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There's more to the UK than Big Ben - where the package tours don't take you.

09/12/2024

Getting ready for Christmas 🎄 🧑‍🎄🎅🤶

02/12/2024

Dunoon is a coastal town situated on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland.
The town rapidly grew in the mid to late 19th Century due to the advent of steamship travel which connected the town with Glasgow.

For 80 years Dunoon was a favourite holiday destination for Glaswegians and many successful business people built holiday homes there. Popularity as a tourist destination reduced from the 1960s although recently the area has promoted itself to adventure tourists for biking, hill walking etc.
The busiest weekend of the year is in August for the Cowal Highland Gathering - this includes competitions for piping, highland dancing as well as physical trials of strength such as the shot putt, and the iconic tossing the caber (a large log). For tourists wanting to experience a Highland Games this is arguably the best, and probably one of the most accessible to visit.

Other tourist attractions in the town include a prominent statue of Highland Mary, who was born in the town and later immortalised in a famous poem written by Robert Burn , Scotland’s national bard.

07/11/2024

Whitby is a seaside town in North Yorkshire. It has been a fishing and tourist centre for several centuries but the two most famous attractions are the ruined abbey and the 199 steps leading up to it from the East Harbour.

The steps date which have Grade I listed status, date from 1370 and were originally made of wood but these were replaced by stone steps in the mid 18th Century. The steps were viewed as a sign of determination by early pilgrims in order to reach the abbey at the top of the hill.

Since the 13th century, the Church of St Mary has also stood at the top of the hill next to the abbey and the steps were the most direct route to the church from the town for funeral processions. Level platforms exist periodically in the ascent and it is assumed that these were to enable the pall bearers to rest the coffin on the journey.

There has been an abbey on the hill above Whitby since the 7th Century but this was demolished and rebuilt in the 13th Century as part of the Benedictine Order.

This abbey lasted until Henry VIII’s dissolution of all monasteries in 1538 and afterwards fell into disrepair. Further damage was incurred in December 1914 when two German battle cruisers shelled the abbey and the town during World War 1. The abbey ruins also have Grade 1 listed building status.

Both the 199 steps and the Abbey featured in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel ‘Dracula’.

03/11/2024

The Riverside Museum in Glasgow opened in 2011 and two years later won the European Museum of the Year Award. The building itself was designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects.

The majority of the exhibits are transport related and were formerly on show at the previous Glasgow Transport Museums in Pollokshields and subsequently the Kelvin Hall prior to the move to Riverside.

There is a particular focus on Glasgow Corporation trams, buses and the Subway (Underground) but also Scottish built cars and locomotives. Additionally given the museum’s location on the River Clyde, Glasgow’s rich shipbuilding heritage is also well represented with models of famous ocean liners and battleships that were built locally.

In addition to the transport exhibits there is also space dedicated to a reconstruction of a typical Glasgow street scene of the 1930s, which starkly contrasts the difference between then and the present day.

31/10/2024

PS Waverley is the only remaining sea going paddle steamer in the world. She commenced service in 1947 offering regular cruises on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland until 1973 when she was deemed uneconomic to continue due to reducing passenger numbers.

Due to her unique status she was then sold for £1 to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society. A successful public appeal was launched to enable the ship to be returned to service after restoration, and subsequent refits in 2000 and 2019 have also received support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

In recent years Waverley offers cruises from May through to October. Initially the cruises are on the Firth of Clyde and the West Highlands but in August/September she travels further afield to the Bristol Channel, the South Coast and the Thames.

Full details of all cruises, ticket prices and timetables can be viewed on the Waverley Excursions web page.

28/10/2024

Glasgow at night - a few illuminated city centre buildings (plus the iconic traffic cone statue). The buildings shown are Fraser’s Department Store, the Gallery of Modern Art and the City Chambers.

26/10/2024

Ullswater is the second largest lake of the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is 7 miles (11km) long and 0.75 miles (1.25 km) wide and has been a tourist destination since the 18th Century. In recent times Ullswater and the surrounding fells are particularly popular with walkers and sailors.

Malcolm Campbell set the world water speed record on Ullswater in 1955, reaching 202 mph (325 kph) in his jet hydroplane Bluebird K7. Nowadays, Ullswater Steamers traverse the lake all year round, calling at villages on the edge of the lake, albeit at a much slower pace than Campbell, allowing tourists to appreciate the surrounding scenic beauty.

At the north end of the lake is the village of Pooley Bridge. The original stone bridge, constructed in 1764 was swept away by floods in 2015, but was replaced by a new strengthened bridge in 2020.

22/10/2024

Caernarfon is a town in the county of Gywnedd in north west Wales, which has been settled since before Roman times. However, it grew in importance following the conquest of Wales by King Edward I of England, as he ordered the construction of a castle in 1283 to defend the newly acquired territory.

The following year his son, who subsequently became Edward II was born at the castle and was the first son of an English sovereign to be proclaimed Prince of Wales. In the 20th century, there were two further investitures of this title, the first in 1911 for the eldest son of George V who became Edward VIII in 1936, and in 1969 the eldest son of Elizabeth II who became Charles III in 2022.

The castle and the remaining medieval town walls were declared a World Heritage Site in 1986 and are open to visitors. The castle also includes the regimental museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which details the complete history of the regiment as part of the British Army over the past 300+ years.

The town itself had just under 10,000 residents at the 2011 census but it was also identified that the largest % of Welsh language speakers in the entire country was found in the Caernarfon area.

20/10/2024

The Isle of Wight is England’s largest island and has been a popular tourist destination for over 100 years. There are a number of car ferry services from the mainland to the island, but the quickest service albeit passenger only, is the Hovertravel route between Southsea and Ryde.

This service is the only remaining all year round scheduled hovercraft in the world. The crossing was introduced in 1965 and departs every 30 minutes, with the journey taking only 10 minutes. The hovercraft can reach speeds of 46 mph/ 74 kph and when the skirt is fully inflated hovers 5 feet/1.5 metres above the surface of the water.

Each hovercraft can carry 78 passengers per journey, although it is advised to book in advance to obtain preferred departure times. The service is used by commuters as well as holidaymakers but it also gives an opportunity for visitors to the South Coast, particularly from overseas, to experience a totally unique type of travel.

17/10/2024

The Titanic Museum in Belfast has rightly received a number of awards as an outstanding tourist attraction, and is now the premier tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.

The museum is situated in the dockland area of Belfast where the ship was built and is accessible by car and public transport.

The museum tells the story of Belfast and its people both before and during the ships construction between 1909-1912 in addition to technical details of the ship and the daily lives of its passengers.

The sequence of events leading up to the collision with the iceberg is explored and also how and why the ship sank as quickly as it did and why so many people lost their life.

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