#Scottish tourism

[virtualscotland]

We recently visited Paisley and had a little explore of the town centre and some of its lovely buildings, including the Abbey! 😀

[spiceberryxo]

Hey tumblr! If anyone is visiting Edinburgh anytime soon and if you want to support a small queer business, please check out kafe kweer. This is such a wholesome cafe that do great food and drinks! They also do social and craft events where you can meet new friends!

[perenial]

What are good books about explorers, if I may ask? I'd love to get into some harrowing survival (or just trying to survive) stories.

HI ok these are all heroic age antarctica-centric bc that's all i've had rattling around in my brain for a solid year and a half now so if anyone has non-polar recs pls feel free to throw em in the replies lmao

if we're talking harrowing survival there's nothing more fucked than shackleton's trans-imperial expedition aka endurance and the ross sea party. the classic here is endurance by alfred lansing (and ofc south by ol ernie shackles but i feel like his own account is less approachable to a first time reader) but i also highly recommend the lost men by kelly tyler-lewis for the ross sea party half of the story that often falls to the wayside.

and we can't talk abt shackleton without getting into scott & the terra nova & the race for the pole which WILL take over ur life if u get into it lol. the worst journey in the world by apsley cherry-garrard is required reading (and so is cherry by sara wheeler, possibly my fave biography of all time), and for a more general overview a first-rate tragedy by diana preston is the absolute gold standard. for amundsen ask @roaldamundsen there's the last viking by stephen r. brown which i haven't read yet but i've heard v good things about (nb: u may be recommended roland huntford's books when it comes to amundsen. read them if u want but he's got a Thing against scott which in turn distorts how he approaches amundsen but then again every polar biographer wants to make tender romantic love to their special little guy so)

OH and we can't forget the northern party aka six guys in a hole (NOT sexy) (well–). there are banger first-hand accounts (especially raymond priestley's) but weirdly enough my fave when it comes to this part of the terra nova story is a polar affair by lloyd spencer-davis, which is technically abt the sex lives of adélie penguins. it was the first book i read connected to terra nova and although it leans more popular history than rigorous biography or historical analysis it rly primes u to understand the fricative relationship between the expedition's two intertwined objectives – scientific advancement and imperialist glory – that were the root of most of their issues.

outside of endurance & terra nova i'd be remiss not to rec The gateway book to antarctic history, the madhouse at the end of the earth by julian sancton. i should have put this first bc this is genuinely one of my fave books of all time, polar-related or otherwise. it's a comedy it's a tragedy it's an adventure it's an insight into colonial ambition (although imo this aspect could have been pushed further) it's a romance for two specific guys it could easily be a musical it might be adapted into a tv show or movie in the near future?? it's an absolute trip i rec it to anyone who stands still enough to let me shove a copy in their hands. read madhouse NOW

finally i want to give a shout out to the australasian antarctic expedition which in comparison is less insane than everything else here but it's entirely possible the guy who was once on the australian $100 note ate his dog handler. so like. read alone on the ice by david roberts

(ps. for more boat books see @jesslovesboats's banger posts ✌️⛵️)

[shutterandsentence]

Happy Halloween!

Photo: Edinburgh, Scotland

[shambholic]

Scottish Highlands 

[origami-butterfly]

[ID: A graph where the x-axis is labelled "How far north you are in Britain" and the y-axis is labelled "How good the water tastes". On the graph is a direct proportion line that goes diagonally upwards from the origin. End ID]

If you know you know.

[willowiswillow]

Ok so I have a question for my fellow Scots, mainly Invernessians. Are you guys also just SO FUCKING BORED ALL THE TIME BECAUSE LIKE WE HAVE THE LOCH NESS, WHAT SCOTLAND IS MAINLY KNOWN FOR, AND THEN PRETTY MUCH NOTHING ELSE???? Like GLASGOW GETS EVERYTHING GOOD.

[vox-anglosphere]

Scotland's pristine Isle of Skye is expecting 1,000,000 visitors this year. Conservationists wonder if the island can handle such volume.

[thethirdromana]

Davie and Catriona's travels in the Netherlands

Rotterdam:

It was a black night, but lights were in the houses, and nearer hand in the quiet ships; there was a shining of the city on the one hand, and a buzz hung over it of many thousands walking and talking; on the other, it was dark and the water bubbled on the sides.

The Hague:

That road from Delft to the Hague is just five miles of a fine avenue shaded with trees, a canal on the one hand, on the other excellent pastures of cattle. 

Delft:

The red gabled houses made a handsome show on either hand of a canal; the servant lassies were out slestering and scrubbing at the very stones upon the public highway; smoke rose from a hundred kitchens

Leiden:

There is a garden in that city we were bound to, sanded below with clean sand, the trees meeting overhead, some of them trimmed, some pleached, and the whole place beautified with alleys and arbours.

[frecht]

i loove watching youtube videos abt social media and trends bc ive never heard of any of the stuff they talk abt. oh this store has been flooding "our" instagram and tiktok feeds? not mine!

[marcalanpen-blog]

Brora Beach and its Arctic Terns.

[virtualscotland]

Hi everyone! This is just a little look around the town of Dingwall in the Highlands of Scotland last week - I think we just missed the worst of the snow but there was still some there! 😂 Dingwall is a good stopoff point at the start of the NC500 route, just north of Inverness. 😀

[voguegenics]

Cities Calling My Name: A History Buff’s Travel Bucket List

Imagine standing in the room where the Declaration of Independence was drafted or strolling through the cobblestone streets of Savannah. As a history buff, these cities have my heart—and they deserve a spot on your travel bucket list. ❤️USA

Daily writing promptWhat cities do you want to visit?View all responses When the question of dream cities comes up, my wanderlust immediately kicks in, followed by my love of history. You see, I’m the kind of person who gets misty-eyed standing in the room where world-changing decisions were made or where humanity’s wildest dreams first took flight. It’s why Philadelphia stole a piece of my…

[rasmasandra]

Traveling in Europe Scotland

Traveling in the Scottish Highlands The beauty of Scotland The Scottish Highlands stretch from Inverness north to Thurso and are separated from the rest of the country by the Great Glen, Glen More. This ancient fault line was used to create the Caledonian Canal, a waterway extending from the west coast to the east, from Loch Linnhe to the Moray Firth with the amazing Loch Ness along the way.…

[shutterandsentence]

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Photo: Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, UK

[emilysandifer]

CREAG NA H-IOLAIRE: "Rock of the Eagle"