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luzulaBritish foods had so far:
Fish and chips: yes, good.
Haggis with neeps and tatties: surprisingly delicious! Have eaten twice now.
Steak pie: in my opinion, the word "pie" means that the pastry should enclose the filling, not be perched on top of it.regshoe thinks so as well. Otherwise, yes, that was okay.
regshoe also thinks I should try various puddings, which I will when I get the opportunity.
Okay, now to the actual subject! Have more photos, now with book quotes.
Keith Windham: "If to ride along a road in these mountain solitudes was distasteful, to be following a mere track (and that a very steep one) in amongst their very folds was worse. When first he had seen the path which they were to ascend, and the V-shaped depression, sharp against the sunset sky, up to which it led, Captain Windham had with difficulty repressed an exclamation of alarm. However, he could not really believe that Mr. Cameron of Ardroy was taking him up this terrifying route in order to slay him, since he could already have done this with so much less trouble on level ground. Therefore, though he had raised his eyebrows, he had said nothing. After all, it was the horse, and not he, who had to do the climbing. And now they were half-way up."
Keith Windham: "They were at the top of the pass at last, and had a fine view before them; but the captive did not find it so, the mountains being too high for his taste and the downward path too steep. Stones rolled away from beneath the grey’s hoofs; now and then he slipped a trifle, for which his owner, leading him carefully by the bridle, apologised. He would not have come this way, he said, but that it was the shortest from the spot where he and Captain Windham had ‘chanced to meet’, as he put it. And then all at once the descent was less steep and they were looking down on a glen among the mountains, with a little lake, some signs of cultivation, grazing sheep and cattle, and, in the midst of trees, the roof and chimneys of a house, whence a welcome smoke ascended."
Unfortunately it was too long a hike to descend into the valley where the (fictional) Ardroy is! We were very sad about that. But at least we got to see it from a distance!
Hello, alpine lady's mantle, how nice to see you! I also saw other familiar alpine flowers such as golden saxifrage and starry saxifrage--but thyme is decidedly not a mountain plant in Sweden.
The ugly part of Scotland: the pine plantations and clearcuts...
More lichenthusiasm! Lobaria amplissima is very rare in Sweden, and here it's just growing by the side of the road... *boggles*
Keith Windham (in the beginning of the book): "But where was the river which, as he knew, they had first to cross? In this wide, rough landscape Captain Windham could not see a sign of it. Then, farther down the slope and about a mile ahead of them, he discerned a long, thick, winding belt of trees, and remembered to have heard an officer of Guise’s regiment at Fort Augustus say last night that the Spean, a very rapid stream, had carved so deep a channel for itself as almost to flow in a ravine, and that Wade must have had some ado to find a spot where he could carry his road over it. He had done so, it appeared, on a narrow stone structure whose elevation above the river-bed had earned it the name of High Bridge. Indeed the Englishman now saw that the road which they were following was making for this deeply sunken river at an angle which suggested that General Wade had had little choice in the position of his bridge.
Ahead of Captain Windham on his mettlesome horse the scarlet ranks tramped down the gently sloping road through the heather; ahead of them again, at the rear of the foremost company, Captain Scott sat his white charger. The English officer looked with an unwilling curiosity at the great mountain mass over Fort William; it actually had traces of snow upon it . . . in August! What a country! Now in Flanders—— What the devil was that?
It was, unmistakably, the skirl of a bagpipe, and came from the direction of the still invisible bridge. But if the bridge was not to be seen, something else was—tartan-clad forms moving rapidly in and out of those sheltering trees. Evidently a considerable body of Highlanders was massing by the river."
And Ewen Cameron, later on in the book: "The sorrel was so maddened that to slip off before he reached the bridge, as he intended, was going to be a matter of difficulty, if not of danger. But it had to be done; he threw himself across the saddle and did it. As he reached ground he staggered and fell, wrenching his damaged thigh, but the horse continued its wild career across the bridge and up the farther slope as he had designed. Ewen had but a second or two in which to pick himself up and lurch into the thick undergrowth of the gorge ere the first of a stream of cursing horsemen came tearing down the slope. But, as he hoped, having heard hoof-beats on the bridge, they all went straight over it in pursuit of the now vanished horse, never dreaming that it was riderless."
The Jacobite white rose at the Clan Cameron museum at Achnacarry, grown as a cutting from the one in Fassefern. Could not resist buying a Cameron tartan scarf at the museum!
And now comes various cool stuff from the museum! This is Lochiel's bible and prayer book (that is, the 1745 Lochiel), with the "George" crossed out. : D Did they actually print new bibles every time there was a new monarch?? I suppose it saves money when they all have the same name...
This was very cool! It's a detailed map of the Lochiel estate from the 1770's, where one can see what the vegetation was, and how the various upland grazing areas were divided. This is a detail showing the way you would come from the ford of the Lochy to Achnacarry. I have more close-ups if anyone needs them for fic research.
The whole map. Ardroy is not on it, it just says that the lands north of Loch Arkaig were used directly by the Lochiel estate rather than any clan sept.
Skinny-dipping in Loch Arkaig! : D Very sorry I couldn't do it in "Loch na h-Iolaire", but surely Ewen has gone swimming here as well...
The way to Ardroy from Achnacarry.
THE FLIGHT OF THE HERON at the mouth of Loch Arkaig! : D : D Er, it's very zoomed in, the heron is the white blob in the center.
Fish and chips: yes, good.
Haggis with neeps and tatties: surprisingly delicious! Have eaten twice now.
Steak pie: in my opinion, the word "pie" means that the pastry should enclose the filling, not be perched on top of it.
regshoe thinks so as well. Otherwise, yes, that was okay. regshoe also thinks I should try various puddings, which I will when I get the opportunity. Okay, now to the actual subject! Have more photos, now with book quotes.
Keith Windham: "If to ride along a road in these mountain solitudes was distasteful, to be following a mere track (and that a very steep one) in amongst their very folds was worse. When first he had seen the path which they were to ascend, and the V-shaped depression, sharp against the sunset sky, up to which it led, Captain Windham had with difficulty repressed an exclamation of alarm. However, he could not really believe that Mr. Cameron of Ardroy was taking him up this terrifying route in order to slay him, since he could already have done this with so much less trouble on level ground. Therefore, though he had raised his eyebrows, he had said nothing. After all, it was the horse, and not he, who had to do the climbing. And now they were half-way up."
Keith Windham: "They were at the top of the pass at last, and had a fine view before them; but the captive did not find it so, the mountains being too high for his taste and the downward path too steep. Stones rolled away from beneath the grey’s hoofs; now and then he slipped a trifle, for which his owner, leading him carefully by the bridle, apologised. He would not have come this way, he said, but that it was the shortest from the spot where he and Captain Windham had ‘chanced to meet’, as he put it. And then all at once the descent was less steep and they were looking down on a glen among the mountains, with a little lake, some signs of cultivation, grazing sheep and cattle, and, in the midst of trees, the roof and chimneys of a house, whence a welcome smoke ascended."
Unfortunately it was too long a hike to descend into the valley where the (fictional) Ardroy is! We were very sad about that. But at least we got to see it from a distance!
Hello, alpine lady's mantle, how nice to see you! I also saw other familiar alpine flowers such as golden saxifrage and starry saxifrage--but thyme is decidedly not a mountain plant in Sweden.
The ugly part of Scotland: the pine plantations and clearcuts...
More lichenthusiasm! Lobaria amplissima is very rare in Sweden, and here it's just growing by the side of the road... *boggles*
Keith Windham (in the beginning of the book): "But where was the river which, as he knew, they had first to cross? In this wide, rough landscape Captain Windham could not see a sign of it. Then, farther down the slope and about a mile ahead of them, he discerned a long, thick, winding belt of trees, and remembered to have heard an officer of Guise’s regiment at Fort Augustus say last night that the Spean, a very rapid stream, had carved so deep a channel for itself as almost to flow in a ravine, and that Wade must have had some ado to find a spot where he could carry his road over it. He had done so, it appeared, on a narrow stone structure whose elevation above the river-bed had earned it the name of High Bridge. Indeed the Englishman now saw that the road which they were following was making for this deeply sunken river at an angle which suggested that General Wade had had little choice in the position of his bridge.
Ahead of Captain Windham on his mettlesome horse the scarlet ranks tramped down the gently sloping road through the heather; ahead of them again, at the rear of the foremost company, Captain Scott sat his white charger. The English officer looked with an unwilling curiosity at the great mountain mass over Fort William; it actually had traces of snow upon it . . . in August! What a country! Now in Flanders—— What the devil was that?
It was, unmistakably, the skirl of a bagpipe, and came from the direction of the still invisible bridge. But if the bridge was not to be seen, something else was—tartan-clad forms moving rapidly in and out of those sheltering trees. Evidently a considerable body of Highlanders was massing by the river."
And Ewen Cameron, later on in the book: "The sorrel was so maddened that to slip off before he reached the bridge, as he intended, was going to be a matter of difficulty, if not of danger. But it had to be done; he threw himself across the saddle and did it. As he reached ground he staggered and fell, wrenching his damaged thigh, but the horse continued its wild career across the bridge and up the farther slope as he had designed. Ewen had but a second or two in which to pick himself up and lurch into the thick undergrowth of the gorge ere the first of a stream of cursing horsemen came tearing down the slope. But, as he hoped, having heard hoof-beats on the bridge, they all went straight over it in pursuit of the now vanished horse, never dreaming that it was riderless."
The Jacobite white rose at the Clan Cameron museum at Achnacarry, grown as a cutting from the one in Fassefern. Could not resist buying a Cameron tartan scarf at the museum!
And now comes various cool stuff from the museum! This is Lochiel's bible and prayer book (that is, the 1745 Lochiel), with the "George" crossed out. : D Did they actually print new bibles every time there was a new monarch?? I suppose it saves money when they all have the same name...
This was very cool! It's a detailed map of the Lochiel estate from the 1770's, where one can see what the vegetation was, and how the various upland grazing areas were divided. This is a detail showing the way you would come from the ford of the Lochy to Achnacarry. I have more close-ups if anyone needs them for fic research.
The whole map. Ardroy is not on it, it just says that the lands north of Loch Arkaig were used directly by the Lochiel estate rather than any clan sept.
Skinny-dipping in Loch Arkaig! : D Very sorry I couldn't do it in "Loch na h-Iolaire", but surely Ewen has gone swimming here as well...
The way to Ardroy from Achnacarry.
THE FLIGHT OF THE HERON at the mouth of Loch Arkaig! : D : D Er, it's very zoomed in, the heron is the white blob in the center.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-06-22 08:53 pm (UTC)Rather than a steak pie (which I also think should have pastry all the way round) you should try a pasty, if you're going for traditional English food :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-06-23 07:19 pm (UTC)And noted about the pasty.