Herb Riddle's photos

From the end of the village sea-front there are many signs of its past heritage. This photo taken on a cold windy day with rain in the air shows the tide coming in. The link to the photo of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe shows a photo along this front in the good-old-days of 1875. www.sutcliffe.gallery/photo_3184637.html Enjoy full size and have a great week.

A walk over the wet sand gives me a view of the bottom village with a bit of sun. The first people are getting a seat at the pub and are probably watching to see what I am doing here. This scene must be a world away from the same place a couple of centuries , with its many ships of sail here and multiple fishing boats too. The place would have been heaving with working families making a living from the sea. The name Staithes means 'landing place' in Old English, and the village once boasted one of the largest fishing ports in the area with around 80 boats coming in and out of the harbour on a daily basis. The fishermen traditionally used a coble which is a type of open fishing boat, developed on the North East Coast. See www.sutcliffe.gallery/photo_3184682.html#photos_id=3197650 for old photo from here. Enjoy full screen. Herb

One of the two main streets here, with a few shops and hospitalities. This normally heaving street is very rarely as quite as this which was fortunate as I managed to get the cobbled road free of footfall and traffic. Time has done its damage here as in lots of similar villages, I remember many more shop fronts here in the 45+ years that I have been visiting, now turned into holiday homes or an artist getaway. Ah well, it could be worse at least we are not seeing concrete shopping centres -yet. Around the corner, you come to the sea end of this lane, opposite the very distinctive 'Cob & Lobster' Inn. See PiP Enjoy. Herb

No matter how you approach the village of Staithes, it is a steep road to the bottom. Here we have one of the two ways down, called Beckside. The beck (river) can just about be seen here with the bit of white boat and runs down behind these houses on the left. As can be seen, fishing paraphernalia abounds all around the village but nowadays, I suspect most is just for the sake of the tourist. Enjoy full screen

Back to last year’s trip to the Yorkshire coast and we see here a view looking up this small tidal part of the river. In past years this section would have been teeming with fishing boats sheltering from the rough seas just a couple of hundred meters below us. Now just one or two die-hard crafts still moor here; so is the scene in all our old fishing villages. It’s early and so I precede the hordes of tourist who now flock to this historical quant place and for once, the weather is kind. Follow PiP for opposite side view in full screen. (page before this one.) Enjoy full screen and have a good week

A view of Staithes Beck at low tide as it runs into the harbour and sea here. The mono look is an attempt of showing how this relatively untouched old fishing village may have looked in the last century – only the cars, satellite dish and modern outfits give the game away :) See PiP for the opposite side view. Enjoy full screen and have a good week.

As we continue on this grand walk we see more views of the higher mountain slopes this region has to offer. We are looking northwards here. This, of course is just a small part of the giant Queen Elizabeth Forest Park. Queen Elizabeth Forest Park is a 19,665-hectare forest park in the Scottish Highlands which extends from the eastern shores of Loch Lomond to the mountains of Strathyre. The forest park is one of six such parks in Scotland, and was established in 1953, the year of the coronation of Elizabeth II. WiKi. Enjoy full size. This is the last of this Trossachs adventure for the time being. I shall bring you some more in a week or so.

Only a short drive out of Aberfoye is a winding high valley called the ‘Dukes Pass’. We are climbing then traversing its left side in a 5-7 mile outing by foot with a picnic, after setting off from the ‘David Marshall Lodge visitors centre. ~ Its cold up here in the strong cool winds, seemingly bringing ice and snow from the far mountain tops but it makes for a grand scene. The quiet road through the pass can just be seen here, This popular public road, regarded as one of Britain's best drives, leads you through some of the most scenic parts of the iconic Trossachs landscape. It was originally built by the Duke of Montrose in the 19th century to improve access to his estate, and was later upgraded to accommodate the Victorian tourists drawn to the area after the publication of Sir Walter Scott's epic poem 'The Lady of the Lake' which celebrates the beauty of Loch Katrine. Loch Katrine sits at the far left end of this pass about 6.5 miles away (10km) from Aberfoyle. Enjoy full size.

This is the view from the bottom of our holiday cottage garden (and also the view from our large French windows.) Its early morning and the sight of the mist is broken only by the chirps and whistles of the many birds that inhabit this part of the Queen Elizabeth Forest. In fact a male Cuckoo calls forlornly in the distance. Enjoy full size and have a great week.

Just when we were starting to think that the walks around here were easy-peasy with all those flat lochs, then we have to clamber up here from well below those pine trees that you see. This is the start of the ‘Duke’s Pass’ hike and very nice it was too apart from the heavy wheezing. Enjoy full size.

A sister view to yesterdays posting, which is interesting to compare. A scene here worthy of a painting, for sure. This boat must have some history and later, pulled to this spot by a local photographer maybe :) For me – this photo alone was worth the whole trip. After this day, we would see Ben Lomond capped in white after night snowfalls. Ben Lomond at 974 metres (3195ft) is one of the most familiar of the Munros (mountains over 3000 ft high) in Scotland. It is the most southerly and is also one of the most popular hill-walks in Scotland. The mountain is a central, prominent feature of the landscape of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. Enjoy full size.

A classic scene looking up Loch Ard towards The Narrows, in what is sometimes called Little Loch Ard towards perhaps Scotland’s most famous mountain after Ben Nevis. On seeing this scene, my heart began to beat faster, as it represents so much of the classic landscape photograph. Enjoy full size.

A wonderful spot for a break here, especially when the sun decided to shine as it did a few minutes later. Still too early for our picnic though! Enjoy full screen.

Another view of Loch Ard but on a narrow section where we are picnicking. Notice the moss on the vertical branch here. See the PiP and adjacent photo for similar moss. Enjoy full screen

This seen on a tall tree in the park, it has a look of the ‘Spanish Tree Moss’ seen in much warmer and damper forest normally in the southern hemisphere. It is more likely a ‘lichen’ of some kind but, whatever; I liked it enough to photograph it. Thanks to David (below) for identifying this as 'Bryoria subcana' a 'British lichen'

A cool windy spot gives us our first real glance of the most famous mountain in this part of Scotland. Our walk continues on around part of the loch before a deserved picnic stop. This is quite a big Loch, the closest point to us in Aberfoye is just around two miles away. It has a shore length of 11.8km (7.3miles) and has an average depth of 13 m (44ft). The outflow of this is actually the start of the River Forth, yes the same river that makes the ‘Firth of Forth’ at Edinburgh. (More on Ben Lomond later) Enjoy full size. Old Scottish song: Will ye ne'er come back again

The phrase 'Scotch mist' is used humorously to refer to something that is hard to find or doesn't exist - something imagined. Maybe it was all a dream – it was very early for me after all here in Aberfoyle. And no, it was not me who left the red ribbon there for photographic balancing effect! (to stop the picture from falling over right-ways) :) Enjoy full size and have a great week.

A Lochan (a small Loch) seen on the trail to nearby Loch Ard displays some of its beauty here. There are Greylag Geese on here (seen better in the PiP also adjacent photo) and a nice picnic table overlooks the whole scene. Enjoy full size.