Author
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Laurence Mitchell
Writer and photographer based in Norwich, UK-
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Category Archives: Scotland
Riasg Buidhe – an abandoned village on the Isle of Colonsay
It is not that easy to find but if you go to the recycling depot at the highest point on the road between Scalasaig and Kiloran on the Isle of Colonsay, then follow the rough track that leads towards the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islands, Scotland
Tagged abandoned villages, Colonsay, Gaelic, Hebrides, Riasg Buidhe, ruins, St Kilda
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(Thirty-)Six Views of Bass Rock
‘It is just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from.’ Robert Louis Stevenson Catriona Japan’s Mount Fuji is a dormant volcano that looks just like a volcano should. An almost perfectly … Continue reading
Posted in Islands, Scotland, wildlife
Tagged Bass Rock, Edinburgh, Firth of Forth, gannets, Hokusai, Japan, Mount Fuji, seabirds, volcanoes
4 Comments
The Shores of Loch Bee
An island. A loch. An island — South Uist — that forms a link in an archipelago that lies off a much larger island, which in turn lies to the northwest of the world’s largest continental landmass. If the world … Continue reading
Posted in Islands, Scotland, wildlife
Tagged Loch Bee, lochs, Outer Hebrides, South Uist, Western Isles
6 Comments
Landfall – absence and dislocation on the Forth shore
It began with a dislocation. A couple of weeks’ residence north of the border in the house of friends who had chosen to trade the Scottish late winter for the Antipodean summer. It was an opportunity for some writing time … Continue reading
Posted in Scotland, wildlife
Tagged absence, beast from the east, birds, Edinburgh, Firth of Forth, landfall, snow
12 Comments
The Bridge to Nowhere and the Bays Road
Just three main roads radiate out of Stornoway, the capital of the Isle of Lewis. One heads across mountains towards Tarbet and Harris to the south; another goes east past the island’s airport and along the Eye Peninsula to come … Continue reading
Posted in Human Geography, Islands, Scotland, Travel
Tagged Bays Road, Bridge to Nowhere, Harris, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Skye, Western Isles
5 Comments
Callanish
“a place appointed for worship in the time of heathenism” Martin Martin A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland circa 1695 Someone once said that the wonder evoked by historical sites is inversely proportional to the number of eyes … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islands, Scotland, Travel
Tagged Callanish, Great Bernera, Lewis, monoliths, Outer Hebrides, prehistory, standing stones, Stonehenge
9 Comments
The Shape on the Map — South Lochs, Isle of Lewis
Eleven miles east of the main road, six from the nearest shop (closed on the Sabbath), two miles from the open sea as the raven flies. Glen Gravir – a slender thread of houses stretching up a glen, just four … Continue reading
Posted in Islands, Scotland, Travel, wildlife
Tagged Callanish, eagles, gneiss, Harris, Lewis, lochs, Outer Hebrides, religion, Western Isles
13 Comments
Gloomy Sunday
It is Sunday in Edinburgh and the city streets are filled with Frenchmen in blue shirts and black berets all come for the Six Nations rugby match against Scotland at Murrayfield stadium. Preferring the game that favours a more spherical … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Scotland, Travel
Tagged Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edinburgh, Glasgow, graveyards
3 Comments
