Beltane Fire Festival

This is an old Celtic festival that celebrates ‘fertility’ (the ability to have babies) and the coming of Summer.

The biggest celebration is in Edinburgh, but Beltane is celebrated by many people all over the UK.


The main part of Beltane is the lighting of fires which people believed ‘purify’ (make pure) and clean our minds and bodies.

There are many people performing at the festival, but the main characters are a May Queen, a Blue Man, a Green Man, Red Men and White Women, all representing different parts of life.

See more photos here at the BBC website



Photos were taken by *Debs* and can be viewed on Flickr. They are reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

The Mighty Salmon!

When we stay in Perthshire we go to the beautiful little town of Pitlochry. The town is set in really beautiful surroundings and has some lovely buildings.

On one side of town there is the River Tummel and a hydro-electric dam which also has a fish ladder (so that salmon can move up the river).



Salmon are born in tiny streams (called ‘burns’ in Scotland) that flow into rivers. They live in fresh-water for up to 4 years. Then they go into the sea where they can live for another few years. When they want to ‘breed’ (make baby salmon) they ALWAYS return to the river where they were born.

When they return to freshwater they stop eating. They also have to jump up waterfalls, which is very exciting to watch! You will hopefully see salmon if you come with us in July.

Photo taken by Roy Lathwell and is reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

Wildlife in Scotland

One of the best things about Scotland is the wildlife. Last week saw the end of a two-week wildlife festival in Dumfries & Galloway which is in south-west Scotland so I thought I would tell you a little about Scottish wildlife.

Here are 3 iconic Scottish animals that you might see in the Highlands:

Red Deer are the largest species of deer in the UK and the largest wild animal. In the summer they live up in the hills. In winter they come lower down and can often be seen on the side of the road. The male deer is called a ‘stag’ and the female is called a ‘hind’. You will probably see some deer on our course in July.

Golden Eagles are a very big bird of prey (a ‘bird of prey’ is a bird that kills other animals). The best place to see them in Scotland is in the Highlands. If we are lucky, we will see one or two on our course, but they will probably be very far away.

Salmon are amazing fish! The species of salmon in the UK is the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) and people who enjoy fishing (people like me!) think it is the king of fish. They are really amazing creatures. They swim thousands of miles in order to reproduce (have babies) and we will hopefully see some jumping up waterfalls.

Highland Cows are not wildlife. They are domesticated animals but they are still famously Scottish. You will definitely see Highlands Cows if you come to Scotland and you want to see them!

Red Deer was taken by Sandchem and is available to view on Flickr. Golden Eagle was taken by Grynneman and is available to view on Flickr. Salmon Leaping was taken by Roy Lathwell and is available to view on Flickr. Highland Cow was taken by RebelXTious and is available to view on Flickr. All photos are reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

The Falls of Glomach

The Falls of Glomach (‘glomach’ means ‘gloomy’ but I promise it’s not gloomy!) is Britain’s highest waterfalls. The Falls are over 100 metres high and are found in some of the wildest, most beautiful countryside. Most people on a tour of the Highlands will never see them, so it is a really special place.

In order to reach the Falls we will have a fun 5 kilometre walk there (and back). This is exactly what makes tourism in the Highlands special; to see the best places you often have to spend time and effort before you are rewarded.

In the summer there is often not much water, but if we are lucky we will arrive shortly after some rain in order to see the river ‘in full flow’. Even if there is not much water, we should see some fantastic views!

We visit Glomach when we stay in Kintail which is near the Isle of Skye. Over the next few weeks I will be blogging much more about the area, but why read about it when you can actually see it yourself! Book onto our course today to visit Glomach and many places like it!

Glossary

Gloomy: means dark (and a bit depressing)

Reward: is something good you receive for hard work (like a salary, or a prize, or in this case, wonderful views)

In full flow: can refer to a river (as it does here) when there is lots of water in it. You can also use this phrase as an idiom for when someone is talking a lot and you can’t stop them!

Blogging: this is a blog (web log) and ‘to blog’ is the verb


Photographs were taken by Paul Miller and are available to view on Flickr. They are reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

Horses in Scotland

The Grand National (probably the biggest horse-racing event in the UK) was held last weekend. This weekend the Scottish Grand National is being held at Ayr, near Glasgow. Both events are very famous and people often like to have parties over these weekends. Many people who don’t usually bet on horse racing will bet on these races. One very fun way of betting is to have a ‘sweepstake’.

All this talk about horses means I want to tell you about 3 completely different reasons why horses are important to Scotland:

1) ‘Point-to-points’ are amateur horse races that take place all over the UK and Ireland. They are very sociable events because people come from all over the countryside to go to them. They are a great opportunity to meet people, to drink and to gamble. I highly recommend going to one if you come to Scotland in the spring!


2) Clydesdale horses are a special breed of horse from...Clydesdale! (Clydesdale is a district in south-central Scotland). They are very big horses as you can see in the photograph. They were bred to pull heavy loads but became less important when people started to use vehicles.


3) Cavalry (soldiers who fight on horses): The Scots are generally quite proud of their military history and Scottish regiments have fought in many wars. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (formerly The Royal Scots Greys) are the oldest cavalry regiment in the British Army (over 350 years old). This is a photograph of a monument in Edinburgh that honours the regiment and, I think, is a good symbol of Scottish pride.

Glossary

Racing: a race is a competition of speed between two or more people or things

Bet: when you bet, you tell someone that [something] will happen. If it doesn’t happen, you give them money; if it does happen they give you money.

Sweepstake: is when everybody chooses a different horse (for example) and pays a fixed amount of money. The person who chose the winning horse wins all the money.

Amateur: is the opposite of professional (in other words, not for money)

Sociable: friendly

Gamble: similar to ‘bet’

Breed: is a group of animals- Cocker Spaniels are a breed of dog, Persians are a breed of cat etc.

District: region

Regiment: is a section of the army (they usually have their own traditions and clothes)


Photographs
Photos 1 & 2 were taken by Paolo Camera
The Clydesdale horse was taken by Just Chaos
The Royal Scots Greys Memorial was taken by Richard Milnes
All are available on Flickr and are reproduced here under a Creative Commons Attribution License

A Quick Overview of Whisky

Obviously there are many different types of whisky in the world: Scotch, Irish, American, Canadian and more. But in Britain, when we talk about whisky we usually mean ‘Scotch’. This is different from American-style whiskies like Jack Daniels, which we usually call ‘Bourbon’.

The place where whisky is made is called a distillery. There are many distilleries all over Scotland. On our English language course we take you to the only whisky distillery on the Isle of Skye, which is where they make a whisky called Talisker. We are given a special private tour where you are told about the whisky-making process and allowed to taste 5 different types of whisky.

You will also learn about the general types of whisky in Scotland. Again, there are many many differences but these are there are probably 4 big generalisations: a ‘blend’; a ‘single malt’; Islay (pron. /ai-lǝ/) and Speyside.

Single Malt
A single malt whisky is one that is made from ONE particular grain at ONE particular distillery. It must be aged in oak barrels for a minimum of 3 years and 1 day, though usually they are matured for at least 10.

Blend
A blended whisky is a mixture of more than one single malt. They usually mix different grains from different distilleries. The result is often an easy-drinking whisky but is generally less sophisticated than single malts.

Islay
This is a whisky-making region of Scotland. It is an island which has 8 distilleries. The whisky from here often has a ‘peaty’ flavour. [‘Peat’ is basically ‘carbon’ and a ‘peaty flavour’ is a combination of smoke and earth].

Speyside
This is the area of Scotland that has the largest number of distilleries. There is LOTS of whisky made here and they all taste different. However, a ‘typical’ Speyside whisky often has a honey-like flavour.

This is definitely not a complete guide to whisky in Scotland. But on our courses we will talk about the differences much more!

Melrose 7s Rugby Tournament- 10th April

MELROSE 7s

The Melrose 7s is the oldest 7-a-side rugby tournament in the world. This weekend will be the 127th tournament! It is one of the highlights of the year for any rugby fan and is a really fun day out.

Melrose is a lovely little town in the Scottish Borders, about 1 hour south of Edinburgh. The Borders is a fantastic region of Scotland, with beautiful rolling hills, occasional small forests and the famous rivers Tweed (and it's tributaries) running through the middle of it. It is farming country and it is also the heartland of Scottish rugby.

As you may know, rugby is usually played with 15 people on each side. Rugby 7s is played with only 7 people on each side! The pitch is the same size as a normal rugby pitch so you need tobe very fit to play 7s well. Because of this, each half is only 7 or 10 minutes long. The game was first played in Melrose in 1883 (which is why the Melrose 7s is the longest running 7s tournament) but it is now played all over the world, with Hong Kong and Dubai hosting some of the more famous tournaments.

This year the tournament will be honouring our soldiers who are serving abroad and raising money for Poppy Scotland who help support veterans. There is also a tribute on Youtube to the truly wonderful commentator, Bill McLaren, who died earlier this year aged 86, having spent over 50 years of his life bringing rugby to life for generations of rugby-lovers around the world. Rest in Peace, Bill.

a tournament- a sporting competition with lots of different teams/players
a heartland- an area or region where a certain activity is very important/strong
a pitch- a place with grass where you play football or rugby or cricket (but not tennish or basketball)
to honour- is when you give a person or a group of people public respect
a veteran- is a person who has fought in a war
a tribute- is similar to 'honour' and it is when you pay respect to a person or a group of people

Report in The Scotsman

Melrose 7s Website

Poppy Scotland