Visiting Glen Coe, Scotland

The drive from Fort William towards Isle of Skye on the A82 is most exciting and long. It is paved with scenic views that are hidden till you get off suspected areas to peek pass the hedges. One such places is near the dam where the Scottish Hydro Power Station was situated. We stopped at a spot about 400m passing the dam and bashed through the hedges and stood at the drop off and got these pictures.

The Power Turbines of the Dam

River uphill flowing from the Glen Coe range

Opposite Glen Coe battle site with the MacDonalds

7 Waterfalls from where we stood

Eilean Donan, Locklash, Scotland

This is an exhilarating drive, 1400km in 13 hours.

Journey started in the southernmost part of the UK, Dorset coast near Lulworth, see another post. Passed this place, this is the second time I am here at Shaftsbury. Had a raved pork pie, yucks by our cooking standards, the cold thing about it is that, its wrapped in puff pastery, but served to us COLD! and the shocking cold further to the 5 degrees C outside is the price, a blimey GBP 5.00! Yes 5 quids! But the view from the rear of the cafe is what I came here for, the famed GOLDEN MILE!

Zipping along at 90 miles an hour, sometimes even on A Roads because we are racing against the sun in October. Then came the Tornadoes GR3, flying next to us, followed by the ultra new Eurofighter Typhoons, a pair just zoomed supersonically below us! We hear them only when they passed us, thats how we know they are supersonic, plus the BOOM! that followed! Magnificent backdrop of Ben Navis Mountain range! 3 degrees out there. Stopped my car, mount my camera on a fence post, set to self timer and 17mm super wide angle and took this shot in the blinding cold wind! Then zipped back to the car for some warming up.

Zoomed out again to take a shot by my travelling partner. Seeing the highest peak in all of Britain, is somewhat awe inspiring.

Then 60 minutes after, we come to this, Glen Coe, the ski area of Scotland! The sun is almost setting in the background and its almost 5pm already! Have been driving for 12 hours non stop except for 30 mins lunch over at Carlisle.

Arriving at Loch Lomond, home of Loch Lomond Golf Club, site of the British Open a few years ago. This is an ammo building that was built with investment money for silk production, and nothing happened. A Scot friend of mine once told me the moral of this story, never trust a Scot with your wallet! Hahahaha.....never wish this for our own heritage, would we?

Finally, we are here. But this photo is grabbed from Wikipedia ...sorry. Got mine too which you can see, very sweet! To get the shot way below in the history section, I climbed down the rock embankment and squatted in the cold sea sod!

Talking about being an enthusiast of castles, a fetish of mine; we dined and waited for the sun to set to grab this after mucking around for 30 mins in the freezing sub zero winds. Finally, we got an ISO 1000, F4, 30 secs exposure with a specially positioned car of mine with high beam on to light up the bridge and the leading edge of the castle positioned off the carpark off A87. 

Crossing the bridge over to the Isle of Skye to have this shot taken with my telephoto 200mm. Set on tripod. The wind is scary, and after this shot, we went over to have dinner to wait for the night lights to come on, which is about 8pm usually.

For this shot, as written above, I climbed down the rocks to squat in the sea water sod. Had to rinse my Original Swat Waterproof Win2X boots to prevent the PU from rotting away later!


















From Wikipedia, something to read about Eilean Donan.

Eilean Donan (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Donnáin) is a small island in Loch Duich in the western Highlands of Scotland. It is connected to the mainland by a footbridge and lies about half a mile from the village of Dornie. Eilean Donan (which means simply "island of Donnán") is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617. Donnán is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains.
The island is dominated by a picturesque castle which is widely familiar from many photographs and appearances in film and television. The castle was founded in the 13th century, but was destroyed in the 18th century. The present buildings are the result of 20th century reconstruction. Eilean Donan Castle is the home of the Clan Macrae.
Eilean Donan is part of the Kintail National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. In 2001, the island had a population of just one person.

Early history
The presence of a vitrified fort was recorded on the island in 1912, though the nature of any early fortification is uncertain. In the 13th century, a large curtain-wall castle (wall of enceinte) was constructed. At this time the area was at the boundary of the Norse-Celtic Lordship of the Isles and the Earldom of Ross: Eilean Donan provided a strong defensive position against Norse expeditions. By the late 13th century it had become a stronghold of the Mackenzies of Kintail (later the Earls of Seaforth), who were vassals of the Earls of Ross. A tower house or keep was built at the north-east corner in the 14th century, and in the 15th century a smaller defensive enclosure. Having lost control in the 14th century, the Mackenzies obtained a charter of Eilean Donan in 1509, and in 1511 the Macraes, as protectors of the Mackenzies, became the hereditary Constables of the castle.
In 1539 Iain Dubh Matheson, chief of the Clan Matheson, died whilst defending the castle against the Clan MacDonald of Sleat on behalf of Clan Macrae and Clan Mackenzie.

Ferry Journey to Dover From Calais

We landed from Caen, drove to Paris, now, we wanted to see the cliffs of Dover and also Ian Fleming's house, the creator of James Bond, Agent 007. We caught a glimpse of also the original Radar system put up before the Battle of Britain.

The journey from Portsmouth into Caen is French owned, but this return journey is ran by British P&O. This port is amazing, 660 lanes for loading onto ferries to all over Europe! This is view from our trusty vehicle.

The view out one deck below us, container trucks and goods bound for the UK from greater Europe.

The view after an hour of cross channel sailing. The setting sun in the background gives a nice pink tint to the view. The fore decks are closed due to the cold weather, so we can only take the pictures of the white chaulk cliffs from the stern area. Wind is really cold as the cold spell crossed the Atlantic blew over us. Gulls fluttered and decked the pristine clear blue sky. Amazing view after we crossed the breakwaves.

Spectacular view, thats worth the other 4 hours drive back home. This trip, we have traversed from the southern tip of England to the northernmost tip of the northern coast of Inverness, Scotland, now, travelling from Dover to Bristol! Talking about measuring the country!

Château de Gisors

The Château de Gisors is a castle in the town of Gisors in the départment of Eure, France.

The castle was a key fortress of the Dukes of Normandy in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was intended to defend the Anglo-Norman Vexin territory from the pretensions of the King of France. In 1193, the castle fell into the hands of the King of France and thereafter lost a good part of its importance as a frontier castle.
It is also known for its links with the Templars. Put into their charge by the French king between 1158 and 1160, it became the final prison of the Grand Master of the Order, Jacques de Molay, in 1314.

Jacques de Molay (c. 1240/1250 – March 1314^[1]) was the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading the Order from 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1312.^[2] Though little is known of his actual life and deeds except for his last years as Grand Master, he is the best known Templar, along with the Order's founder and first Grand Master, Hugues de Payens (1070–1136). Jacques de Molay's goal as Grand Master was to reform the Order, and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land during the waning days of the Crusades. As European support for the Crusades had dwindled, other forces were at work which sought to disband the Order and claim the wealth of the Templars as their own. King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars, had de Molay and many other French Templars arrested in 1307 and tortured into making false confessions. When de Molay later retracted his confession, Philip had him burned at the stake on an island in the River Seine in Paris, in March 1314. The sudden end of both the centuries-old order of Templars, and the dramatic execution of its last leader, turned de Molay into a legendary figure. The fraternal order of Freemasonry has also drawn upon the Templar mystique for its own rituals and lore, and today there are many modern organizations which draw their inspiration from the memory of de Molay.

Jacques de Molay

Olden times are times of peril and evil during the dark ages. When in debt, lesson here, kill the creditors, discredit them, burn them in public, just like people nowadays, borrow from Ah Long today, report police after receiving the money! How convenient.

The first building work is dated to about 1095, and consisted of a motte, which was enclosed in a spacious courtyard or bailey. Henry I of England, Duke of Normandy, added an octagonal stone keep to the motte. After 1161, important reinforcement work saw this keep raised and augmented; the wooden palisade of the motte converted to stone, thus forming a chemise; and the outer wall of the bailey was completed in stone with flanking towers. A second keep, cylindrical in shape, called the Prisoner's Tower (tour du prisonnier), was added to the outer wall of the castle at the start of the 13th century, following the French conquest of Normandy. Further reinforcement was added during the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th century, earthen ramparts were built.

Gotten here on my way from Paris to Calais for the Ferry over to Dover.

What is shocking for us, as we were looking for prawns for dinner cooking....is this! 89 Euros a kilo for live prawns! This town is not too far from the sea, not to mention that added more into our shock.

St-Gervais-St-Protais church was built between 1542 and 1590. In it, there are a lot of art done around that time.

The town was served as a frontier town between the invaders Britons and the French locales. Town was taken by William the Conqueror of England, says the guide book we got from the castle information office.

Painting of about 16th century mural on the walls of the interior of the church stood quite clearly over the last 5 centuries and survived 2 major world wars. This is the mural depicted the european interpretation of the Mount of Transfiguration of Christ. It is normal to see paintings during that period to depict the figures in the bible dressed in European garbs and clothing, a testament to the fact that most people have very little information of the lifestyle, habits and customs of the Judea during that era.

The church in a commanding position on the main road leading to the Chateau, surrounded by old Tudor type houses and newer pre-war, Georgian and Parisian architecture, influence from 65km due south.

Makan Session Kuala Lumpur

Whackaroos in action in KL. First Crab dinner I had here at the Causeway Bay Restaurant at Seri Hatamas. Apertise, Taiwanese Style tempura type of chilli crispy sotong!

Killer App came next. The house specialty - Crab Porridge. Cooked with blended century eggs, Hong Kong Style. Finished even the spring onions!

Crispy Salted egg crabs from Indonesia. We whacked even the crumps! Tangy, crispy, saltish and sweet crusty crumbs.....scrumptious.

Final Crab dish, the deep fried garlic and onice buried crabs. This is followed by individual Scalops and also chai poh steam prawns.

Ramses 99% done

It has been a project that took longer than I anticipated due to my travelling to the UK for some work. Finally I attached the cobra and I have yet to paint in the black lines to accentuate the details on the head dress cobra, but as it is, I am quite happy the way it turned out. As the original sculpt did not have too many details on the face, this has been a very difficult project for me to paint mostly due to the head dress, which needed some shading which was done right after these pictures were taken.

There was some white fumes powder showing after the CA glue dried, this is also corrected after the photos were taken.

A very young friend of mine is a Warhammer enthusiast and I promised him to work on one of his heroes....which is the one next to the bust that was just primed.

Not being an avid model maker, I can understand the work laid up for me just to clear up the sprue flashes, but I cannot do anything to the figure standing on his heels because its stuck! Carving a completely assembled figure is a daunting task indeed!

Ramses Body Attached

This should be the final leg of the project before we complete it. After the tedious head dress struggle, which still needed some work, the head is compared to the body work and the disparity in skin tones needed to be brought closer, even though I think the face normally is slightly brighter for royalties with bodies exposed to the sun, the faces are sometimes sheltered. However, the disparity is great and once I finalised the muscle tones on the body and is happy, I now have to bring the tone closer to the face.

The photographing of the tones are difficult to get it right due to the use of overhead ring lamps and flash and ISO 1200 due to darkness on my desk.....so, the picture below is what we finally was able to get close to what I see. With 7 to 8 layers of careful light skin toning and dark wash back and forth to prevent the powdery look with is due to pigment breakup during glazing. I added some glazing medium to hold the pigments together otherwise, it will look patchy.

As you can see, with the toning, the body work is now closer to the face tones, and I am happy with it. Next, to fill in the rubies on the crown, I painted the balls on the resin with black, then crown them with red, then gloss varnish each ball to get the depth look like the ones on the cape.

Finally the nipples were painted in purple mixed with German Chocolate Brown leaving the tits lightly exposing the flesh colours below and glazed over with thinned down paint to give it some highlights. My wife told me that the nipples are way too purplish, so, I added more brown and glazed over it....now she is happy, at 5am in the morning, with gastric pain in my stomach, I wasn't in the best shape to pick a fight with her.

The fit, unfortunately was quite bad and I did not notice earlier. The head was tilting too much downwards and the whole neck was 90% floating on air. After 3 weeks of painting, the last thing I need is to carve it again. So, I blade it slowly, cutting out the inner side of the head dress, levelling the top portion of the cape and adding a sheet of styrene at the back of the neck, cutting off some materials from the front portion...and finally, we get the head brushed with CA and attached it to the body. And I bend the sprue below the bust which I attached to assist in handling the job to angle it back about 10 degrees for the shot....looks ok. I glossed the dung beetles on the arms and we are set for waiting the crowning glory, the cobra.

One good look at it I find the neck ornament and bit glary even though I toned it down with some glazes of flesh...I will see if I can achieve the pearly look but before I do that I went through numerous photos I have taken at the Parisian Louvre and find that the red and blue looks quite authentic and decided to keep it.