Ciamar a tha thu? My name's Wallace.
Come with me on a virtual tour of Scotland's Grandeur!

We'll start at beautiful Loch Lomond-


This is a view up the loch from the Lomond National Memorial Park. The statue is a memorial to all the Scots who have fallen in the service of their country.
Loch Lomond is the largest area of fresh water in the British isles and measures 28 miles long from South to North.


Now northwards to Killin and the gateway to the Highlands-


From Killin, the view is north to Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe on the Road to the Isles.

Glen Coe is known as the Glen of Weeping from the infamous massacre of the MacDonalds by the Campbell soldiers of the Duke of Argyll.

They came to Glencoe when most of the men were away fighting for Prince Charlie and the women of the clan made them welcome, fed them and gave them dry clothes to wear. When the remaining men and women of the clan sat down to eat, each soldier drew a dagger- a 'sgian dhu' and stabbed the MacDonald on his left. They burned the houses and turned the women and children out into the snow to freeze and starve, but some escaped to tell of the treachery.

Here is a small picture of Glencoe. To see it in it's full panoramic beauty, just click on it and when you are ready use your browser's back button to return to the tour.

This is the Royal Standard of Scotland- the Red lion rampant on a field Or. If you click on it you will see another panorama which includes the monument to my namesake- William Wallace. If you go there in real life and climb all the way to the top, you can see the great two-handed sword of Scotland which Wallace used.



This is Nessie, a friend of mine. He usually lives in Loch Ness, but if you click on him today, he will show you a view of beautiful loch Linnhe, one of Scotland's longest sea lochs, which stretches all the way to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles.
The little pointed hill on the right is known as the Pap of Glencoe and the entrance to the glen is on the right of the picture. Northwards lies Fort William and the next part of the road to the Isles.






This is Glenfinnan, where Bonnie Prince Charlie first raised his standard after landing in Scotland. Here was the first gathering of the clans and from here his legend grew, to end terribly in the slaughter of Culloden Field.

But some say that he will return, like King Arthur, to lead his clans again, and the toast in the west is still- 'To the King over the water!'

The Silver Whistle

Who will play the silver whistle?
Ho ro huo fal il o
My King's son's come home to Alba
Ho ro huo fal il o

Ho ro liu hil oro
Ho ro liu hil oro
On a tall ship cross the ocean
Ho ro huo fal il o



Now we are well on the way to the Isles, and in Oban we will take ship for the Hebrides.



But it would be useful for you to have some gaelic for the journey to the Isles, so here's Hector, a native of Harris to give you a few useful phrases

'Hallo! 'S mise Hector! Ciamar a tha thu?'

That is the gaidhlig for 'Hello! I'm Hector! How are you?'
You say it like this- Hallo- smeesha hecktor. Kimmer uh ha oo?

You might also like to say :

Good evening- Feasgar Math - fess-kur ma
Good morning- Madainn Mhath - ma tine va
It's a lovely day- Tha e breagh an diugh - ha eh bree-ugh un joo
It's raining- Tha an t-uisge ann - ha un tooshky ow-n

or to buy some souvenirs:

Shop- Buth - Boo
Inn, pub- Taigh Osda - tye ossduh Whisky- Uisge beatha - ooshky bay-uh
Small dress dagger- sgian dubh - skee-an doo
Cow- Bo - boh

Numbers:
Aon, Da, Tri, Ceithir, Coig, Sia, Seachd, Ochd, Naoi, Deug
oo-un, dah, tree, kay-her, koh-ick, shee-uh, shach-k, och-k, noo-ee, jee-uck

Colours:
Red- Dearg - jerr-uck
Black- Dubh - doo
White- Geal - gyaal
Silver- Airgid - arug-it
Gold- Or - oar
Green- Uaine - oo-un- yeh
Blue- Gorm - gorrum (can also be green!)
Grey- Glas - glass (can also be blue!)

I hope the Gaidhlig will be useful to you when we land in the Isles!




And here is where we end our tour of Scotland- in the far north west, on the island of Lewis, at one of the most amazing neolithic sites in the world- the cruciform Callanish stones, overlooking the Western Seas.


Haste ye back!