Shelagh's Lens
Bringing Vancouver and the world to inspired travellers
The Yorkshire Dales
About this time last year, I began planning my spring ‘22 travels. Yorkshire was high on the list of places to explore in England, and I planned accordingly.
Then, this last winter, I became aware of the newest tv version of James Herriot’s “All Creatures Great and Small”. I love this show, and that enhanced my interest in the area.
I’m grateful that, thanks to Melanie, I enjoyed my first exposure to the achingly beautiful countryside of Yorkshire. Here’s one glimpse, from the roadside between Burnsall and Hebden. Yes, we were enroute to Grassington! For those less familiar with @allcreaturestv, Grassington is a picturesque North Yorkshire market town that’s used in the current tv series as a stand-in for Darrowby.
Have a look at the stone walls you see here. Some of these Yorkshire walls date back to the 13th century, and it’s said there are more than 5,000 miles of them in the Yorkshire Dales alone.
Now, as I contemplate 2023 travels, a return visit to Yorkshire is high on the list.
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A Fluffle of Bunnies
Jericho Beach is a wonderful place to spend a day. The parkland adjacent to the beach is also home to a rabbit colony.
Did you know a group of wild rabbits is also called a “fluffle”? It’s unsurprising that such an appealing – if abundant – group would be given an equally adorable name.
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Remembrance Day 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted how we pay tribute this year to veterans past and present. It hasn’t diminished the significance of November 11th to Canadians and others around the globe, and our desire to honour those who served.
Across the country, the Royal Canadian Legion launched its annual Poppy Campaign in late October. We usually pick up a pin from a volunteer or business, and make a donation. The donations are used to support veterans and their families, and the Legion reported that, during its most recently reported campaign year, 2018, in excess of $15 million was disbursed to veterans and their families between October 2018 and 2019.
This year, with it being impractical for most volunteers to take up their usual positions, the Legion published a list of businesses that made poppies available by donation to their customers. If you typically make a donation and haven’t yet this year, you may want to consider checking out the Legion’s online and other donation options.
With people everywhere advised to pay their respects away from crowds and the formal Remembrance Day ceremonies, I have no photos of the 2020 ceremonies. Instead, I’ll share a photo and some music from a past ceremony at Vancouver’s Victory Square.
Bagpipers and drummers are very much a part of these occasions. The bagpipes always provoke a visceral reaction in me, but I find The Sands of Kuwait particularly touching. Click below to listen to, and feel, this piece.
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McRae, the Canadian doctor who penned In Flanders Fields
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Pandemic Murals
What a year we’re having. Here in Vancouver, we’ve been able to enjoy being outdoors throughout the pandemic, but there were times when it was surreal walking about our city.
Roads were often mostly free of vehicle traffic, and the majority of pedestrians made a point of detouring – off a sidewalk and on to the road – in order to avoid close proximity.
Many of the stores and businesses that boarded up their windows were soon decorated with murals. Images and messages ranged from whimsical – the block seen in the photo above featured some of my favourites – to expressing gratitude and inspiration.
Others encouraged safety …
Robson Street was home to some terrific murals. You’ll see some below, with more to follow!
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Caribbean Waters
Last September, in the good old days when we could readily travel, I travelled to Barbados for work.
As I do whenever possible, I snagged window seats for both flights.
The views above the Caribbean were incredible, and here’s my first look at Bridgetown, where I presented to a business audience, and then enjoyed a few days of down time.
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Remember
A thought on this Remembrance Day, with some September 2018 images from Canada’s National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario …
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McRae, the Canadian doctor who penned In Flanders Fields
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Kits Beach Covered in Snow!
Vancouverites are accustomed to rainy winters, not snow. Growing up here, it was a major event if we saw one snowfall during the course of a winter. If the snow remained on the ground at the end of the same day, that was an even bigger deal.
We’re of course accustomed to snow on the nearby mountains, such as the Lions (above), but not necessarily down in the city.
Last month, though, we west coasters saw Metro Vancouver’s coldest February on record in more than 80 years … and posssibly longer. Records go back only as far as 1937.
As you’ll see from these pictures I took at Kitsilano (Kits) Beach, we also had more snow than usual. In the first two weeks of February alone, the city received more than triple the usual snowfall for the entire month!
In recent years, it’s been typical for snow to fall on two days during the month of February. In 2019, we had 10 days of snow. It was also one of our top 10 snowiest months since records have been kept. The total amount is meagre compared to people in colder climes, but a typical February average at Vancouver International Airport (which is in nearby Richmond) would be 6.3 centimetres. In 2019, 31 centimetres dusted the airport!
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Are you looking at me?
This is one of a pair of swans who are anything but shy. I’ve visited them a few times lately, and they make their way to the shoreline when I approach – likely hoping for food.
I learned, on visiting Edinburgh, Scotland this Spring just how outgoing swans can be when they’re accustomed to people visiting their lakes.
Neither of this pair has (yet!) stepped up out of the water and approached me as the Scottish swans did, but – despite the apparent look in the first picture here – these West Vancouver swans seem to have no issue feeding away with company nearby.
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Swan Lake
Well, not exactly! I caught these early morning images in a pond. 
This pair of swans were busily feeding.
Bottoms up!
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Incredible Isle of Skye
If you’re from the Scottish Highlands, or if any of your ancestors hailed from there as did the MacDonalds Clanranald on my dad’s side, you may have grown up hearing or singing an old folk song known as Over the Sea (Skye Boat Song). If you’ve no Scottish heritage but watch the Outlander series, its opening song is an adaptation of Over the Sea.
The Skye Bridge – March 2018
My paternal grandmother’s family came from the remote island of Skye and so we heard not only the song, but also stories of the heroism displayed in 1745 by clan member Flora MacDonald. Like many Highlanders, our MacDonald and Chisholm ancestors emigrated to North America.
Our family settled in Antigonish, Nova Scotia – where my grandmother, who was born a hundred or so years later, didn’t learn English until she began school. Even as an adult, she and her sisters would speak Gaelic to one another. My dad remembered more than one occasion when his mother and the aunts would slip in to the Gaelic if discussing matters not meant to be heard by young ears.
Picturesque homes along the harbour in the town of Portree, Isle of Skye – the largest town on the isle, and home to Skye’s only secondary school
Flash forward roughly 240 years from when this branch of the family emigrated to Nova Scotia, and this Canadian had the good fortune to visit the achingly beautiful Isle of Skye this Spring.
You like to hike? Soak up incredible colours and views from windy Cuith-raing, aka Quiraing, on the Isle of Skye.
Invited to give a presentation to the Scottish PA Network in Edinburgh (thank you again, Rosemary), I began planning what I think of as my 2019 Scottish Road Trip … one that involved happily memorable stays (fittingly, at Macdonald Hotels & Resort brand properties!) in Edinburgh and St. Andrews before driving across Scotland and over the bridge to Skye.
Book early if you want to snag a room at the Uig Hotel, directly overlooking Uig Bay and just a short (winding!) drive from the Fairy Glen, Cuith-raing/Quiraing and other beautifully lit settings.
Call me crazy (my husband did), but I set off from St. Andrews on the east coast of Fife, and drove across the Highlands and over to Uig in a single day. Bear in mind that this trip also marked my first time driving in the UK, which meant adjusting to changes in both steering wheel placement and the lanes in which I drove. Thank goodness for the patience of Scottish drivers during my first couple of days at the wheel!
I made it to the Isle of Skye shortly after 7:00 but, given a misadventure with my GPS (story to follow), I tumbled in to the hospitable property known as the Uig Hotel some time after 9:00 p.m.
Sheep and other silhouettes: Dusk at Struan, just minutes away from the Uig Hotel, Isle of Sky
When you visit Skye, you’re in what’s known as the Inner Hebrides. You’re up north – far north! If you’d like some perspective on its location, Skye is a mere 1,134 kilometers or 705 miles from Reykjavik, Iceland. You’re closer to Iceland and to all the other Nordic countries than Vancouverites are to Toronto!
I’d prepared myself for a soggy visit, but lucked out this March. It didn’t rain until the final day of my stay. Only then, as I stopped by Armadale to visit the ruins of one of the MacDonald clan’s castles, did it rain … and it poured buckets!
I paused daily along this stretch of road in Struan. It’s too beautiful to drive by without stopping and soaking in the magical lighting and raw beauty.
In addition to amazing scenery and great hospitality at and around the Uig Hotel, I got to see Highland Cattle and more than a few sheep. I also navigated any number of one-lane roads, with pullouts appearing at regular intervals.
If you decide to visit Skye, plan early and don’t go without accommodations confirmed in advance. This remote and rugged island is ridiculously popular, thanks in no small part to the Outlander series, James Bond movies, Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times video and even a Volvo commercial.
I have plenty of pics and stories to follow, from the Isle of Skye and from St. Andrews and Edinburgh – which I visited again after Skye. For now, I’ll leave you with this look at Carbost, Skye.
By the bridge: Carbost, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Over the Sea (Skye Boat Song)
Interested in that lovely old song? You’ll find a rendition and the lyrics below.
Chorus: Speed, bonnie boat like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry.
Carry the lad that’s born to be king
over the sea to Skye.
Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air,
Baffled our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.
(chorus)
Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean’s a royal bed.
Rock’d in the deep, Flora will keep
watch o’er your weary head.
(chorus)
Burned are our homes, exile and death,
Scattered the loyal man.
Yet ere the sword, cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again.
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