A Look Around Burghead Harbour - Scottish Tours
PRACTICE VIDEOS - This is another video I filmed while continuing surgery rehabilitation, so I hope you enjoy a quick tour of our local prawn boat harbour in the North East of Scotland! thetribulationsoldier.com
Motorbike Vlogging #4 - A Burghead Harbour Visit
PRACTICE VIDEOS - Another Vlog as I continue to practice with a visit to our Burghead Prawn Fishing Harbour on a windy, rainy day with very choppy seas! -
North East Dive, Moray Firth, July 16, Greenside
North East Dive, Moray Firth, July 16, Greenside, Gamrie, evening dive
11/32 Amble to Eyemouth - Spectacular wildlife of the East Coast
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
Shark Bay journeys north calling in at the Farne Islands - home to some of our most spectacular wildlife. This is everything you need to know about bird watching from puffins to guillemots...and also seals. John and Fionn rate this as a 'must visit' for any other intrepid boat owners. Then there's the rugged beauty of the Northumberland coast and majestic Bamburgh Castle en route to Holy Island to stock up on the local mead...next stop Scotland!
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11/32 Leg 9 - Amble to Eyemouth – Spectacular Wildlife of the East Coast
Tripper boats from the main land bring people out to the Farne Islands to enjoy the spectacular wildlife here.
So we’ve just arrived at the Farne Islands, we are in a mooring called “Kettle” which is almost a complete circle, really sheltered from the currents. The guides from the tripper boats have let us pick up their mooring and so we are going to go ashore for an hour, we are going to pumps up the inflatable, go ashore and check out the island.
The islands are actually open from the 1st April to 30th September, but without a doubt the best time to visit is during the bird breeding season which is from mid-April to late July. Late October to mid-December is the best time to watch seal pups.
The Farnes have been a wildlife sanctuary for almost 100 years. The National Trust took over management in 1925, but it wasn’t always this way. The seals here used to be killed for their skins and oil from their blubber and sea birds and eggs were collected in such numbers that some species almost disappeared.
Today the seal colony on the farms are one of the most important in Europe, numbering between 3000–4000 grey seals, and in the summer tens of thousands of puffins and guillemots breed here, as well as lesser numbers of many other sea birds. The island’s only human residents are now the wardens.
The Farne Islands are an absolute must for anybody who’s cruising this area. Awesome bird colony, absolutely amazing place to visit. Look at that water, it’s absolutely crystal clear now, absolutely beautiful. After all of the muddy water that we have been through, it’s great to see nice, clean, clear water again. That’s an incredible island, the bird colony there is just fantastic!
This Northumberland coast is stunningly beautiful isn’t it, amazing coast line! This used to be the coast of castles, we’ve been passing one after another after another. This is Bamburgh Castle which is probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, absolutely stunning castle! We can’t get in any close because it is a really shallow bank here, we’ve got a meter below us already and we’ve got to watch the depth all of the time but it’s about as close as we can get to it.
It’s a flying visit to Lindisfarne - we anchored out here in the harbour, got some post cards, got some mead, went to the Priory, back on the boat heading north. We are still hoping to make it to Scotland today although it’s getting a bit late in the day, we’ll see how we do!
That was just a stampede of seals wasn’t it! Must be 300 or 400 or more just on this sand-spit, just went charging for the water when we came towards them. Incredible spectacle!
After an incredible day we crossed the Scottish border and pulled into Eyemouth looking for a birth for the night.
Sponsored by MS Amlin, the boat insurance specialist.
17/32 Stromness to Kinlochbervie - can Shark Bay's good fortune continue?
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
It would seem so...there's more fantastic weather for the boys and the sea remains calm apart from the amazing tidal race as Shark Bay heads for the Old Man of Hoy giving us unique views of this spectacular sea stack. John and Fionn are now rounding Cape Wrath which had been another big worry after all the stories they'd heard. But it's all plain sailing into Kinlochbervie, an archetypal fishing port.
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17/32 Stromness to Kinlochbervie – can Shark Bay’s good fortune continue?
Well it’s a fantastic morning here in Stromness. It’s only about half past six but the sun’s already high the sky. There doesn’t seem to be any wind. The sea is calm. Beautiful morning. Forecast for today isn’t too bad – the winds are from the south/south-west so that should give us a fair bit of shelter, but tomorrow the westerlys are blowing up so it’ll be nice to be among the shelter of the islands – we’ll see how it goes.
Well there’s the first surprise of the day – the tidal race. I hadn’t been expecting it this time of day but it’s stretching almost all the way across between Hoy. It looks like we can find a channel up to the north here that we can go through, but this is a lot worse than we saw in the Pentland Firth. It looks like there’s little whirlpools forming and a definite serious tide race. I guess we just timed it wrongly – we were thinking more about getting out on the whole journey. Just, just getting into the first bits of it now so I’m going to head north and see if I can avoid it.
We managed to miss the worst of the tide race and were soon back in calm waters off the Island of Hoy. Hoy has some of the biggest sea cliffs in the British Isles – over a thousand feet high.
Still got plenty of depth – you can get right in underneath it.
But it’s probably best known for its impressive and famous sea stack – the Old Man of Hoy. From there we took a direct course for mainland Scotland’s most north-easterly headland – the Cape Wrath.
So we’re right underneath the cliffs and underneath the lighthouse at Cape Wrath, the very northwest tip of Scotland, and this is probably the place which had worried me most when I was planning the trip. I was just terrified of this place, just thinking of how remote it was, how far from any fuel, how bleak it was gonna be, how stormy it could be – and it’s absolutely flat calm – it’s beautiful. You couldn’t want better conditions to go around. It’s a bit cold – in fact it’s freezing cold, I’ve been wearing gloves to drive, but – ah – absolutely fantastic conditions. It’s so good that we’re going to just hang here, have a cup of tea to warm up before we head around the corner to fuel up.
My Scottish isn’t very good but that was Am Buachaille – haven’t got a clue how you pronounce it. It’s a spectacular bit of rock.
You can just see – one there and one there - the fins [of the dolphins]. They’re going really close to the shore.
They must be feeding – got to be feeding, haven’t they? They’re really intent on the mission, they’re going backwards and forwards, coming up everywhere. There’s a couple there – one just jumped.
What the... What do you reckon that was!?
I haven’t got a clue – it was black and white. It looked like an orchid – the colours of it – but it couldn’t be. It was behaving completely different to the dolphins. With the dolphins you get the fins coming up and body coming down, but that was just leaping, leaping, leaping. Haven’t got a clue what it was – time for the ID book I think!
Like everywhere we visited, we got a warm and helpful welcome in Kinlochbervie. The question was where to head next. We could keep heading south, or we could make another detour and motor across to the Hebrides. At the planning stage of the trip, we totally ruled this out as an option, but right now it seemed tantalisingly possible.
Burghead Lighthouses
The odd, slightly oriental lookiung Burghead Lighthouses in Scotland.
You Arcade Scotland, Episode 4: 'Treasure Island' (Glasgow) & 'Amusements' (Stonehaven)
More here:
Team You Arcade continue their search for Sega arcade games in Scotland, hitting 'Treasure Island' in Glasgow and 'Amusements' in Stonehaven.
Music made available for use under a Creative Commons license:
'Yellow Dust' by Rolemusic -
'White-hot iron (1 x Spectrum, 9 channels)' by Mister Beep -
19/32 Stornoway to Mallaig - the weather relents for Shark Bay
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
Although the forecast is not good, John and Fionn decide that it's good enough to venture out onto the open sea again. More forecast bad weather evaporates as they head west towards Skye but again it's a very tough leg to reach picturesque Portree and then make their way further south along a very grey coastline to Mallaig. But there's still little prospect of the weather improving...have the boys used up all their good fortune already?
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19/32 Stornoway to Mallaig – the weather relents for Shark Bay
What’s on then John?
We’ll it’s just gone six on Saturday morning. We’d been expecting a 4-6 – 4-6 to 7 was forecast, but it’s looking really calm here. There’s minimal wind, all the flags that were really stiff in the breeze are just hanging limply – a little bit of a flutter. So we’re gonna head off to Skye hopefully before this 4-6 or 7 kicks in. It’s a couple of hours – we’re gonna head west – so we always planned to go anyway but it would be following us. But if we get a nice calm ride over that would be even better. So, off to Skye.
Well that was one hell of a crossing! Just tucked in under the cliffs at the very north end of Skye now and we’re sheltered from the wind. When we left Stornoway it looked pretty calm, but as soon as we got off the shelter of the island we got the full force of the 4-6 wind that had been forecast and was definitely there. And all the way every wave - on the beam here, on the starboard beam - for much of the crossing every single wave would just come in right over the side. So we’re tucked in now, probably about half an hour from Portree which is our destination at the moment, but I’m actually gonna go and get changed and have a nice hot cup of tea before we carry on, because I’m cold!
This is what you need after a rough early morning sea-crossing – bacon ‘n’ egg.
Well we’ve landed at Portree on Skye and just been up in town and had some breakfast - stocked up on a few things at the co-op. We’ve been thinking about staying here but in fact it’s very early in the day still – it’s still only about half 10/11 o’clock. We’ve been around the town, seen it – so we thought we might roll on. The weather is… patchy. At the moment it’s sunny and looking nice but even while we’ve been in here there have been some squalls, rain showers coming through. So it’s gonna be a bit of a mixed bag as we go south, but we’re gonna roll on and see what we can see through the islands.
In fact all around these islands around the Scottish islands is great for cruising. Plenty of little harbours you can put into – if you want to moor in a quiet loch it’s gonna be all yours. Plenty of facilities, and wherever you are you can always get shelter from the weather – apart from the rain, nothing shelters you from that! But apart from that, you can always get shelter from the wind and the waves and enjoy your cruising. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re on the eastern side now, the weather’s coming in from the west – nice calm cruising.
We’d hoped to take a shortcut through the narrow channel between Skye and Scalpay that seemed from the charts to be possible.
We’re ridiculously shallow here – we’ve got less than half a metre below the hull, so…
You’ve got shallower to go as well!
Bravery being the best part of valour, or whatever it is – sensibility being the best part of valour - I don’t know – we’re gonna turn around and go back round the outside of the island – if we can find any water underneath our soles to do it in.
Picking up the weed!
Well it was worth trying to see if we could get through anyway, but lesson learnt!
Just beyond the Skye Bridge, which links the island to the mainland, was Kyle Harbour where we planned to top up our fuel tanks again.
Just been to Kyle Harbour to get some more diesel – just a top up really… and no diesel today! The guy’s in Inverness. Couldn’t get him on the radio, rang his mobile and he’s in Inverness, so no fuel. Although it’s only 20 miles down in Mallaig, so we’ll make it, no worries.
So the last leg of the day – a run to the fishing port of Mallaig were, the pilot guide told us fuel and marina facilities were available.
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30/32 Lizard to Falmouth - the final leg of the Great Motorboat Adventure
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
Shark Bay really is on the home run, passing Fionn's house on the beach...the boys have seen the British Isles as never seen before...but agree 'there's no place quite like home!' But there are still plenty of things to see...disused tin mines stand as monuments to a very different age as Shark Bay makes landfall in Porthleven - their true home port where John's dog is waiting on the shore. It's the perfect end to a wonderful adventure! Well not quite...Shark Bay has to complete the actual tour by rounding the Lizard, past the final swing bridge into Falmouth. It's been the adventure of a lifetime!
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30/32 Lizard to Falmouth – the final leg of the Great Motorboat Adventure
Here I am back at Praa Sands where I grew up - here’s my house just up there – you can just see the chimney sticking up out of the trees.
What a spectacular trip that was. It was full of surprises – I was blown away with how beautiful the whole UK was. You always tend to write it off a bit but everywhere I went I was pleasantly surprised. And there are so many places I would love to go back to now but you still can’t beat coming home – I’m really happy to be here again.
This is the classic iconic Cornish coastal scene – the Engine Houses from the tin mining era – just the ruins of them now on the cliffs. The whole Cornish coast around here is scattered with them, and these are at Rinsey which is just before Porthleven, our home port.
Gonna make you famous!
Make us famous?
Yeah.
Well this is our home village Porthleven. It’s not really the end of our trip because we’ve still got The Lizard to go around back into Falmouth, which is where the boat lives in the marina and is moored all year round. But this is our home port, so in a way this is our journey’s end. The reason we don’t keep our boat in Porthleven is simply Porthleven is tidal, whereas in Falmouth we can keep it on a marina mooring all year round… What a great day to end it on – absolutely perfect conditions now to go around The Lizard. So, we’re home – I can even see my dog from here!
I was going to say this was the last milestone of the trip, but in fact it’s more than that, it’s the last corner we’ve got to turn. Because we’re at Britain’s most southerly point – The Lizard – and now we’re gonna head north for the first time since the North of Scotland, effectively. I’m going north about 10 or 20 nautical miles back to our home port of Falmouth. So it’s really significant turning around The Lizard.
Good afternoon Port Pendennis – would you be able to swing the bridge over for us please?
Thanks for that.
We’re home Fi, we’re home!
What’s that there, John?
That’s our birth – home birth.
Haven’t forgotten how to do it.
Well, we’re back, and it’s been the trip of a lifetime. I would recommend anybody who’s even thinking about doing this trip – get out and do it – it’s such an adventure, there’s so much out there to see. The boat has been magnificent – we haven’t even needed to change a fan belt. The little problems we had along the way all came down to a short circuit on an earth wire, and once that was sorted, everything’s been fine. So, fantastic journey, amazing boat. Crew? Well you’ve not done too badly Fion! Well done mate, good trip.
Cheers mate! Yeah.
Such an adventure… All I’d say, anybody who ever has the chance of doing it – get out there and do it, you won’t regret it.
All closed down. So… Where shall we go for our next trip then?
Sponsored by MS Amlin, the boat insurance specialist.
North East Dive, Lossiemouth June 16, wreck of the Unity
North East Dive, Lossiemouth June 16, wreck of the Unity, a fishing trawler in about 26m.
Captain Timothy Winters United States Navy Retired Part 1
Keynote Speaker Speaker Captain Timothy Winters delivers keynote address at Memorial Day Parade
May 30, 2016
Deep Sea Distraction-3: British Royal Air Force Tea Time Visit
RAF Sea King Exercise on board RV Franklin, May 2012. Prince William may have been piloting
SCOTLAND THE HIDDEN GEMS PART ONE
Scotland the HIDDEN GEMS Around the coast to Iona, oban, Derness, The coast of Sutherland to Thurso.
EXPLORING | FINDLATER CASTLE l Aberdeenshire
Exploring: Findlater Castle 2018
Findlater Castle is the old seat of the Earls of
Findlater and Seafield, sitting on a 50-foot-high cliff overlooking
the Moray Firth on the coast of Banff and Buchan,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
LIKE+COMMENT+SUBSCRIBE!!!!
Fun day out for me and Vikki in this,
hope you got a kick out of this
amazing lost castle. I'd love to stay here overnight
and record it. It is supposedly haunted after all.
Ariel footage video by Mark Purmar Photography
Full video here:
Shot on my GoFake camera
Stay Tuned for more HORROR shorts coming VERY soon
1960 - RAF 42nd Anniversary
The RAF 42nd Anniversary
Elgin Cathedral Moray
Attractions to visit in and around Elgin Moray
32/32 The Great Motorboat Tour - Lighthouses
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
The final clip of the Great Motorboat Tour is a compilation of Britain's great maritime landmarks -- lighthouses. These are names that will resonate with every boat owner...Portland Bill, Bell Rock, Beachy Head, Rathlin East, Kintyre, Old Head of Kinsale, Eddystone, Dungeness, Southwold, Bishop Rock, Longships, Coquet, Aran-Eeragh, Farne, Fastnet, Needles and Skellig... bringing every shipping forecast to life! Discover which are the oldest and newest ones. Did you know that the same lighthouse at Farne has been keeping mariners safe for nearly 350 years? Enjoy a great view of each and every one of them from Shark Bay completing an epic and successful circumnavigation of the British Isles.
Portland Bill
Coordinates: 50° 30.82 N 02° 27.30 W
First built: 1716
Bell Rock
56° 26.065N 002° 23.230W
Built: 1811
Beachy Head
Coordinates: 50° 44.0 N 00° 14.50 E
Built: 1902
Rathlin East
Coordinates: 55°18.111' N 006°10.313' W
Built: 1856
Kintyre
Coordinates: 55° 18.626'N 005° 48.208'W
Built: 1788
Old Head of Kinsale
Coordinates: 51°36.287' N 008°32.018' W
Built: 1853
Eddystone
Coordinates: 50° 10'.80 N 04° 15'.90W
Built: 1882
Dungeness
Coordinates: 50° 54'.77 N 00° 58'.70 E
Built: 1961
Southwold
Coordinates: 52° 19'.60 N 01° 41'.00E
Built: 1889
Bishop Rock
Coordinates: 49° 52'.3 N 06° 26'.7 W
Built: 1858
Longships
Coordinates: 50° 03'.97 N 005° 44'.75 W
Built: 1795
Coquet
Coordinates: 55° 20'.0 N 01° 32'.2 W
Built: 1841
Aran-Eeragh
Coordinates: 53°08.909' N 009°51.402' W
When built: 1857
Farne
Coordinates: 55° 36'.93 N 01° 39'.25 W
First lighthouse built: 1673
Fastnet
Coordinates: 51°23.358' N 009°36.178' W
Built: 1904
Needles
Coordinates: 50° 39'.70 N 01° 35'.42W
Built: 1786
Skellig
Coordinates: 51°46.108' N 10°32.519' W
Built: 1821
Sponsored by leading boat insurance specialists MS Amlin
( The Great Motorboat Tour is the weekly video diaries of two men in a boat and their attempt to circumnavigate the British Isles. Film-maker John Boyle and cameraman Fionn Crow Howieson set off from Falmouth in their Sealine S34, called Shark Bay, keeping a regular video diary which provides compelling viewing of their great adventure as well as unique views and insight into our wonderful coastline. Their route takes them eastwards along the south coast, around southeast England, across the Thames estuary and then along the full length of the east coast to Scotland and beyond, past Cape Wrath taking in the wildest and most remote shores of our islands. Shark Bay then turns south following Scotland's beautiful west coast before heading westwards to reach Northern Ireland. Their adventure takes them right around Ireland along the west and south coastlines before they head eastwards across the Irish Sea to west Wales and finally around Land's End back towards their home port of Falmouth. It's a huge challenge and not all plain sailing....so sign up to join the adventure in 32 episodes and see the British Isles as never seen before -- by boat.
10/32: The Tyne to Amble - Shark Bay faces new challenges on the voyage northwards...
The boat insurance people who share your passion…
After hitting a submerged log, Shark Bay makes it to the River Tyne and finds a berth at North Shields - as well as 'a fantastic fish restaurant'! Strong winds give John and Fionn a day off to explore Newcastle... 'a great place'. Shark Bay passes offshore wind turbines actually turning - a sign of changing weather. After taking the opportunity to top up with fuel at Amble Marina the great motorboat tour heads out to sea and past a spectacular and remote castle...
Sponsored by leading boat insurance specialists MS Amlin (
For Full Video Transcript:
10/32 Leg 8 - The Tyne to Amble – Shark Bay faces new challenges on the voyage northwards….
Sponsored by MS Amlin, the boat insurance specialist.
That was an interesting moment. We are just going in the mouth of the Tyne. We’ve got a bit of a sea running here! It bounces us around a bit, a few things are out of cupboards down below. Fionn had to go forward and sort out a fuel can that seemed to have burst or was certainly leaking and at the same moment a ferry came out. So we had a few waves break over the bow as we let it go passed. So hopefully now we are going to get a bit of shelter in the Tyne. I don’t think that I am going to plan to come out here again today until this settles down a bit.
Pretty big industrial looking vessels and rigs up here! How’s that wind!?
Well, it’s strong! Really glad that we got into the Tyne and we’re not still out at sea for a couple of hours. That would be quite unpleasant. The wind is really picking up right at this moment.
We hadn’t planned that the Tyne was going to be our ultimate destination today. But with the winds picking up and having the bad luck of already striking the log we thought that probably enough’s enough and decided to get a birth at North Shields.
It’s just gone 7am, we are about to leave the North Quays Marina in the North side of the Tyne. Looks like a beautiful morning, the flags are flopping and the sky is blue so it looks like a good day to get to sea. We missed a day yesterday, when we came in on Monday it was pretty rough, it was blowing up a force 5 northerly and of course we are heading north so we would be heading straight into it! So we just decided to take a day out and have a look around Newcastle which was really cool, it’s a nice city, really exceeded my expectations. Really good place. So, we have kind of refreshed, reinvigorated. Keen to go to sea and keep heading north!
One of the best restaurants along the coast so far is “Zambuca’s”. Just by the North Shields fish market on Fish Quay. Incredible cheap prices! Amazing portions and fantastic food! One of the best five restaurants we have encountered around the coast so far.
That’s the first time on this trip we have seen a wind turbine turning, which shows just what great conditions we have had so far doesn’t it!
We pulled into Amble for another top-up of fuel, we’d intended to do something a bit different and take the dingy up river to explore Warkworth Castle, only a short way inland on a loop on the river. But the tides were wrong and we’d have to pass over a weir so we decided to roll on. We passed another circumnavigator here; Timothy Spall and his converted barge. He’s going the opposite way to us, clockwise. I saw him in Cornwall last year so he’s certainly taking his time, I hope our voyage doesn’t last quite so long!
It’s a pretty impressive castle behind us, isn’t it? Can’t even find the name of it in the charts or in the pilot book, but it’s just on the headlands here. This points called Castle Point, but no name for the castle, we’ll have to look it up. We pulled out of Amble about 20 minutes ago, this is near a village called Craster. We went into Amble just to top up with fuel because I was looking at the pilot book and looking at the charts - now we are running out of Marina’s. We have been pretty lucky with Marina’s so far, we have been relying on the luxury of pulling onto pontoons, getting fuel but from now on it’s getting a bit more complicated. Getting cans of fuel from diesel garages or perhaps arranging trucks or that sort of thing to bring it down to us on tankers, so we are trying to top up the fuel tanks wherever we can as we go along.
Scotland | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Scotland
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Scotland (Scots: Scotland, Scottish Gaelic: Alba [ˈal̪ˠapə] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country has more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. In 1801, Great Britain itself entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles and other royal symbols of statehood specific to the pre-union Kingdom of Scotland. The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational, religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 union with England.In 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. The head of the Scottish Government is the First Minister of Scotland, who is supported by the Deputy First Minister of Scotland. Scotland is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs. Scotland is also a member of the British–Irish Council, and sends five members of the Scottish Parliament to the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly.Scotland is divided into 32 subdivisions, known as local authorities, or councils. Glasgow City is the largest subdivision in Scotland in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scottish Government to each subdivision.
Scotland | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Scotland
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
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Scotland (Scots: Scotland, Scottish Gaelic: Alba [ˈal̪ˠapə] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country has more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. In 1801, Great Britain itself entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles and other royal symbols of statehood specific to the pre-union Kingdom of Scotland. The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational, religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 union with England.In 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. The head of the Scottish Government is the First Minister of Scotland, who is supported by the Deputy First Minister of Scotland. Scotland is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs. Scotland is also a member of the British–Irish Council, and sends five members of the Scottish Parliament to the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly.Scotland is divided into 32 subdivisions, known as local authorities, or councils. Glasgow City is the largest subdivision in Scotland in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scottish Government to each subdivision.