Actually, you don't have to pay the ferryman, I think the National Trust of Scotland does (or possibly Historic Environment Scotland; one manages the castle, one owns it), but you do require the services of the ferryman in order to reach the castle. Threave Castle is one of my local castles, perhaps my local-est, and…
Tag: scottish history
The Five Best Lighthouses of All the Lighthouses
Lighthouses are awesome. They are such pure buildings, all noble and humanitarian, meant to protect and guide. They are beacons of hope, literally, metaphorically. When France and Britain were at war (again) at the end of the 17th century a French privateer took engineer Henry Winstanley prisoner while he was working on the first lighthouse…
Continue reading ➞ The Five Best Lighthouses of All the Lighthouses
The Sinking of the Princess Victoria
On January 31st 1953 the United Kingdom experienced one of its deadliest maritime disasters when the Princess Victoria attempted to make the crossing from her home port of Stranraer in Scotland, to Larne in Northern Ireland. It's a short route, less than 45 miles, and a pleasant journey in good weather, but this crossing was…
The Wreck of the Monreith
On Monday, I made the decision to go paddling through some icy sea water. For I was at a local beach where if the tide is out, you can see a wreck, and if it is at low tide, it's possible to walk out to that wreck. Spot the wreck! What isn't possible is walking…
Great Scot!
There was a round on Pointless last week that I found a wee bit irritating (for international readers, Pointless is a rather wonderful teatime game show on the BBC that (1) has proper good questions and (2) is quite tricky to win.) It was about Great Scottish People. All fourteen answers were men. They included…

