Time and Skye wait for no weather… Scotland Day 4

It’s just as well I had no plans to leave Skye today as I woke to the news that ferries were cancelled again and even the bridge was closed for a few hours due to continuing high winds. Secure in my knowledge that I was here for one more night, I popped down the 3 flights of stairs for my breakfast. Yummy fried egg with bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms. I always forget that bacon here is not like bacon at home. It’s more like what we call country ham in the South, just not salt cured.

As the rain was tipping down pretty heavily, I decided that maybe the day should start with indoor activities, so I popped into the car and headed towards Armadale.  Armadale is where Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is located. It was about an hour drive, dodging ponding water and feeling the car shake from wind most of the way. Once at the College, I spent considerable time pondering all the Gaelic items available. I found several presents for people back home and a book called Everyday Gaelic for me. I also bought, well let’s just say several, CDs. I really hope Candida is fond of Celtic music. I also took some time braving the wind and rain to grab some photos from behind the College’s administration building. It’s in a spectacular location right on the sea.

Continue reading

She sailed over the sea…um…bridge to Skye… Scotland Day 3

After a short night’s rest, I awoke to a misty moist Scottish morning in Oban. After repacking my bags, I headed next door to the breakfast room at the Hawthorne Bank Guest House. There are advantages to having a ground floor room. I sipped my tea and enjoyed every bite of my scrambled eggs with smoked Scottish salmon. Hunger satisfied, I loaded my bags in the car and took a few photos of the view from the front garden of the Hawthorne Bank. I also couldn’t resist taking a photo of the cunning little boot scraper built into the outside wall of the house.

Once again on the road, I made my way towards Fort William and then Mallaig to catch the ferry to Skye. On the way, I was reminded some things are the same the world over and road construction delays are definitely one. (I’m not complaining though. These roads are so much better than what I remember from Ireland.) As I made the turn on to the A830, I encountered a little wrinkle in my plans for the day. A huge flashing sign said that ferry service from Mallaig to Skye was ‘disrupted.’ I was pretty sure this wasn’t good and decided to be safe rather than sorry and made a quick call to Susan. She, bless her heart, called the Ferry company and found out that chances were pretty good that the ferry I was planning to take would be cancelled due to winds. Rather than take the chance, she quickly reconfigured my route to take me to Skye via the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh. Continue reading

From singing in the pub to singing in the rain…Days 1 and 2 in Scotland

So last we spoke, I was sitting in the airport waiting to board a flight for Scotland. Let me assure you, this is absolutely the first moment I have been still yet awake in the last 48 hours. I hit the ground running in Glasgow about 1 pm local time yesterday and have only stopped for about 7 hours sleep since! Luckily jet lag doesn’t seem to be an issue. I guess adrenaline can counteract the effects of jet lag.

Let me start with some pre- and during travel photos.

Luckily I had no problems with my connection to Glasgow in Amsterdam. By 1:00 pm local time, I was on the ground in Glasgow. I picked a great time to have a non UK passport. The queue (that’s a line for you Americans) for non-UK was only about 10, while the UK passport line was easily almost 200. After zipping through immigration (thankfully I had the right answers to all the questions), I picked up my luggage and staggered, I mean made, my way to the International Arrivals area where Susan was waiting, quite literally, with open arms.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but how lucky are we that the Outlander fan community is filled with such wonderful and talented people? Susan and I have been online and Skype friends for only months, yet she made it her mission to help me plan to get the most out of my 16 days in Scotland. She patiently put up with my dithering and procrastinating over exactly what things were important to me and even reshuffled things again when it turned out that Candida was going to be able come over as well. It’s nice to have friends with skills and on only day 2, I can more than vouch for Susan’s abilities as a blue-badge tour guide and holiday planner. Continue reading

Updated 9/8/2014 Episode 104 – The Gathering – The Gàidhlig bits I could decipher this week

What a wonderful episode! This week we were treated to even more of life among the MacKenzies.  Also, we had tons of Gàidhlig this week. Unfortunately, many of the longer sentences were beyond my ken, but here is some of what I was able to decipher. As always, as others contribute, I’ll update the post.

 As Claire, Rupert and Angus walk through the MacKenzies camping on their way back to the Castle

5:08 Heard in the background

Ciamar a tha thu? – How are you? (This is one sentence everyone should learn. It’s very useful.)

 The Gathering in the Hall

15:36 No Gàidhlig, but take a moment to admire Ron Moore in his fine blue coat as well as Howie from 21st Century Kilts.

16:00 And then admire Herself as well. What exactly is the history between Iona MacTavish and Mrs. Fitz?

17:22 Letitia addressing Colum

Nach tu tha nad…. nad dhuin’ uasal, m’ eudail! – You look the right Laird, my darling. (Àdhamh confirmed)

17:37 Colum addressing the Clan (random words and phrases I caught)

Tulach Ard – High hill, MacKenzie Clan war cry

Fàilte – Welcome

Caisteal Leoch – Castle Leoch

an-dràsta – now, this minute

seo a-nis – here now

21:23 Angus on the way out of the Oath Taking to Auld Alec

Ciamar a tha thu? – How are you?

Auld Alec back to Angus

Tha gu math! – I am well.

Claire trying to escape

26:46 Drunken Clansmen encounter

seallaibh…againn an seo – Look what we have here (Thanks to Christy C.)

Caileag na h-aonar –  /KALak na HÖner/ (a lass on her own / a lonely lass) (Àdhamh confirmed)

a bhodach – old man

a charaid – friend, mate

pòg – kiss (Thanks to Lori for this one.)

na h-iarr sinn fhéin – Do you not want her yourself? (Thanks to Christy C. for helping me puzzle out this one.)

Claire and Jamie returning to the Castle

32:53 Jamie to men holding him

leig às e! – let go!

a charaid – friend, mate

33:25 Jamie getting changed for the oath taking

Taing dhut – Thanks

33:46 One of the other men

Slàinte mhath – good health

 

Updated 9/5/2014 Why you shouldn’t trust your TV’s Closed Captioning for Outlander Gàidhlig translations!

I have heard that some people have been using the closed captioning feature of their televisions and cable boxes in order to more fully understand some of the dialogue in Outlander. Hey, I can understand that completely. I sometimes wish people came with this feature, particularly in Glasgow. 😉 I’ve listened to entire conversations in Glasgow and only nodded my head in what I sincerely hoped were appropriate moments.

However, while closed captioning can help with some of the English dialogue, it is often not quite as helpful with the Gàidhlig. Recently ( i.e. this morning), conversation came up on Twitter about what some people are seeing as CC translations during Gàidhlig dialogue sections of Outlander.

Àdhamh has found these quite funny, so for those using the CC feature, feel free to tweet the best of these to the two of us (@rtidwell730/@greatscotblog and @an_comhghallach) after each episode and I will keep this list updated.

Here’s what we’ve had so far.

Episode 101 – Sassenach

When Murtagh beckons to Claire to come with him:

Gàidhlig says:  Trobhad!  (Come!)

CC says: Druid! (Funny. I don’t see anyone painted blue or communing with trees. This mistake actually crops up a couple of times in the episode.)

Episode 102 – Castle Leoch

Jamie to Mrs. Fitz after the beating:

Gàidhlig says: Tapadh leibh! (Thank you)

CC says: Top of Life (Hmm. Interesting)

Episode 103 – The Way Out

Jamie to Geillis when refusing to stay for port:

Gàidhlig says: Móran taing (Thank you)

CC says: More Time (CC Fail. Nope. Never spend more time or drink anything Geillis has prepared! Thankfully Jamie is a smart lad.)

Episode 104 – The Gathering

Jamie to Clansmen about going to swear his oath to Colum

Gàidhlig says: Let me go and change first, a charaid (my friend)

CC says: Let me go and change first in the cottage. (No cottages here! Just Castle Leoch, but no one complains when Jamie takes his shirt off.)

Next up: Episode 105 – Rent! Only a bit over 24 hours until we find out here in the USA. Happy viewing!