St Ninian of Whithorn

During our short break to the South of Scotland, we decided to visit St. Ninian's cave in Whithorn.

It is a place of Pilgrimage, long associated with St Ninian who is alleged to have used this cave as a quiet place to pray.

When we got to the car park, the notice said, "St. Ninian's Cave 1 mile. Stout shoeware recommended."

Dear reader....whenever you see such a warning, pay heed. My dear wife shrugged her shoulders, and in her high heels, set off down the path towards the beach in search of Ninian's cave. Now between us and the cave lay mud, a very rocky beach and a bitter wind.

But we offered it up. After all, it was a Pilgrimage, not a holiday....

My wife has a back problem, ( and high heels )I have a small heart problem, so we were not going to be in a hurry. Just as well.

Suffice to say, we finally reached the beach, where the wind was blowing the waves strongly on to the rocks. But Ninian's cave was a tad further on, but we both persevered, and finally reached the hallowed cave. On the way, my wife gathered some wood an some rope, and made a rugged little cross, which we left in the cave.

Ninian himself is quite an elusive character. No written history exists of him from his lifetime. Only things written long after his death.

He is thought of as Scotland's first Saint, who brought the Gospel to Scotland even before Augustine arrived in England, something Pope Benedict drew attention to on his visit to Scotland.

There is no doubting that Whithorn has long been a Christian Centre. Evidence of settlement from the fiifth century has been discovered by archaelogists. We also know that from the 7th Century, Christians were making Pilgrimages to Whithorn in honour of St. Ninian. And his fame spread, with churches around Britain and Europe being named after him.

It was inevitably the Reformation that brought an end to Whithorn Pilgrimages. But in recent years , their popularity has rekindled the practice, and Christians of many denominations now take part in such shows of faith.

Dunblane

Last Friday I bid farewell to my Mazda 6. I bought the car in 2008, at which time it had 16000 miles on the clock.
It has given me 82000 miles of pleasant motoring. I looked after it extremely well. Until this year had cost me little in repairs, but in the last few months it was beginning to cost me money, so I decided that if there was something suitable, I would make the change.
And last week I found a car which ticked all the boxes. I am now the proud owner of a 7 seater Renault Grand Scenic TomTom Privilege people carrier.

It is a diesel engine, my first. So the annual road tax is half of that of the Mazda. The diesel engine is very frugal, and I am looking at 55mph, twice the Mazda range. it is a1.5 engine compared to the Mazda's 2 litre.  It has a 6 speed gearbox.All in all outgoings will be considerably reduced.

The Renault does have a few quirks. It is a keyless system. the car unlocks as you approach and locks as you walk away. There is built in SatNav, but it only works when the radio is on. Not the best of design. And there is no spare wheel, rather a sealing system with an electric pump.

So on Monday as we had an errand to run, it was the first chance to try it out on the road to Dunblane.

Dunblane will for ever be remembered as a result of the massacre at the local primary school, where a deranged gunman entered the school on the 13th March 1996 and shot dead 16 five year old children and their teacher before killing himself.

I was teaching in Glasgow at the time and still remember the sense of horror and shock that spread throughout the country.
It changed forever the way schools were viewed, and brought an  end to the open door policy which had existed till then.

Dunblane of course is also the home town of Andy Murray, the great tennis player.

It is a pretty little town, with a large cathedral and some interesting buildings. It lies just off the main road between Stirling and Perth.

Some photos I took today in Dunblane.

Portpatrick

We are not long returned from 5 days in the South West of Scotland, staying in a pretty little village called Port Patrick.

The village is picturesque and lies not far from the 2 main ports of Cairnryan and Stranraer which serve as the ferry terminals for traffic between Scotland and Ireland. P&O sail from Stranraer, while Stenna sail from Cairnryan.

It was noticeable how many Northern Ireland accents were to be heard amongst shopkeepers, hotel staff and among passers by in nearby towns and villages.
Our Hotel overlooked the harbour, and we had been upgraded to a sea view room. It was indeed a pretty view as you will see from the photographs.

With the window open, you could hear the waves against the rocks, quite loud on a stormy night.
The downside was the bathroom was very cold as it was unheated and the single glazed window was very draughty.

Apart from that the hotel was very pleasant and the food very acceptable, though service was sometimes a bit on the slow side.

We were able to visit a number of the towns in the surrounding areas, including Stranraer, Newton Stewart and Kirkudbright.

There were some old ruins to look at, though this late in the season, many were closed so no access was possible.

Some views of Portpatrick.

Sherwood Forest

This weekend, wife, daughter and number 4 son drove down to Nottingham for a birthday party.
We left on friday at lunchtime, but because of road closures and traffic jams, a 5 hour journey actually took 9 hours.

On the Saturday, we spent some time at the Sherwood Forest  Visitor Centre. Of course Sherood was the home of Robin Hood and his Merry Men as they hid from the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. The place was being readied for Halloween celebrations.

We then drove into nearby Ollerton. This whole area between here and Nottinghma was mining country. But the mines are closed, and though it as many years ago, the bitter Miners' Strike still affects many folk here.

In the evening we enjoyed a very pleasant party with our English relatives.

We drove home on Sunday, hoping to leave the building storm behind us. But the wind was quite strong till we were about 20 miles from Edinburgh, and there was torrential rain at times.

After dropping daughter off at her flat, we then continued along the M8 till we were back home in Clydebank.

http://www.sherwoodforest.org.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwood_Forest

n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hood