Scotland posts
by Jonathan Kramer (RSS feed) (17 days ago)
May 3rd, 2013 at 6:00PM:
In the Scottish Highlands, on Loch Shiel, sits Glenfinnan, a small village with an amazing view. Darby Sawchuck took this incredibly lit photo of the loch, really evoking the lush green of the landscape and the beautifully wide valley. Despite it being clear that this region sees plenty of rain, it would be worth weathering through just to see this sight when you wake up in the morning.
If ...
by Chris Owen (RSS feed) (19 days ago)
May 1st, 2013 at 4:30PM: They were on their final approach to Scotland's Glasgow airport when an unidentified object passed within 300 feet of the Airbus A320 passenger jet. "Er yeah we just had something pass underneath us quite close [1255:30] and nothing on TCAS have you got anything on in our area" said the pilot to Glasgow tower, reports the BBC.
The TCAS' of which the pilot mentions is the A320's Traffic ...
by Adam Hodge (RSS feed) (25 days ago)
Apr 25th, 2013 at 2:30PM:
Extreme sports videos don't get enough credit as artistic travelogues. For all the flinch-inducing, jaw-dropping athletic skill on display, the real star of extreme sports videos is often not the stunt-happy main character – it's the backdrop. Take for instance Danny Macaskill's rampart-flipping, phone booth-hopping mountain bike riding on the Isle of Skye. The video's fine-grained camera ...
by McLean Robbins (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Apr 19th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
Many travelers associate cities, and even countries, with their iconic landmarks, like New York City with the Statue of Liberty, Paris with the Eiffel Tower and Pisa with its famous Leaning Tower. But what about those famous landmarks that never quite made it to completion?
We've rounded up five great places around the world where you'll find "nearly famous" monuments worth visiting. ...
by Megan Fernandez (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Mar 4th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
Tennis star Andy Murray, one of the U.K.'s most famous athletes and the reigning Olympic gold medalist, recently purchased the Cromlix House Hotel near his hometown of Dunblane, Scotland. Now closed for renovations, the country manor is expected to reopen in the spring, in time for the 2014 Ryder Cup golf tournament.
Perhaps more than any other sport, tennis requires its stars to become ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Jan 25th, 2013 at 1:00PM: A research team in Scotland and the Czech Republic has developed a tractor beam.
A press release from St. Andrews University reveals that scientists at that university and at the Institute of Scientific Instruments in the Czech Republic have for the first time been able to use light to draw objects closer, although only on a microscopic scale.
It has long been known that photons create a ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Jan 24th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
How much do we really know about the Vikings? A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh asks this question and comes up with some interesting answers.
"Vikings!" collects more than 500 objects from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm to show a side to Scandinavia's most famous culture that most people don't know.
While most of the public is aware (hopefully) that ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (5 months ago)
Dec 21st, 2012 at 9:00AM:
The Roman Empire is remarkably familiar to the modern eye. It had highways, indoor plumbing, religious tolerance, and even fashion violations such as wearing socks with sandals. It's like a primitive version of our own culture, with more similarities than differences.
And now it turns out they had tourist trinkets too.
A press release from Hadrian's Wall Trust announces that a new book ...
by McLean Robbins (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Sep 28th, 2012 at 12:00PM: "Man vs. Wild" host Bear Grylls will teach ten lucky (or deep-pocketed) fans his famous survival techniques during the first Bear Grylls Survival Academy in Scotland this November.
Much like his television show, the adventure will require participants to test their land and sea survival skills as well as a series of adventure tasks. The culminating test? A 36-hour wilderness expedition that ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Sep 27th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
During World War II, the British were sure they were about to be invaded. The English Channel seemed like nothing more than a narrow creek against the might of Nazi Germany. As the British army fought in North Africa and Southeast Asia, the Home Guard and teams of civilians prepared for the worst.
One elderly English woman told me that when she was a teenager she helped lay electric wire ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Sep 15th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
The Hunterian Art Gallery, part of the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, has just reopened after a nine-month remodel that expanded its exhibition space.
Its opening show is "Rembrandt and the Passion," which showcases one of the Hunterian's most famous works of art, Rembrandt's "Entombment Sketch," alongside the final painting of the "Entombment" (shown here courtesy ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Sep 14th, 2012 at 4:01PM:
A new survey by the Scottish Wildcat Association of the endangered Scottish wildcat has revealed only about 35 purebred individuals, prompting the group to announce the cat may go extinct within months, the BBC reports.
It was previously thought that their population numbered about 400. Another survey, funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and published last month, estimated about 150 breeding ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Sep 3rd, 2012 at 8:00AM: Andrew Leaper, the captain of a fishing boat in Scotland, recently found a message in a bottle that was released into the ocean 98 years ago. The unusual discovery took place off the coast of Shetland and sets a new Guinness World Record for the oldest such message ever recovered.
The bottle was originally released in 1914 as part of a scientific research project to study the ocean currents ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Aug 31st, 2012 at 4:00PM:
A couple of years ago, I spent six enjoyable days hiking the East Highland Way and wrote a series about it for all you fine folks. Back then this trail through Scotland had only just been established by devoted hiker Kevin Langan.
I felt like a real pioneer when I did this route. The 82-mile journey from Ft. William to Aviemore was unmarked and there was no guidebook yet. Kevin was kind ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Aug 30th, 2012 at 2:30PM:
I recently had the good fortune to visit the Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland and saw that region's amazing prehistoric archaeology. One of the most impressive monuments was the large vaulted burial chamber of Maeshowe. It was built around 2700 B.C., making it older than the pyramids at Giza, and is a masterpiece of stonework. Maeshowe is also famous for its much later (but still old) ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Aug 24th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
Hadrian's Wall has been the traditional boundary between England and Scotland ever since it was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. This 73-mile long structure was once the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire.
As part of the London 2012 Festival, the New York-based artists' collective YesYesNo will light up the entire length with a series of tethered balloons lit by internal LED ...
by Jessica Festa (RSS feed) (8 months ago)
Aug 24th, 2012 at 3:00PM: If you want to join in on the famous Scottish Highland Games but can't afford the flight across the pond, you can head to Bardstown, Kentucky, this Saturday for their annual take on the event. While many people know of haggis, a Scottish dish containing sheep's heart, liver and lungs that are stuffed into a sheep's stomach, as food, Bardstown is using the delicacy for something else: hurling.
...
by McLean Robbins (RSS feed) (9 months ago)
Aug 21st, 2012 at 3:30PM:
Here's a flight you're not likely to get beverage service - this two-minute trip from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands probably cost more in gas than it made from ferrying passengers across the water, but the camera showing exactly what happened on the flight makes it fun to watch!
What do you think? Would you take a flight this short, or would you prefer a ferry? ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (9 months ago)
Aug 16th, 2012 at 12:00PM: Police in northern Scotland have issued a call for hikers to learn orienteering rather than relying on their smartphones for navigation, the BBC reports.
Grampian Police have had to lead four separate groups to safety in the past week. The latest rescue included the use of mountain rescue teams and a Royal Navy helicopter to retrieve 14 hikers. The hikers were in the Cairngorms, a rugged ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (9 months ago)
Aug 13th, 2012 at 9:00AM:
I always feel like a trip isn't over until I've stopped writing about it. My wife feels the same way. So we were a bit down when I finished my series on our visit to the Orkney Islands.
To cheer ourselves up, I decided to share a video with all of you of an excellent cafe/pub/music venue in Kirkwall called The Reel. In summers they have three or more concerts a week of traditional Scottish ...
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