-lochs as Leven, making it spectacularly impressive.
The shapely mountains often reflect in its calm waters
and add a gleaming symmetry to a superb landscape. | | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
Lindisfarne Castle in light rain https://www.flickr.com/photos/196428382@N08/53263237598/in/pool-62326588@N00 David- 80 has added a photo to the pool:
Yet another of the iconic Northumbrian views - Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island although, as the National Trust says. "A castle (thats not a castle), on an island (thats not an island)."
There seems some doubt as to why it is here. Some sources say it was built in 1550 to help guard the harbour (but was it that important back then?). Others say it was part of border defences against England's long-standing and traditional enemy - not the French but the Scots! This is also questionable. I mean my (none military) mind cannot help but wonder why build such a small structure perched high on an exposed hilltop when, a few years previously, the Tudors were building state-of-the-art low, petal shaped, artillery forts (St Mawes, Deal, etc.) and in the next 10 years work would start on constructing the highly sophisticated defences of Berwick-on-Tweed just up the coast. If the Scots had invaded and either captured or by-passed Berwick to march down the Great North Road (the present A1) this castle, on its exposed rock on an "island" headland jutting out into North Sea would not even have been in sight let alone gun range. Any Scottish warships accompanying such an invasion would be well out to sea anyway to avoid those Farne Islands. Whatever, built it was (using stone from the recently dissolved Priory nearby) and garrisoned until 1893, later as a Coastguard look-out. It did, of course, fall into decay until it was seen and bought as a "holiday home" by the editor of Country Life in 1901 who engaged the architect Lutyens to transform it. Later it was acquired by the National Trust and is now open to visitors to admire the views from its parapets.
The castle did see some military action. In the 1640's Civil War it was first fortified by Royalists but taken by the Parliamentary forces in 1646. Later in 1715 it was "captured" by 2 men (only 2 are mentioned) acting for the Jacobite cause. The leader was a visiting ship's captain who invited the garrison's sergeant-in-charge and his off duty men on board for "a" drink. Once they were safely drunk, the captain and his nephew went to the castle, overpowered whoever was left and ran up the Jacobite flag to encourage supporters to join. The next day troops arrived from Berwick and the enterprise quickly ended! | | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
| | 2:26a |
Bodnant Gardens 060923 5866 2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/68112440@N07/53263077941/in/pool-62326588@N00 Richard Szwejkowski has added a photo to the pool:
Bodnant Gardens, in the Conwy Valley, North Wales. Looking down on the tidal reaches of the Avon Conwy / River Conway from the western edge of the parkland.
This is Bodnant Hall and Gardens, dating from around 1792 but with later additions. The house overlooks Bodnant Gardens, whose origins are in 1874 when the estate was purchased by Henry Pochin, a chemist from Leicestershire who made money from a process of making soap. Five generations of the family have steadily developed and extended the gardens, with yet more areas planned.
The gardens, but not the house, were handed to the National Trust in 1949, although the Pochin family have continued to be involved. The house is Listed Grade II, but the Gardens are Grade I Listed and regarded as one of the most important and interesting of their type in the world.
For more information, seehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodnant_Garden and other sources |
|
