Tag Archives: Scotland

The Road to Skye

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The Road to Skye

There are two main roads that lead to Skye – the A830 to Mallaig (which involves catching the ferry to Armadale), and the A87 to the Skye Bridge, which is the route I’ll be covering here.

The A87 begins at Invergarry near to Loch Oich in the Great Glen and continues for another 99 miles to Uig on Skye, where you can catch the ferry out to Harris on the Outer Hebrides. The section between Invergarry and the Skye Bridge is about half that distance and takes around an hour without stops – but I’ll eat my Tam O’Shanter if you manage to do it without stopping. Better still, why not let me face the elements, and carry you away towards the Misty Isle, while you sit back with a wee dram and enjoy the scenery from the comfort of your armchair.

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Originally posted 2022-01-10 16:41:27.

Glasgow – No Mean City

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Glasgow - No Mean City

No Mean City is a novel written by Alexander McArthur and H. Kingsley Long and is about the razor gangs of the Gorbals, a notorious working-class district on the south side of the River Clyde. It was set in the inter-war years and did nothing to change people’s perception of Glasgow’s tough reputation, one in which the stereotype is likely to be a heavy drinking sectarian football fanatic who might well have worked as a welder in a Govan shipyard and spent his Saturday nights trying to drink Sauchiehall Street dry.

Glasgow’s tough reputation stems from the days when it was the ‘Second City of the Empire’. The industrialization of Glasgow produced shipyards, factories and slums, and although there are plenty of examples of some fine Victorian classical architecture, I don’t think that even the staunchest Glaswegian would say that they live in a beautiful city – but beauty is only skin deep. Scratch below the surface and you’ll find that there’s a lot more to Glasgow than you might have realised.

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Originally posted 2021-04-17 08:51:42.