The village of Crathie lies just by Balmoral Estate which is separated from Crathie car park by a bridge over the River Dee designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I couldn’t get to a vantage point to photograph the bridge itself but it has fine views of the River Dee.

Looking west:-

Looking east:-

Crathie Kirk – which is where the royal family attend church when at Balmoral:-

Church door:-

Stone by Crathie Kirk’s Door. Preserved from a former Church at Crathie:-

Side of kirk:-

We’d bypassed Craigellachie itself on our trip north in 2023, though I did photograph Thomas Telford’s bridge there.

On our way back down last July I actually stopped in the village to photograph its War Memorial which is a tapering pillar on a square plinth with rounded pediment; the whole surmounted by a cross. It’s beside the main A 95 road through Craigellachie village. The pillar seems a tiny bit squint in this view.

Great War dedication and names:-

Second World War dedication and names:-

A supplementary stone on the ground by the mian memorial is dedicated to Lance Corporal Norman J Duncan, Royal Corps of Transport, 22/2/1989, Northern Ireland:-

Arbirlot is a village in Angus, about two miles west of Arbroath. We stopped there on a trip north as we had read about the scenic waterfall on the burn there, the Elliot Water:-

The waterfall lies just below the road bridge over the burn:-

We weren’t the only ones there. A couple of people had picked their way across the burn and a family was having a good time by the waterside:-

I made two videos of the waterfall:-

Alyth is a town in Perth and Kinross which we went on to visit after we had left Meigle.

It’s a lovely wee place with a burn running through the town centre with several bridges over it, of which the one in this photo is the most scenic:-

I found two minor Art Deco buildings.

The Scotmid Coop:-

And this one, a hair salon:-

Right by the town square is a Boer War Memorial:-

Its dedication plaque commemorates three individuals. David Stanley Williams, ninth Earl of Airlie, Noel Neils Ramsay and Charles James Wedderburn Ogilvy:-

The Spitkeet (see previous post) acreage is centred round a collapsed pingo, a depression formed after ice age permafrost melted. They are usually filled with water. The landscape of Friesland and parts of Groningen Province contains quite a few pingos.

Pingo and bridge:-

The bridge:-

The pingo from the bridge. The Mallemolen (see previous post, is to the left in the middle distance):-

Sloten, in Friesland, is another of the eleven “cities” of the Elfstedentocht and the last one we visited on our day trip last June when we were in the Netherlands.

Canal at Sloten, with bridge:-

In the other direction is this bridge and a windmill:-

The windmill:-

The canal beyond the windmill:-

The Protestant Church, Sloten:-

Sloten’s Elfstedentocht fountain is a small pillar of containers of various sorts surmounted by two figures. It’s apparently called the ‘Peewit’:-

There are not many shops in Hindeloopen but quite a few eateries. It’s mostly small canals and houses:-

And bridges over the canals:

That canal runs past the site of Hindeloopen’s Elfstedentocht fountain, an elaborate arrangement of logs (behind you above):-

It’s a delightful wee place. We had our lunch down by the harbour to the right of the photo below where a whole load of small birds were flying, perching and hopping about looking for crumbs.

Hindeloopen is a town/village on the IJselmeer (formerly known as the Zuiderzee) in The Netherlands. It is one of the eleven “cities” of the Elfstedentocht.

IJselmeer from seadyke at Hindeloopen:-

A Hindeloopen Street to left of above:-

Going round to the right leads to the harbour and this Lifeboat House. KNRM is the Dutch eqivalent of the RNLI:-

Old lifeboat on slipway down to harbour:-

Moving on round the road is this canal bridge and bell tower:-

View along canal from bridge above:-

Workum is another of the eleven cities known as the Elfstedentocht, in Friesland, The Netherlands, but it’s more of a village really.

The tower in Workum:-

It s Elfstedentocht Fountain is in the form of two stylised rampant lions:-

The pond area to the left above:-

The canal just behind with small road bridge centre and wooden bridge to right:-

In June last year we visited The Netherlands again. One of the day trips we took was to Dokkum, in Friesland.

On the way in to the town fom the car park, along the canal, I spotted this house (in that Dutch fashion known as De Stijl?) which is so Art Deco looking:-

Further on was this scene which is so Dutch it’s almost a cliché, canal and windmill – with lovely bridge added in:-

The Town House in Dokkum has a carillon tower:-

Town House:-

A sculpture in the twon:-

Side view:-

Another almost deco building:-

Dokkum is one of Friesland’s eleven cities between which an ice-skating race known as the Elfstedentocht used to take place when there was ice on the canals. I suspect it’s extremely unlikely ever to be held again as the winters are no longer cold enough long enough for any ice to be safe to skate on. In honour of that history, though, the canal side benches in Dokkum are in the shape of an ice skate:-

In 2018 eleven artists designed a fountain each for the eleven cities. Dokkum’s is known as the Ice Fountain:-

Ice Fountain information:-