Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Tour Scotland Autumn photograph of the River Grudie on ancestry visit to the Scottish Highlands of Wester Ross, Scotland. The River Grudie, Abhainn Ghrùididh in Scottish Gaelic, flows into the River Bran, from the north, at Grudie. Grudie Power Station is situated at Grudie, taking water from several lochs, principally Loch Fannich through a tunnel emerging 0.5 miles from the station where a pipe network delivers it to the station. The outflow of the station flows into the River Grudie.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of the Falls of Bruar on the Bruar Water about 8 miles North of Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire, Scotland.They have been a tourist attraction since the 18th century and were immortalized in a poem by Robert Burns, The Humble Petition of Bruar Water.
My lord, I know your noble ear
Woe ne'er assails in vain;
Embolden'd thus, I beg you'll hear
Your humble slave complain,
How saucy Phoebus' scorching beams,
In flaming summer pride,
Dry withering, waste my foamy streams,
And drink my crystal tide.
The lightly jumping, glowrin' trouts,
That thro' my waters play,
If, in their random, wanton spouts,
They near the margin stray;
If, hapless chance! they linger lang,
I'm scorching up so shallow,
They're left the whitening stanes amang,
In gasping death to wallow.
Last day I grat wi' spite and teen,
As poet Burns came by.
That, to a bard, I should be seen
Wi' half my channel dry;
A panegyric rhyme, I ween,
Ev'n as I was, he shor'd me;
But had I in my glory been,
He, kneeling, wad ador'd me.
Here, foaming down the skelvy rocks,
In twisting strength I rin;
There, high my boiling torrent smokes,
Wild-roaring o'er a linn:
Enjoying each large spring and well,
As Nature gave them me,
I am, altho' I say't mysel',
Worth gaun a mile to see.
Would then my noble master please
To grant my highest wishes,
He'll shade my banks wi' tow'ring trees,
And bonie spreading bushes.
Delighted doubly then, my lord,
You'll wander on my banks,
And listen mony a grateful bird
Return you tuneful thanks.
The sober lav'rock, warbling wild,
Shall to the skies aspire;
The gowdspink, Music's gayest child,
Shall sweetly join the choir;
The blackbird strong, the lintwhite clear,
The mavis mild and mellow;
The robin pensive Autumn cheer,
In all her locks of yellow.
This, too, a covert shall ensure,
To shield them from the storm;
And coward maukin sleep secure,
Low in her grassy form:
Here shall the shepherd make his seat,
To weave his crown of flow'rs;
Or find a shelt'ring, safe retreat,
From prone-descending show'rs.
And here, by sweet, endearing stealth,
Shall meet the loving pair,
Despising worlds, with all their wealth,
As empty idle care;
The flow'rs shall vie in all their charms,
The hour of heav'n to grace;
And birks extend their fragrant arms
To screen the dear embrace.
Here haply too, at vernal dawn,
Some musing bard may stray,
And eye the smoking, dewy lawn,
And misty mountain grey;
Or, by the reaper's nightly beam,
Mild-chequering thro' the trees,
Rave to my darkly dashing stream,
Hoarse-swelling on the breeze.
Let lofty firs, and ashes cool,
My lowly banks o'erspread,
And view, deep-bending in the pool,
Their shadow's wat'ry bed:
Let fragrant birks, in woodbines drest,
My craggy cliffs adorn;
And, for the little songster's nest,
The close embow'ring thorn.
So may old Scotia's darling hope,
Your little angel band
Spring, like their fathers, up to prop
Their honour'd native land!
So may, thro' Albion's farthest ken,
To social-flowing glasses,
The grace be - "Athole's honest men,
And Athole's bonie lasses!
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland Winter photograph of Deacon Brodies Tavern, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland. Deacon Brodie, a pillar of the Establishment turned arch criminal, terrified late 18th century Edinburgh. William Brodie, born 28 September 1741, died 1 October 1788, more commonly known by his prestigious title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet maker, deacon of a trades guild, and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar, partly for the thrill, and partly to fund his gambling.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Pullar Park and gardens in Bridge Of Allan near Stirling, Scotland. The Park is located off Henderson Street in Bridge of Allan. The Park was donated to the local community by Major Edmund Pullar in 1919 following World War 1, as a location for a War Memorial. The Memorial was unveiled at the official opening ceremony on the 26th May 1923. The Memorial was first dedicated in 1923 to commemorate the servicemen of Bridge of Allan who gave their lives in the Great War 1914 to 1919. Then, in 1947, it was rededicated listing the names of members of the armed services who fell in World War II. The cenotaph, an obelisk set on a marble plinth - was refurbished and rededicated in 2009.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of Samson's Ribs in Kings Park, Edinburgh, Scotland. Samson's Ribs are a formation of columnar basalt. Holyrood Park, also called the Queen's Park or King's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender, is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about 1 mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of gorse, providing a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape within its 650 acre area. The park is associated with the royal palace of Holyroodhouse and was formerly a 12th century royal hunting estate. The park was created in 1541 when King James V had the ground " circulit about Arthurs Sett, Salisborie and Duddingston craggis " enclosed by a stone wall. Holyrood Park is now publicly accessible. Arthur's Seat, the highest point in Edinburgh, is at the centre of the park, with the cliffs of Salisbury Crags to the west. There are three lochs; St Margaret's Loch, Dunsapie Loch, and Duddingston Loch. The ruined St Anthony's Chapel stands above St Margaret's Loch. Queen's Drive is the main route through the Park, and is partly closed on Sundays to motor vehicles. St Margaret's Well and St Anthony's Well are both natural springs within the park. Holyrood Park is located to the south east of the Old Town, at the edge of the city centre. Abbeyhill is to the north, and Duddingston village to the east. The University of Edinburgh's Pollock Halls of Residence are to the south-west, and Dumbiedykes is to the west.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
