CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Scott's View is a viewpoint in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the valley of the River Tweed, just 3-miles from Melrose off the A68.   It is reputed to be one of the favourite views of Scotland's famous poet, playwright and novelist Sir Walter Scott, hence the name. According to a popular story, Sir Walter Scott stopped at this point so often on the way to his home at Abbotsford, that his horses would halt without command.  After his death in 1832, his funeral cortège passed this way en route to his burial at Dryburgh Abbey, and his horses stopped at his favourite view to allow their master a last look at the Borders landscape. In fact, although the funeral procession did pass this way, the halt was due to 'some accident'. We decided to take a detour out to Scott's View on our way to Melrose to see the Abbey.  The clouds were dark and brooding but it didn't take away from the breathtaking view across the valley.  The image was taken on the ...

The town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders is famous for the birthplace of Rugby Sevens and for the ruins of the 12th Century Cistercian Abbey.  The Abbey was founded in 1136 by King David I and it was largely destroyed by the English Army of Richard II in1385.  The Abbey was rebuilt and what remains is mainly from the early 15th Century and is reputed to be the most beautiful monastic ruins in Great Britain. Melrose Abbey is also the place where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried. The Scottish King was buried at Dumfermline Abbey after his death in 1329 but the king requested his heart be buried in Melrose. An excavation was led to find a sealed casket, but it was not opened, and it was actually discovered by high school students involved in the dig. The casket was placed in a sealed lead cylinder, and was then re-buried in the abbey back at its proper resting place. We arrived for our visit late in the afternoon on Saturday 4 March and we pretty much had t...

Living on the Scottish coast provides a great variety in the weather. This evening the clouds were gathering to the south west as a new weather front came across East Lothian with the forecast predicting high winds and heavy rain.   However this evening, just before sunset, the seas were relatively calm.  I took the Fujifilm X100T along with the Manfrotto Pixi Evo mini tripod and a cable release down to the rocks below Dunbar Castle to capture a few long exposures as the light faded. Two of the fishing boats returned to Dunbar Harbour as I was sitting enjoying the view, so I managed to grab a few images as the boats passed in front of me before entering the harbour. All of these images were taken on the Fujifilm X100T using the cameras fixed 23mm f2 lens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By cl...