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Doune Castle (HD quality)

The village of Doune lies 8 miles NW of Stirling, Scotland.
Doune (Gaelic: An Dùn, 'the fort') is in the district of Stirling, on the River Teith, although geographically, it is within Perthshire.

Doune Castle may look strangely familiar, even to those who have never visited before. It depends on your taste in films: Doune Castle is a place of pilgrimage for Monty Python fans from all over the world who come to see the place where they filmed parts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

It also has other, more traditional, claims to fame. Doune Castle was built at the end of the 1300s for Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany. The exact date of construction is not known and it is believed that the end result is not exactly what was originally planned. But the combination of buildings that emerged met all the military and domestic requirements of a royal castle.
Robert Stewart was also Earl of Menteith and Fife through marriage to Margaret, Countess of Menteith. As the third son of King Robert II and younger brother of Robert III, he became effective ruler of Scotland from 1388 until his death in 1420.
In 1420 governorship of the kingdom passed to Murdoch, Robert Stewart's son. However, his was to be a short reign. In 1424, James I returned from captivity in England and took power. Doune Castle then became a royal retreat and hunting lodge and was used by successive monarchs for more than a century.
In 1570, ownership passed to Sir James Stewart, the first Lord Doune. Later, the title Earl of Moray came to the occupants of the castle through marriage. Doune Castle has belonged to the Earls of Moray ever since.

The castle deteriorated through the 18th century, and by 1800 it was a roofless ruin. It remained so until the 1880s, when George Stuart, 14th Earl of Moray, began repair works. The timber roofs were replaced, and the interiors, including the panelling in the Lord's Hall, were installed. Further repairs were made in 1970. In 1984, the 20th Earl of Moray placed the castle in the care of the nation. It is now looked after by Historic Scotland who continue with restoration work.

Music: Pipe tunes - Mist Covered Mountains, Dark Island, Road to The Isles, Dream Valley of Glendural, The Old Rustic Bridge.

Coldoch Broch

Iron age broch, near Blairdrummond, Perthshire. Due to the recent good work of Stirling Archaeology volunteers, the previously very overgrown broch is now exposed and more detail can be seen.
One of the few lowland brochs.
Brochs are among Scotland's most impressive prehistoric buildings, the large majority of them dating from around 100 BC to 100 AD, the time of the Roman invasion of Britain. There are over 500 known sites of these iron age structures in Scotland, but it is only to the north and west, where stone was more readily available than timber, that brochs are to be found in any numbers.
Huge windowless towers, ingeniously engineered, they represent the pinnacle of dry-stone wall building, and remain one of the finest construction achievements of Iron Age Europe. Brochs were almost certainly originally roofed and would have had several timber floors known as galleries.

St Andrews Castle

St Andrews Castle has a violent and grisly history!
The castle's bottle dungeon is a dank and airless pit cut out of solid rock below the north-west tower. It housed local miscreants who fell under the Bishop's jurisdiction as well as several more prominent individuals such as David Stuart, Duke of Rothesay in 1402, Duke Murdoch in 1425, and Archbishop Patrick Graham, who was judged to be insane and imprisoned in his own castle in 1478. (Too dark to film bottle dungeon!)

There has been a fortification of some sort on this site since the 12th century. The castle was built as a defensive residence by Bishop Rodger. It has 400 hundred years of violent history and was destroyed and rebuilt many times. Incorporated into the Fore Tower are the remains of the Gate Tower built in 1200. It fell to the English in 1296, during which improvements were made in preparation to receive England`s King Edward. The Scots retook the castle in 1314 and dismantled it as part of Robert the Bruce`s policy of slighting castles.

Bishop William Lamberton made repairs to the castle from 1315 to 1320. In 1330 the castle again fell to the English. In 1337 the castle was recaptured by Sir Andrew Moray, Regent of Scotland, in a siege that lasted three weeks. The Scots destroyed the castle so that it would be unusable therefore preventing it from falling into English hands.

It lay in ruins until the end of the 14th century when Bishop Walter Trail ordered the castle to be rebuilt. He died here in 1401. It became the residence of the most powerful church leaders in Scotland. James I received his education from Bishop Henry Wardlaw here. Bishop Wardlaw was the founder of Scotland`s first University in 1410.

In 1521 Archbishop James Beaton began refortification of St. Andrews to withstand artillery fire. In 1537, he named his nephew, David, his appointed successor. In 1538, David became Archbishop of St. Andrews and a Cardinal of the Church.

Patrick Hamilton learned the teachings of Martin Luther and studied in Paris before he returned to the University at St. Andrews to teach. A supporter of the new reformation views, the Archbishop of St. Andrews had him arrested for heresy. Found guilty he was asked to recant, refusing to do so he was sentenced to death. On a cold, wintry day in February 1528, Patrick was burned at the stake outside St. Salvator`s Church. The difficulty of lighting the fire and the need to relight it several times prolonged the agony of his death for over six hours. It is said that the reek of Patrick Hamilton infected all on whom it blew, and, also, that an image of his face appeared miraculously on one of the stones on the clock tower as he died.

The Archbishop of St Andrews, Cardinal David Beaton (1494-1546), had the Protestant Preacher, George Wishart, taken to North Street in March 1546, where he was tied to a stake and burned alive. It is said Beaton watched this gruesome event from the comfort of the Bishop`s Castle. This made him many enemies.

It was not long after Preacher Wishart`s execution a group of Fife Lairds, who were Protestants, entered the castle dressed as workmen and found Beaton asleep in his bed (May 1546). His slain body was hung, naked, from the battlements of castle`s Tower House. And so like a butcher he lived, and like a butcher he died, and lay seven months and more unburied, and at last like a carrion was buried in a dunghill. The rebels held the castle for about a year, during which time the Earl of Arran held siege on the castle inflicting extensive damage. The castle was bombarded by cannon fire. He had guns mounted on the towers of St. Andrews Cathedral and St. Salvator`s Church. He finally defeated the rebels, one of whom was John Knox, with the arrival of the French fleet adding more cannons to the artillery`s fire power.

Archbishop John Hamilton succeeded Cardinal Beaton. Again the task of rebuilding the castle had begun. Upon his release, Knox returned to Scotland more dedicated than ever to the Protestant cause. In 1559, his preaching during the Reformation roused the fanatics in the mob to the point where they ransacked both the castle and Cathedral, eventually destroying them both. The Act of Annexation turned the castle and it`s land over to the Crown in1587. It then fell to ruin and in 1654 it was dismantled supplying building material for the harbour walls.

A mine and countermine had been dug from inside the castles grounds. Rediscovered in the 1900`s during local construction, was a large chamber where a underground battle had taken place. Further excavation uncovered a countermine with several false starts, making these siege works the finest of its kind in Europe.
Today's visitors are able to make their way down the countermine and into the mine, though it's not somewhere for those with claustrophobia!

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Spennithorne Station, Wensleydale Railway, Yorkshire

Spennithorne Station is rarely noted in local history as it had no freight facilities and was always a quiet rural station. It still stands alongside the active Wensleydale Railway.

10 Orb UFOs filmed (Scotland).flv

UFOs?Aliens?Paranormal?Gruesome videos of war and real accidents?If you are a seeker.The truth is out there.

Can-Am Pipe Band at Stirling Castle

The Can-Am pipes and drums play in the Queen Anne Garden, at Stirling Castle on 4th August 2012.
The Pipe Band are touring Scotland in 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year, and its members are from Canada (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Colombia and the Yukon) and the United States (Florida, Texas, New York, Oregon and Washington).
The band, which was formed in 2009, is based in Bowmanville Ontario, and currently consists of 42 pipes, 15 drums, colour party and Drum Major.

Scotland Trail Bike Trek Day 1.

Six day bike ride across Scotland coast to coast. From Skye to Montrose, 270 miles, during May 2013. Check out the the other day by day videos to see how we got on.....
Day 1 Skye to Arnisdale.

The Scottish Highlands

All the fun that is OutThere !!!

Flanders Moss NNR

Flanders Moss National Nature Reserve.
Autumn colours on Flanders Moss near Stirling. The lowland raised bog is Britains largest, and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. It is being restored to it`s original bogland state to encourage the flaura and fauna of the wetlands.
Music: Hasten & Come Back to Me The Munros from Scotland at Sunset.

NC 500 2017

This video is about NC 500 2017

Accordion Folk Ballad 6

This is a song from a cassette of Ecuadorian (Canar) folk ballads I was able to save and transfer to my computer. The cassette is about 30 years old, and it used to belong to my uncle, who enjoyed to play the accordion himself. As you can expect the quality is not great but good enough to hear.

The theme is about a woman that leaves her husband but his memory will stay with her, for the sake of the love she once had.

Enjoy.

Scottish arseholes and cycle paths

Hear about my experiences out cycling when a 'gentleman' offered some cycling advice.

You can follow me on twitter @MouthyMac

John o' Groats to Contin - The Scottish Adventure - Episode Seven

After a short drive from Dunnet Head we arrived at John o' Groats, then continued our journey back to our camp in Contin.

John o' Groats is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. Part of the county of Caithness, while it is not the most northerly settlement on the island of Great Britain, it is the farthest away from where we were last year, Land's End while still remaining in mainland Britain. The town takes its name from Jan de Groote, a Dutchman who obtained a grant for the ferry from the Scottish mainland to Orkney, local legend has the name John o'Groats comes from the charge of one groat payment for the journey to the islands.

Duncansby Head is the most north-easterly part of mainland Britain and is marked by Duncansby Head Lighthouse, the headland protrudes into the North Sea with the Pentland Firth to the north and west and the Moray Firth to the south.
A single-track road leads from John o' Groats to Duncansby Head, making Duncansby Head the farthest point by road from Land's End.

The Retro Lab's Scottish Adventure is a two thousand mile road trip around Scotland in which we continued our mission to find Britain's (and maybe even the world's) best driving roads, also visiting many castles and other points-of-interest along the way, but it didn't go quite how we had planned....
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode! If you like driving, adventures, castles, cars or amazing scenery you don't want to miss this!!

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Loneliest road in Britain. Pt 2 of 6

off the A87 in Scotland

About 5 miles out you pass a sign for a small unclassified road to the left, it seems insignificant enough, but in fact leads on to one of the remotest unclassified roads in the country, it is 23 miles long a dead end that leads to very little, other than spectacular scenery. This little roads winds up and down along the shores of Loch Garry and then further up Loch Quoich through a wild Landscape, eventually descending to sea level at Kinloch Huorn, the head of a deep sea loch and the start of a path leading to in to one of the largest and most beautiful wildernesses in the country, Knoydart. Well worth a visit if you have the stamina, no roads, very few people and even fewer houses.

Applecross - Bikers point of view - Going Down - The Pass of the Cattle - Vstrom DL650

Decent down the Pass of the Cattle, Scotland returning from Applecross, riding to Shiel Bridge Campsite. A truely awesome days riding in a beautiful country.

Loneliest road in Britain. Pt 1 of 6

off the A87 in Scotland

About 5 miles out you pass a sign for a small unclassified road to the left, it seems insignificant enough, but in fact leads on to one of the remotest unclassified roads in the country, it is 23 miles long a dead end that leads to very little, other than spectacular scenery. This little roads winds up and down along the shores of Loch Garry and then further up Loch Quoich through a wild Landscape, eventually descending to sea level at Kinloch Huorn, the head of a deep sea loch and the start of a path leading to in to one of the largest and most beautiful wildernesses in the country, Knoydart. Well worth a visit if you have the stamina, no roads, very few people and even fewer houses.

'Droning' Far North Scotland with GoPro!

GoPro footage from the Phantom 2 Quadcopter, during last week's (part of) tour to Wick & the John O'Groats area! (Best viewed in HD).

Socio-Political Activist, Fifth Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi: Arun Manilal Gandhi Interview

Arun Manilal Gandhi (born April 14, 1934) is the fifth grandson of Mohandas Gandhi through his second son Manilal. Following the footsteps of his grandfather, he is also a socio-political activist, although he eschews the ascetic lifestyle of his grandfather.

In 1987, Arun Gandhi moved to the United States along with his wife, Sunanda, to work on a study at the University of Mississippi. This study examined and contrasted the sorts of prejudices that existed in India, the U.S., and South Africa. Afterward they moved to Memphis, Tennessee and founded the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence hosted by the Christian Brothers University, a Catholic academic institution. This institute was dedicated to applying the principles of nonviolence at both local and global scales. In 1996, he cofounded the Season for Nonviolence as a yearly celebration of the philosophies and lives of Mahatma Gandhi and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In fall of 2007, Gandhi co-taught a course entitled Gandhi on Personal Leadership and Nonviolence at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. On November 12, 2007, Gandhi gave a lecture for the Salisbury University Center for Conflict Resolution's One Person Can Make a Difference Lecture Series, entitled Nonviolence in the Age of Terrorism. In fall of 2008, Gandhi returned to Salisbury University to co-teach a course entitled The Global Impact of Gandhi.

In 2007, after the passing of his wife, the institute moved to Rochester, New York, and is currently located on the University of Rochester River Campus.

Arun has given many speeches about nonviolence in many countries. During his tour to Israel, he urged the Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation peacefully to assure their freedom. In August 2004, Gandhi proposed to the Palestinian Parliament a peaceful march of 50,000 refugees across the Jordan River to return to their homeland, and said MPs should lead the way. Gandhi also claimed that the fate of Palestinians is ten times worse than that of blacks in South African Apartheid. He asked: What would happen? Maybe the Israeli army would shoot and kill several. They may kill 100. They may kill 200 men, women and children. And that would shock the world. The world will get up and say, 'What is going on?'. Gandhi later said that Yasser Arafat was receptive to the march idea, but it became a moot point after Arafat's November 2004 death.[citation needed] On January 7, 2008, while writing for the Washington Post's On Faith blog, Gandhi wrote that Jewish identity is locked into the holocaust experience, in which Jews overplay . . . to the point that it begins to repulse friends...Apparently, in the modern world, so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept. You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity. Gandhi later apologized for his remarks, saying he had been talking about all Jews when he should have been talking about Israel's policies, but he ended up resigning from his Institute on January 25, 2008.

On October 12, 2009 Arun visited the Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh to talk to P7's from all over Eastlothian in Scotland. On November 11, 2009 Arun visited Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, TN to speak and spread his message of peace. On November 13, 2009 Arun visited Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, TN to speak and spread his message of peace. On November 16, 2010 Arun visited The University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY to speak and spread his message of peace.