My annual pilgrimage to the Scottish Mecca...Amsterdam to Fearn

Strong winds had the King of the Seaways keeled over for most of the 16 hour passage

Newcastle ... you get off the ship...taxi it to Newcastle central station and with 2 hours to kill you coffee it up at the station pub ... and you grab a 4-pack for the rail

North Cadboll ... this land owned by the Glenmorangie Distillery adjacent to my parents place.

Cadboll, from me mum and dads backyard

Mansfeld Castle in Tain... home for the next week

Guess I best head downstairs  for my tea and crumpets

Village of Tain

Breakfast at the Castle

A Highlanders breakfast

Portmohamack, only West facing village on the East side of Scotland

Rockfield ... Scotland raw

Somebody bought the ruins to an old 14th century lookout post and rebuilt it into probably the ugliest castle in Scotland

When we were kids we used to hang around the original old ruins of the structure

Surprised it was even possible to rebuild it

Meanwhile, Back at the Mansfeld .. a bunch of ghosts are whooping it up..

I'm starting to feel like the Omega Man...where the hell is everybody ...

Out for an early morning walk in Tain ... and watching out for werewolves ...

Christmas Day at Crosswinds

1963

The Mansfeld in HDR glory.

Off to Istanbul, Turkey