#balmaha

[sometimesjenniferreads]

The other-worldy beauty of Loch Lomond...

[freedformwriter]

[theragingmoon]

@anitaszatmary

[mywalkabout40]

Over Conic Hill to Balmaha

Over Conic Hill to Balmaha

I wake up more than well rested, and slowly head on over to my hosts breakfast nook attached to the main house. A light rain is falling this morning. A hearty meal of salmon, scrambled eggs and lox more than fill my belly. I eat with three young people from the Netherlands, a married couple with the wife’s best friend. We all talk about our walks we have today, and I find they’ll be going almost…

[c-kiddo]

Hey fir! Wanted to update you on my Scotland trip plans, planning rn to go to Glasgow and then go up to loch lommond and mayyyybe up to isle of skye but that may be too difficult- but yeah really excited!!! 🌲💚

:-D ah nice!! i love loch lomond a lot and have been a million times , like walking up into cashel woods or just seeing it from the campsies or something in the distance too. how the islands and arrochar alps look too, its comforting, i have lots of photos.

i havent been to skye but that sounds rly cool if you manage to go !! there's a lot of cool paleontology jurassic stuff there. you can technically go by train + ferry from mallaig but i think you sort of need a car or coach trip for the actual island because its big, so i couldnt rly go on my own. (same with like, ferry from oban to mull and iona etc. .) but anyway. ramble. rly hope you have a nice time :- ] !

[cnjtreeservicesuk]

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[scotianostra]

December 29th 1914 saw the birth of a Scottish legend, Tom Weir

Tom was born in Springburn, Glasgow the son of a locomotive engineer fitter, he belonged to the first generation of working-class outdoor men and began his career tramping the hills near the city whenever he could escape from the grocers shop where he worked.

The adventurer, is credited as introducing thousands of people to Scotland’s great outdoors through his tales of climbing, walking, nature conservation and campaigning. Tom is also fondly remembered for his long-running STV series, Weir’s Way, and his Scots Magazine column, which he wrote for 50 years.

Tom Weir was a writer, broadcaster, hill-walker, rock-climber, historian, naturalist and explorer. He was a popular sight traipsing across the Scottish countryside in his red bobble hat and Fair Isle jumpers since the 1930s.

There's probably not a single glen or mountain that he hadn't visited. Tom didn't just climb in Scotland, in 1950 he was a member of the first post-war Himalayan expedition and in 1952 was one of the first mountaineers to explore the hitherto closed ranges of Nepal, east of Katmandu.

His travels took him to the High Artic of East Greenland, the peaks of Northern Norway, the High Atlas of Morocco and the troubled frontier of the Iran, Syrian and Turkish Mountain lands known as Kurdistan.

He was the best of Scots and represented all that is good in our Nation. He spread enlightenment and joy wherever he went and will live on in our memories.

To this day the legend lives on with his statue at Balmaha on the shores of Loch Lomond, who hasn't visited and not had their photo taken beside it? Well me and ma wee Sis have, as seen in the pic.

Tom Weir passed away at the grand age of 91, on July 6th 2006, he was buried at in Kilmaronock Parish Church, near Drymen. He was buried in the same plot as the ashes of his big sister the actress Molly Weir.

[mightywellfan]

North pier, Inchcailloch

One of two landing stages on the island just off Balmaha, Loch Lomond

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

After almost a year of his hiking along the West Highland Way, some questions invite reflection.

It was a surprise to hear his complaints about travelling through the West Highland Way, even though he is a lowlander, he can venture to the Highlands as much as he wants. The weather was bad at the start of his trip, but the satisfaction and experience is wonderful. Throughout the WHW you meet many people all passionate about their journey and no one complains or hesitates to give up. If you live this adventure in the same climate, do not hesitate. So just do it, the best views would be behind you. I recommend that you complete it.

This is the Scottish landscape where he enters nature, what did he expect to find? We walked among ruins, sheep, wonderful forests, Scottish Wild Mushroom 🍄 and cows, we walked for miles without complaining. Considering this is a long walk through the Scottish Highlands.

He grow up in Rural Scotland and has a fear of cows 🐄 He has Bovinophobia? It is probable that, like most phobias, the fear derives from the lack of understanding and knowledge of bovine behaviour. With negative emotions of fear and disgust evoked by certain animals along the trip. We react to animals that represent a real threat; however, identifying disgust-evoking animals might be harder.

Or Is he ready to extrapolate his fears to convince himself that there is a much greater danger than reality.?

Yes, these are Scottish Highland Coos. Both bulls and cows can be dangerous for walkers, if you have to walk through a cattle field, but this is not the case through WHW. Why would He be afraid of cows? If he grew up in rural Scotland. Sheep are no big deal, lambs are NOT scary. They're adorable. So, his fear of cows is unfounded or real. He can't help it, the cows make him nervous, in this case, he had a bad experience and saw it as a challenge and didn't mention it in his book?

He bought new gear, even new boots for a hike. Venturing along 96 miles of natural terrain, ascending mountains and descending river beds may seem daunting to those who are unfamiliar with long-distance walking, but the West Highland Way is suitable for everyone, even beginners, but he was not prepared his decision was spontaneous. No serious hiker does make so many mistakes. Honestly, the MPC leader pocketed his ignorance in his backpack 🎒along the West Highland Way and it is not funny.

He walked from south to north, on the outskirts of Glasgow. He started the West Highland Way from Milngavie on Day one to Balmaha - 22miles -he reached the top of Conic Hill ( 1st IG story) and Millarrochy Bay, on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond. (1st camped) On Day two Millarrochy Bay, to Inverarnan, (40.2 mi-2nd stage) located at the top of Loch Lomond on the Drovers Inn, Hotel – he didn’t miss it!

It was at the beginning of his tour of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park that he spent the night at Drovers Inn where he almost gave up continuing along the West Highland Way due to the adversities encountered due to the lack of planning and logistics of a hasty decision. He wanted to go home under his duvet.

Thinking of abandoning the plan by going back before reaching the end of the road. He was not familiar with the path before he started the journey. He acts, moved by impulse without mediating a previous deliberation.

The weight of his backpack also influences his choice of hiking boots. The footwear he chooses depends on the distance of the walk and the time in which he wants to carry it out. The recommendation is always tries to make your backpack as light as possible, take only the essentials. But he put in his backpack 🎒 everything he found within reach in his kitchen, the touch of cinnamon in his porridge was the highlight.

How is it possible? Why is this so dramatic with him? Act like in a play. Thousands of people hike the West Highland Way each year. The mountainous scenery, beautiful lochs and a serene sense of calm brought about by the remote Scottish Highlands sparked a struggle that he found himself in while walking 🥾 along the Western Highland Way, the 42-year-old reciting 'Romeo and Juliet ' to calm down.. .. why didn't he sing 'Singin' in the Rain'?

He wasn't playing any theatrical role on this walk, but he was acting like one onstage by speaking aloud the inner thoughts of his character. Definitely, after his typecasting with his character, it will be difficult to find work playing other characters.

@maryofboston If you didn’t hike this path before you have no way of measuring the difference.

[celtfather]

Whale Hymn #662

Out on the ocean, the wind blowing through our hair with whales on the horizon on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #662. Subscribe now!

Lunasa, Natalie Padilla, Wylde Nept, Louise Bichan, Adria Jackson, Dublin Gulch, Tarren, Bettina Solas, The BorderCollies, The Crowfoot Rakes, Solar Grove, The Kilt LIfters, High Octane, Bealtaine

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VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2024

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2024 episode. You have just three weeks to vote this year. Vote Now!

You can follow our playlist on Spotify to listen to those top voted tracks as they are added every 2 - 3 weeks. It also makes it easier for you to add these artists to your own playlists. You can also check out our Irish & Celtic Music Videos.

THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:02 - Intro: Matthew Newman

0:15 - Lúnasa “O’Carolan's Tea” from Live in Kyoto

3:53 - WELCOME

5:34 - Natalie Padilla “Larkspur” from Montana Wildflower

8:56 - Wylde Nept “Sail Forever” from All's Fair

12:31 - Louise Bichan “Deltingside” from The Lost Summer

17:57 - Adria Jackson “The Skye Boat Song” from Troubadour

20:10 - FEEDBACK

24:16 - Dublin Gulch “The Orphan Girl” from Tap 'Er Light

26:55 - Tarren “Spring Polkas” from Revel

31:55 - Bettina Solas “Chatham Street Faire” from Ruminations and Wanderings

34:54 - The BorderCollies “Galway Shawl” from To the Hills and Back

39:30 - Erin Ruth “The Lonely Woods Of Upton” from single

42:56 - THANKS

45:08 - The Crowfoot Rakes “Spanish Ladies” from Off She Goes

48:41 - Solar Grove “Rust From The Storm   “ from single

53:58 - The Kilt LIfters “Red, Red, Rose” from single

56:39 - High Octane “Trip to Balmaha” from High Octane

1:00:26 - CLOSING

1:01:48 - Bealtaine “The Whale Hymn” from The Founders' Room

1:06:02 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to follow the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

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Promote Celtic culture through music at http://celticmusicpodcast.com/.

WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn.

This podcast is for fans of Celtic music. We have it all from traditional jigs and reels to Irish drinking songs to Celtic rock and even occasionally some electronic based Celtic. There’s also a lot of original songs and tunes inspired by Celtic culture from Celtic musicians.

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You are amazing. It is because of your generosity that you get to hear so much great Celtic music each and every week.

Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

As a patron, you get ad - free and music - only episodes before regular listeners, vote in the Celtic Top 20, stand - alone stories, you get a private feed to listen to the show or you can listen through the Patreon app.  All that for as little as $1 per episode.

A special thanks to our Celtic Legends: Marti Meyers, Brenda, Karen DM Harris, Emma Bartholomew, Dan mcDade, Carol Baril, Miranda Nelson, Nancie Barnett, Kevin Long, Gary R Hook, Lynda MacNeil, Kelly Garrod, Annie Lorkowski, Shawn Cali

HERE IS YOUR THREE STEP PLAN TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST

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Decide how much you want to pledge every week, $1, $5, $25. Make sure to cap how much you want to spend per month.

Keep listening to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast to celebrate Celtic culture through music.

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TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

Every year, I take a small group of Celtic music fans on the relaxing adventure of a lifetime. We get to know a region through its culture, history, and legends. This fall, I’m taking a group to taste Scottish whisky. We’ll visit at least three of the Scottish whisky regions. Taste a variety of whiskeys, then we will do some light hiking through the Scottish countryside.

You can join us with an auditory and visual adventure through podcasts and videos. Learn more about the invasion at http://celticinvasion.com/ #celticmusic #irishmusic #celticmusicpodcast

I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a  picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

Email me at follow@bestcelticmusic.

murray mcdowell sent a picture and wrote: “hi Marc, we had a fantastic St Patrick's weekend culminating in a great session in Katy Jane's Bar in Larne, Co. Antrim”

fitz ml wrote: “Marc, so glad you had a fun St. Patrick's Day. We had a church potluck with corned beef and cabbage and a lot of people showed up in different shades of green.”

Dinah emailed photos: “Happy Day after☘️ Here I am playing fiddle with Michael Hynes (duo is Fiddlers Rock) at the Golden Lion [right across road from Atlantic Ocean] in Flagler Beach FL. Last night 3/17, I came down to play St. Patrick’s Day gigs with Michael/Mike Hynes who moved here almost three years ago from MA ☘️”

Jolena Foster emailed: “Hi Mark: I'm Jolena. I used to contact you some on mastodon some. Anyway, I'm sitting outside while listening to the podcast. It's 70° right now with the temperature climbing up to 79°. Keep playing the great celtic music, and I'll keep listening.”

John L Pearson emailed: “Marc!! I often use March to dig through my own archives of Celtic music, and I celebrate long - distance with a great friend who is a Celtic jewelry maker I met at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival way more than a decade ago!

I love the podcast, and can’t remember right off the last new fav I heard on the podcast. In the last year or two I really got into Shane Henessey’s guitar stuff—not sure if I heard it on your podcast or elsewhere.

But I also pull out old favs. The Waterboys Room to Roam. Maybe not quite celtic, but a couple of the early bands had that flavor.

And I’ll put on some Great Big Sea—though sadly they aren’t around anymore, Alan Doyle is still out there making music. And when I really feel the need to get up and dance, I thrown on some Natalie MacMaster. And then when I’m tired and need to get contemplative over a green beer (at least metaphorically green) I’ll put on some Loreena McKennitt.

And I can’t begin to tell you how much great Celtic music you have turned me on to. Thank You! I’m looking forward to your St. Pat’s month podcast! Stainte!”

David Cullen emailed a photo: “Greetings from The Brogues in Townsville Australia

Hope you had a great weekend, Marc.”

  Check out this episode!

[francinebill]

May 16 - We left St. Andrews and drove through the town before heading to the Scottish coast for the Fife Coastal walk. We started the 6.1 mile walk in the town of Crail then through Anstruther and ending in the active fishing town of Pittenweem where we had a delightful and creative lunch at the Dory Bistro. After lunch we were driven to the Cameron House, a stunning five-star property located on the shore of Loch Lomond. Our dinner was at the Cameron Grill overlooking the lake.

May 17 - 18 - After a hearty breakfast we embarked on a private boat ride on Loch Lomond, the largest loch in Scotland. We ended the ride in Balmaha, a small remote harbor where we disembarked. Our walk was on the West Highland Way, a well known hiking trail in Scotland, and we were accompanied by Emma, a local naturalist, who explained the history of the loch and the on going conservation.

Our day was warm and clear and ended with a delicious picnic lunch prepared by our guides. We returned to our beautiful hotel to enjoy the amenities and views before our last evening where we were entertained by a bagpiper followed by a private farewell dinner.

The final morning was a visit to the Stirling Castle, in the town of Stirling, sitting high about the valley. We walked the grounds and enjoyed the view before our final goodbyes to the other guests. Then we were off to the Edinburgh airport for our flight to London.

[legitedigiulia]

ANNNNND: IT’ S OPEN VIEW

Balmaha, Loch Lomond

may 2019

[freedformwriter]

Diary of a Baggage Train: Day 3

This compositional device constricts and releases the visitors experience, encouraging them to appreciate the holistic …natural landscape.

The visitor centre at Cashel Native Forestry Centre is the usual ad hoc collection: children’s art (unsurprisingly, mostly of trees), copies of a lizard census, a whiteboard chronicling what people have seen on their walk (sheep, two ducks, a red fox). What intrigues me the most are the slick signs adverting the forestry’s services completed and shortlisted accessibility projects. Long covid has sharpened my principled support for accessibility. I’ve just walked the centre’s green path, a 500-metre loop that took me along a lovely little babbling brook. I’m immensely grateful for the immersion in a private, wild spot with an abundance of benches. But these installations approach accessibility with a philosophical lens in which level access doesn’t factor.

If a gallery asked me to curate these proposals as an exhibition, I would call it ‘Put Me In A Box So I Can See Things.’ The box already installed looks like one of those cages they lock thrill seeking tourists in before lowering them into shark-infested waters. It juts from a steep bank above a waterfall, its corroding iron bars a permanent autumn among green trees. Shortlisted projects include a box bridge over a waterfall, allowing humans to access a space that is wholly inaccessible by being in the middle of the river. A third project proposes to encapsulate the experience being directly on the rift between Lowland and Highland Scotland. I’ve just crossed the Ice-Age rift on the short drive from Balmaha to Cashel, and I’m intriguing to see it expressed in design. It’s another box.

My favourite, most prosaic, proposal is called Am Balla. Eschewing waterfalls and ridgelines, it wants to put a box on the Caledonian Canal. It’s bold. A canal is a natural resource already paved and tamed by human. It’s also the only proposal that directly confronts why we need boxes to access nature. The box, the architect tells us, is a framing device, creating a ‘controlled spatial experience’ that better engages people with the canal. I hear an underlying assumption that people cannot properly see an outdoor space without an indoor space, a restricted interior created to match and enhance the limitless exterior. Is this absolute architectural wankery or is there something behind this whole concept of intermediary boxes? My immediately reaction is to rail against the professed need that even the most pedestrian – literally – of landscapes now needs an interpreter. But then I use restriction, of senses and movement, to liberate my thoughts. Humans have for millennia. I’m going to back to the whiteboard with this one.

[geographicanatomy]

West Highland Way - April 2017

Partial route: from Balmaha to Bridge of Orchy

[mywalkabout40]

Along Loch Lomond shores to Rowardennan

Along Loch Lomond shores to Rowardennan

Overcast skies but no rain this morning in Balmaha. After breakfast I walk down to the shoreline to fill my camel back with water for today’s walk. I must look like I know what I’m doing as several people were asking me for route directions and trail conditions this morn. I try to be as helpful as I can. Along the road following the Loch for a few minutes before the West Highland Way trail heads…

[sztupy]

Future generation border guard

Sétálunk itt a Highlanden (extra adag mézeskaláccsal, hogy ne kelljen egymást megenni), az egyik kapunál áll egy 7 éves forma kisfiú és tartja szorosan a kaput.

- I'm a border guard! Passports! I can only let in one person every 20 seconds otherwise there will be to much!

Az anyja mellette meg csak áll és mondja mindenkinek, hogy sorry, sorry, sorry