Margaret R Kelly

Tag: scotland

  • Over the Sea to Skye

    Over the Sea to Skye

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    by

    Margaret Kelly
    in ,

    It’s November and late autumn in Scotland. My brother and I are on a ‘Family Heritage Tour’ —a kind of pilgrimage— to the stomping ground of some of our ancestors—the Macleods of Dunvegan and Talisker on the Hebridean island of Skye, a popular holiday and tourist destination in summer. The tempestuous Atlantic crashes against Skye’s…

  • HASTE YE BACK: ISLE OF COLL, SCOTLAND

    HASTE YE BACK: ISLE OF COLL, SCOTLAND

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    by

    Margaret Kelly
    in

    Scotland’s a land of monumental mountains and misty glens, castles with hidden stories, drams of whisky straight from the source, men in kilts, kelpies, selkies and Fay folk. It’s a mystical, time-shrouded lodestone which entices for many reasons, but the strongest for me is that my roots are tangled deeply in its rockiest, most wind-lashed soil:  the…

  • SELF-DRIVING ICELAND?

    SELF-DRIVING ICELAND?

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    by

    Margaret Kelly
    in

    The Snæfellsnes Peninsular, not too far from Reykjavik, has all the natural features of Iceland represented in one small area. But make sure you don’t zoom past Hellissandur and Rif. These little fishing villages are easily missed if you’re en route to Kirkjufell or exploring Snæfellsjökull National Park. When you reach the end of the…

  • THE VIKING AGE NEVER REALLY ENDED IN ORKNEY

    THE VIKING AGE NEVER REALLY ENDED IN ORKNEY

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    by

    Margaret Kelly
    in

    I wish I had had longer than one day in the windswept Orkney Islands, north of Scotland.The day I did have was halcyon and perfect. We were chasing deep time—standing stones, Skara Brae and more recent time—the Churchill Barriers, and the beautiful Italian Chapel but for somewhere so steeped in time, I needed more of…