The biggest island in the Hebrides, always spoken of as two islands though it is not — The following blog post is based on a chapter in my new book, The Scottish Isles: Part 2: Skye and the Outer Hebrides. The first volume, The Scottish Isles: Part 1: Shetlands, Orkneys and Hebrides is currently on sale at a reduced price, US $2.99 for the Kindle and US…

‘Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing … Over the sea to Skye’ — Breaking News: A Maverick Traveller acknowledges the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II, symbolised by a dipped flag against trees in New Zealand, where it is still as yet the rawest days of early spring. This flag is at the end of the present post. The following blog post…

Exploring Britain’s northernmost city, last big battle on home soil, and loveliest glen — AFTER the Cairngorms, I arrived in Inverness, the northernmost city in Scotland and the United Kingdom, about 570 miles or more than 900 kilometres from London by road. Which is a fair old way, about the equivalent of the distance from Auckland to Christchurch. …

The best way from Dundee to Inverness, through Britain’s largest national park — THE CAIRNGORMS National Park is the largest national park in Great Britain. It lies north of Dundee and south of Inverness, west of Aberdeen and east of the Great Glen, the dead-straight crack in the earth that runs between Inverness and Fort William, and which contains the fabled Loch Ness. …

The most historical city in Scotland — EDINBURGH is a beautiful city, filled with a rich history and colourful characters. It’s quite compact and walkable.

From the City of Discovery to the Fair City, both of them with famous castles on the river Tay — AFTER NORTHUMBERLAND, I travelled north to Dundee, nicknamed the City of Discovery, a go-ahead industrial city where the first purpose-built British research vessel, the RRS Discovery, was built at the end of the Victorian era. It was good to see the relations again: Dundee is where my father comes from…

Like Camelot or Shangri-La, Lindisfarne has a magical name, yet it is a real place, amid the beautiful Northumberland Coast — AFTER visiting the Farne Islands, I drove to Lindisfarne, the ancient monastic retreat that is also known as Holy Island, the Holy Island, or, as in this road sign, the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a name that removes all confusion. Here is a map, which shows the Farne Islands in…

A westward road trip through a historic landscape, ending up in England’s Lake District National Park and an early home of rock climbing — AFTER Helmsley, I drove westward through Yorkshire and across the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the town of Kendal, the gateway to the Lake District National Park, which is in a western region named Cumbria. …

Once holy, and the home of Grace Darling, now a famous nature sanctuary — AFTER Alnwick, I headed north along the A1 and turned off to Bamburgh, to catch a boat to the offshore Farne Islands and finally see some puffins! The Farne Islands are a notable bird sanctuary these days, operated by England’s National Trust. In earlier times, they were also a refuge…