Scotland 2014 Photos: Evening Walk in Glasgow

End of Day

["Armed with souvenirs, looking for my corner"]

One could say I had three separate walk-abouts during my last full day in Scotland in October. I started out early upon wet sidewalks, continued after a lunch full of song and good pizza, then rolled along until I reached my Glasgow apartment ready for a good snooze.

 ["Nearing the end of day in Glasgow"]

 ["Tourists are turning in at The Clifton Hotel"]

 ["Folks in for the night are eating supper and watching the tellie"]

 ["I'm not lost. My corner is just up ahead"]

 ["One last look back downtown before searching for my door key"]

 ["Wrong door. I live just to the left"]

 ["I'm in, the door is locked. Now I go upstairs to bed"]

 ["Flying over Toronto, looking for a good parking spot"]

["This is the last of approx. 1,843 'Scotland 2014' photos"]

Last day of my trip was marked by an early morning taxi ride followed by an uneventful ride home by air to Toronto (w KLM), and another by road to London (w Robert Q), followed by another good snooze. Unfortunately, my snooze ended at 2 A.M. and my routine only got back to normal one week later. I'm not complaining, and plans are already in the works for a return trip to Scotland in September.

Aye! More information about Dad's WW2 Navy days will surely be uncovered in the fall. Stay tuned.

Link to more Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH

Scotland 2014 Photos: Afternoon Walk in Glasgow

A Sterling Walk-about

["Route to bookstores is along the lovely Kelvin River walk"]

Before noon I climbed a stairway leading from the Kelvin River walkway and headed toward Glasgow University district. I had bookstores, lunch and music on my mind. Found all three easily thanks to my host's map. During lunch I sang along to classic '60's rock and nobody seemed to mind.

 ["Up I go to find two classy bookstores"]

 ["Found the first one with relative ease"]

 ["University Avenue is a beauty of a route to a lunch stop"]

 ["A fellow pedestrian offered to snap this photo at Glasgow Univ."]

 ["Lunch time!"]

 ["Sun peeks out on occasion as I head back toward home"]

 ["How hard was it to find the craft beer pub under the Kelvin Bridge?"]

["Not hard at all. 'Awesome?' Yup, awesome."]

Link to Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH

Recommended Reading - re Combined Operations

Assault Landing Craft: Design, Construction & Operations

This book is written by Brian Lavery, author of another book I ordered from AbeBooks (i.e., Hostilities Only) around Christmas time, on the recommendation of two Scotsmen associated with the study and remembrance of Combined Operations. Because my father was a member of Combined Operations during WW2 (he signed up for two years of Hostilities Only (HO) and trained upon landing crafts in Scotland) I purchased both books. Because of particular photos, I have discovered that Assault Landing Craft is a rare treasure. Very rare and very timely!

From the book:

["Training for assaults at Camp Dundonald between Irvine and Troon"]

From my Scotland 2014 photo files:

["My photo from last October. I am between Irvine and Troon"]

From the book:

["Training session with LCAs at Inveraray, on Loch Fyne, Scotland:]

From my photo files:

["A park 2 mi. south of Inveraray, on former Navy training site"]

For anyone whose father or relatives were members of the Combined Operations organization during WW2 this book is highly recommended. Excellent details re landing craft, training sites and operations where landing craft were used, e.g., in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy.

Link to Recommended Reading re North Africa

Photos from text and GH

Scotland 2014 Photos: The Lot

Links to photos and some written details re Gord's trip to the UK in October, 2014, from the beginning:

["The King's Arms in Irvine. Formerly owned by the Skinner

family, and fondly remembered in my father's Navy memoirs"] 

1. Scotland 2014 - Step One

2. Scotland 2014 - Step Two

3. Scotland 2014 - Step Three

4. Scotland 2014 - Step Four

5. Scotland 2014 - Step Five

6. Scotland 2014 - Step Six

7. Scotland 2014 - Upgrade, Downgrade

8. Scotland 2014 - First Stop

9. Scotland 2014 - Favourite Photo

10. Scotland 2014 - Second Stop

11. Scotland 2014

12. Scotland 2014 Photos - Piper at Royal Mile

13. Scotland 2014 - October 27

14. Scotland 2014 Photos - Trip to Inveraray

15. Scotland 2014 - Glasgow

16. Scotland 2014 Photos - Glasgow

17. Scotland 2014 - Sorting Out

18. Scotland 2014 Photos - Get Comfortable

19. Scotland 2014: Faint Footsteps - Introduction

20. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - First Photos

21. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 15

22. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites

23. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 16

24. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 16

25. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 17

26. Scotland 2014 Video: Irvine, October 17

27. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourite (w Short Story)

28. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 18

29. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 19

30. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 20

31. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 20

32. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 21

33. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 21

34. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 22

35. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 22

36. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - Intro to Oct. 23

37. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 23

38. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 23

39. Scotland 2014 Photos - Intro to October 24

40. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 24

41. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites in BW - Oct. 24

42. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - Oct. 24

43. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourite - Oct. 24

44. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 25

45. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourite - October 25

46. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - Intro Oct. 26

47. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 26

48. Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 26

49. Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps - October 27

50. Photos taken in Glasgow before flight home TBA

Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps

Inveraray - Monday, October 27

["It's a long way to Inveraray. Rain drops keep falling on my head"]

Geoff and Margaret Slee of Edinburgh picked me up in their car early Monday morning and whisked me off to Inveraray. Though the day was overcast, dreary and drizzly, I felt (and Geoff said) it was the kind of day my father and his mates - from many Allied nations during WW2 - would have grown quite used to as they trained at HMS Quebec (Navy base) on Loch Fyne, a few minutes by car south of Inveraray.

 ["Troops sent to Inveraray would get off the train at Arrochar and Tarbet"]

 ["From Arrochar troops would be trucked on a long and winding road"]

 ["Veterans would long remember their first views of Inveraray"]

 ["The west side of the main street"]

["My father and mates would have been familiar with the east side too"]

I caught a sense of how rigorous the training was (in assaults and landings) undergone by Army, Navy and RAF personnel during the 1940s, thanks to the poor weather, harsh temperature of the loch and rugged countryside. But thanks to warm hospitality offered by local Scots and the undeniable beauty of the surroundings, time spent Scotland by Combined Ops trainees, Commandos, etc., would have been well remembered - as it is by me.

 ["The Navy drill hall still stands at the former HMS Quebec site"]

 ["A significant memorial to the members of Combined Operations"]

 ["The former HMS Quebec site is now home to a caravan park"]

 ["A few buildings and cement ramps still remain from the wartime era"]

 ["Seventy years ago assault landing craft filled the loch"]

["I will soon fly back to Scotland for more 'look-arounds and walk-abouts'"]

My first trip to Scotland was a door-opener and I will undoubtedly return for more and clearer 'look-arounds and walk-abouts' in the future. The desire to follow faint footsteps still holds me in its grasp.

Link to Scotland 2014 Photos - October 26

Link to Combined Operations by Geoff Slee

Photos GH

Scotland 2014 Photos: Favourites - October 26

Last Day in Edinburgh

 ["Nelson's Monument on Calton Hill, seen from North Bridge Street"]

["Monument on North Bridge"]

Link to more Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH

Scotland 2014 Photos: Faint Footsteps

Last Full Day in Edinburgh - Sunday, October 26

["The old chap chants for charity"]

I walked a lot of miles on this day, didn't get lost more than one or two times and made my 3 PM appointment to go underground, i.e., under the current city's main streets to see remnants of Old Edinburgh. If I recall correctly I ate lunch at Howie's and supper at Rabbie's and was back at my apartment by 9 PM, dog tired. I quickly tidied my luggage for an early trip to Inveraray with Geoff and Margaret Slee. Then slept like a rock.

["Early Sunday morning I found this simple, profound entreaty"]

The next five photos are of three subjects jammed side by each. So much of interest is found so close together I ended the day with 198 photos and several videos:

 ["Looks like a nice place for supper"]

["I found many rare single malts within, and bought

one for my 'workshop whisky sipping' group"]

I walked away from The Castle, downhill toward Hollyrood Park then uphill toward the top of Calton Hill and Admiral Horatio Nelson's monument. A sterling walk.

 ["Edinburgh Castle, at centre horizon line"]

 [Nelson's Monument, erected by 'the grateful citizens of

Edinburgh... to teach their sons to emulate what they admire,

and, like him, when duty requires it, to die for their country']

["A wide view of Hollyrood"]

Lunch at Howie's, followed by an underground tour:

 ["On the menu - tatties w gravy, haddies and haggis. Arrsum!"]

 ["Remnants of these buildings are underground on Mary King's Close"]

["If you got 'em, smoke 'em. Goodnight, Edinburgh"]

Lovely, narrow streets are everywhere. Some lead me home past quaint shops. News and loud snoring at eleven.

Link to Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH