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The New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain is hosted by a non-profit organization known as the New Hampshire Gathering of Scottish Clans. It is an organization that is dedicated to the preservation of the Gaelic culture and the traditions that are unique to the Scottish. Interest in the New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain has grown with every passing year, not only in regard to the participants, but the games have seen an increase in spectators as well.
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Weekend tinkering with the family car is a common hobby for many, but in Jackie Stewart’s family repairing cars was a business. As part of his family Jaguar dealership, Stewart worked as an apprentice mechanic. Indeed, the love of speeds was in Stewart’s blood – his father had been a motorcycle racer and his brother was a successful race car driver before a serious accident at Le Mans plucked him from the dangerous sport permanently. Discouraged by his parents to bypass auto racing, Stewart became an expert target shooter, missing the 1960 Summer Olympic team by a hairs-breath.
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If you are planning a trip to the western Highlands soon, you might want to think about visiting during the month of October. It is during this month every year in the Cowal Peninsula that the annual Cowalfest takes place. The festival has been labeled as ‘Scotland’s largest walking festival’ and is definitely somthing to enjoy as a participant.
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Ghost stories and tales of spiritual wanderings among the living are big business in Edinburgh. Thousands of tickets are sold to the curious each year for walks through the city telling tales of how victims of the Black Death were walled up below ground to prevent the spread of disease. Halloween-themed events for children welcome today’s little ghosts and goblins to Edinburgh castle’s grounds. Indeed, Edinburgh Castle is considered one of the most haunted places in Scotland. No surprise really given the centuries of wars and battles the military fortress defended.
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Heather-colored skies collapse into twilight. Edinburgh Castle glows in banks of floodlights. A solitary voice from behind the castle’s walls sets a somber tone. The great oak gates of the castle suddenly sweep open, and from its bowels the swell of bagpipes and drums electrify the night. Hundreds of thousands of onlookers turn their attention the drawbridge to see bands by the hundreds and effigies of Scotland’s freedom fighters, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, parade through the night.
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Mention "Shetland Islands" to someone and they may ask, "Is that where Shetland Ponies come from?". Indeed, this far-flung chain of approximately 100 windswept islands is where the famous breed of small horses originated. The Shetlands also boast the Shetland Sheep dog and other flora & fauna not typical of mainland Scotland.
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Suspended in turbulent seas with cliffs that plunge into dangerous waters, many islands have an air of mystery, but on the Isle of Skye belief in the existence of fairy inhabitants or “little people” dates back to prehistoric times. Once believed to have evil overtones, Scotland’s fairies are believed to live in “beehive” houses buried deep in the heather in The Fairy Glen where the tribe meets located on the north end of the island near Uig.
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A safari park in Scotland might sound a little strange, but Blair Drummond Safari Park is an adventure waiting to be explored. The grounds on which the Blair Drummond Safari Park is located once belonged to Sir John Kay. Blair Drummond House was purchased by Sir John Kay in the year 1916. He was a well-known businessman who made his fortune in Glasgow as a tea merchant. At the time of Sir John Kay’s death, he had no sons to leave the estate to, so it was passed down to his nephew, Sir John Muir.
