Blackness Castle sticks out into the River Forth a few miles west of the Forth Bridges. (See photograph in the link.) Because of its situation and prominence it is sometimes known as ‘the ship that never sailed’. It has had several uses over the years since it was built in the 1440s including as an ammunition store. As with most Scottish castles it has featured in the TV series Outlander.

Infiormation board:-

From approach road:-

Closer view and modern entrance:-

Side view and old entrance:-

Old entrance: now blocked off. The notice warns you not to climb on it:-

As you can see in the photo in the link a pier pokes from the castlefurther out into the river.

Castle from pier. (Stitch of two photos.):-

Pier, part of Castle and Blackness village beyond:-

View west from pier:-

View east: three bridges across the Forth:-

Close-up:-

As it was our anniversary on Monday we decided to visit Jupiter Artland, a Sculpture Park and Art venue near Wilkieston in West Lothian.

At present it is hosting an exhibition of paintings/drawings by Tracey Emin under the collective title “I Lay Here For You.” These smaller works were split between the Ballroom and an exhibition space in the Park’s Steadings. I must say I’m not taken with Emin’s painting/drawing skills. The best bit about the Ballroom was the building’s ceiling.

The garden outside the Ballroom was pleasantly planted:-

There’s what looks like a paddling pool in the grounds. It’s not really. There are signs asking you to stay on the black area for a start. The estate’s “Big House” is in the background here:-

We also partook of lunch in the café. The menu was abit pretentious but the food was good.

On the way in you drive past some Charles Jencks landforms called Cells of Life. Below is a stitch from four photos:-

Closer view of Charles Jencks landforms at Jupiter Artland with a red bridge in middle distance:-

In our later stroll through the grounds we came closer to that bridge. It’s named Only Connect and is by Ian Hamilton Findlay:-

The Quarry by Phyllida Barlow. The colours on the columns are a bit faded but reminded me of totem poles:-

The Rose Walk is by Pablo Bronstein:-

One of the installations is Weeping Girls, created by Laura Ford. I didn’t photgraph that one as I found the figures rather creepy.

Signpost to Jupiter. I note the distance is given in USian. (Since a meter is a measuring device not a length the better spelling is kilometres):-

There is a Tracey Emin sculpture titled I Lay Here for You in the grounds.

To give some idea of the location here is a phptgraph of three bridges across the River Forth as seen from Jupiter Artland. The Forth Bridge (right,) The Forth Road Bridge (centre,) The Queensferry Crossing (left.)

Doune Castle (see previous post) is built on a promontory just above the River Teith. The river’s banks are pretty overgrown now so it’s not easy to see the river till you get quite close to it.

It must be fine for fishing though as there was an angler there the day we visited:-

The Teith flows on to join with the River Forth just upstream of Stirling. Curiously, the Teith is the wider river at this point but the merged river is called the Forth.

Castle Campbell lies in the hills above Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the top of Dollar Glen. We visited it in October 2019.

The road leading up to it is quite narrow and the car park is a shortish walk away from the castle itself.

It wasn’t busy the day we went but it may be more so in summer.

Castle Campbell from path:-

Part of castle (with loggia):-

Information board in courtyard:-

Former Great Hall:-

Castle gable:-

Doorway from courtyard to grounds:-

Castle from grounds below:-

A vaulted ceiling:-

This ceiling has two carvings of faces that look a bit like the Green Man. There are holes at the mouths and it’s thought that lamps probably hung from there:-

Part of roof:-

Information board on the history of the Campbell family:-

View down to Dollar and the valley of the River Forth beyond:-

From River Forth. Part of Forth Bridge to left:-

Forth Road Bridge from below:_

We happened to be going under the new Forth Road Bridge on our way to Norway the day they opened it to foot passengers (for the one and the only time.) Our eldest son and his intended entered the draw and won tickets for that. I don’t think they’re in these photos. (Forth Road Bridge in background in first one.)

Before we set sail, HMS Prince of Wales, the second new Royal Navy aircraft carrier, could be seen from the dock at Rosyth:-

Queensferry Crossing from the River Forth:-

From below:-

Bridge Support from the river:-

East side, from the river, looking south:-

East side, from the river, looking north, Forth Road Bridge to right:-

A bridge has spanned the River Forth at Stirling for centuries. Not the same one obviously but the most famous of them was the one where William Wallace won his great victory over the army of Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks) at the eponymous battle in 1297.

The “old” bridge that still survives now carries foot traffic only. It was built 500-600 years ago. It is a lovely structure of four arches and three supports, here shown from the “east” bank.

These are the approaches from the west. Note the cobblestones:-

This is the old bridge from the modern road bridge:-

And this is a view from the “west” bank. The Wallace Monument can be seen as a distant spire beside the lamp standard at the extreme right of the bridge as seen here:-

Two “modern” bridges also cross the Forth close by. This is the railway bridge from the modern road bridge:-

The road bridge is in the foreground here with the railway bridge supports visible through its arches:-

The Wallace Monument from the old bridge:-

One of the places we visited last summer was the small village of Culross in the west of Fife (almost as far west as possible in Fife.)

The War Memorial is set in a small memorial garden hard by the car park at the west end of the village almost as close to the river Forth as you can get. The lower names here are for the dead of World War 2. The other names are for World War 1.

The lowest name here is for a soldier who died in Iraq in 2007.

Two more ships and an old favourite.

This is the cruise ship M S Rotterdam heading out of the River Forth last week en route to Invergordon! Apparently 100,000 cruise passengers dock at Invergordon every year, which is somewhat baffling. One of my work colleagues comes from Invergordon (as often as possible.)

This is the Rotterdam in the Netherlands six years ago (photo from Wikipedia.)

Just off Dysart is the rather rakish from of the cargo ship M S Troms Capella. She’s been hanging around for well over a week.

Here’s our old friend Solitaire from the same vantage point above Dysart harbour that I photographed the Troms Capella.

Behind her stern that’s North Berwick Law on the opposite shore.

A very fine example this. In a great setting on a bluff overlooking the river Forth.

I like the way it has the various theatres of war the fighting took place on its sides. Inscribed on the stone facing us are the names France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Gallipoli. The metal plaque below commemorates Second World War dead. The south side has the usual “To Our Glorious Dead.”

Here’s the opposite view.

On the stone facing us are the names Salonica, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Africa. (It was a World War for Empire troops.) Again the small metal plaque commemorates Second World War dead. The larger plaque facing north names the dead of the Great War.