Readers familiar with my "Welfonder" Scottish medievals
know that I only use settings I personally know and have explored. "Allie
Mackay" does the same. She, too, loves Scotland with a burning
passion and spends as much time there each year as she possibly can.
As with the "Inside the Pages" section of www.welfonder.com "Booknotes & Beyond" is
where you will find photos of places in Scotland that inspired certain
scenes or were chosen as settings in Allie's books. Just don't try
and guess who took the photos ... Sue-Ellen or Allie. I can only promise
that one of us did!
The above photo of " Cairn Avenue" in my own favorite Highland
town, Nairn, seemed appropriate to open this page: In HIGHLANDER
IN HER BED, the heroine, Mara, grew up at One Cairn Avenue, although Mara's
Cairn Avenue is located in her hometown of Philadelphia. All the same,
her genealogy-obsessed father** still lives there as does Euphemia
Ross, the formidable Cairn Avenue shrew. Mara also borrows the name
for her One Cairn Village, a very special Brigadoon-like place that
plays a crucial role in the story.
**Snippet from HIGHLANDER IN HER BED**
Mara's nerves began to tighten. "Surely she didn't think we were
related?" she asked, her voice sounding a shade higher than usual. "My
father spends all his time researching our ancestry. He would swoon
over a direct blood tie to the MacDougalls of Ravenscraig...."
.... It was the ancestral home of her clan.
Leastways the seat of the lesser chieftain her branch of the MacDougalls
hailed from.
Her father even kept a faded photo of the castle framed above his
desk. A photo carefully clipped from a Scottish magazine, not one he'd
snapped himself, much to Hugh McDougall's regret. No one in her family
had ever been able to afford to make the trip, and in recent years
her father's health had proved too poor to risk the transatlantic flight.
The closest they'd come was buying a house, albeit humble, at One Cairn
Avenue.
A Glimpse into Highlander in Her Dreams
As noted in the acknowledgment of HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS, Allie knows and loves this book's setting. A true cliff-top castle ruin on the Isle of Skye, and boasting a very colorful history, the book's Castle Wrath is in reality known as Duntulm.
In HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS, Kira parts ways with the tour coach, preferring to venture out to the ruins of Castle Wrath rather than continue on for a picnic lunch at Skye's famous Kilt Rock. This photo shows Allie just a short way from where Kira would have watched the tour coach rumble away. The road cannot be seen, but it is only a stone's throw behind where Allie is standing.
Getting closer to the ruins. Kira would have veered to the left - a glimpse over the cliffs at the photo's left-hand edge would be where she saw the MacDonald keel marks on the little bay's landing strand. (yes, the marks really are there - I just do not have any photos to do them justice)
Looking down the clliffs. It was this view that would have awed Kira as she struggled against the wind to reach the castle ruins. (Note - Allie, too, has made this trek on days of fearsome winds ... it isn't easy. But well worth the effort!)
Allie at the cliff's edge. (thank goodness for the fencing .. it really is a straight drop down!) That's Tulm Isle in the background. Sometimes called Holm Island, it plays a major role in the story and is known as Wrath Isle in the book.
Another view of 'Wrath Isle.' (and, yes, Allie would love to be that seagull)
A glimpse of 'Wrath Isle' from a ruined tower window. This could have been the view from Aidan's own bedchamber....
As mentioned in the book's second prologue and chapter one, Castle Wrath's ruins are riddled with deep, gaping holes that lead down into the remains of the stronghold's erstwhile interior. This is just one such opening. Adventurous souls will understand why Kira was so drawn to explore these gateways to the past. (Between us, Allie can't resist them either)
This is the actual opening that inspired HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS. It, too, leads deep into the heart of Castle Wrath's long-buried interior. And it was here, during a solitary picnic on a windy autumn afternoon that Allie saw something 'unusual' in this very stairwell. Don't ask what she thinks it was as she won't post the like on the Internet. Suffice it to say, the idea for HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS was born that day!
The interior of Castle Wrath's ruins.
This would have been Kira's last glimpse of the ruins as she was leaving. A glimpse over her shoulder would have presented this view. She would have clutched her stone hard in her hand and vowed to return - as indeed she did. (And as Allie does, too - as often as time and deadlines allow)
Not Castle Wrath / Duntulm at all. This is Allie standing alongside her beloved A-82, that oh-so-wonderfully scenic route straight through the heart of the Highlands. The road features in both HIGHLANDER IN HER BED and HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS, hence its inclusion here. For the curious, the road sign behind Allie points to Oban, home of Ravenscraig Castle of HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS. And, as well, Ft. William, another place of particular significance for Allie. (As for the other place name on the sign, Crianlarich - it holds the same place in Allie's heart as Newark Airport: she either loves it or hates it, depending on what direction she's heading!)
Not the misty Isle of Skye, but fast-descending mist in Shetland. Nevertheless, this mist that quite suddenly swept Shetland's bird sanctuary isle of Noss when I was trekking round its cliff-tops, is the same kind of thick, fast-descending mist that greeted Kira when she braved the elements to reach the ruins of Skye's Castle Wrath.
~Look close to see the soaring seabird and, as well, the wooly sheep huddling near the cliff's defining dry-stone wall ~
Spean Bridge Mill is one of Allie's best-loved rest stops along the Highlands' oh-so-scenic A-82. Since Allie -always- hires a car upon arrival in Glasgow and drives north to Inverness, zipping along her beloved A-82, she never fails to make a 'pit-stop' at Spean Bridge Mill. Observant readers will note this well-loved tourist trap's significance in HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS.
True to Spean Bridge Mill's depiction in HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS, Allie really does appreciate the mill's clean and 'atmospheric' women's loo. Should readers stop there, do look for Aidan ... just keep your eyes peeled there toward the latticed walkway to be seen at the right-hand side of this photo. With luck, you might just see him, frowning darkly and waving the Invincible!
This sign-post, showing the way around the Aberdeen Highland Games, could very well have been at the Ravenscraig Games, showing the way hither and thither!
Piping competition at the Aberdeen Highland Games. As at the Ravenscraig Games, such piping competitions would have caught both Kira's and Aidan's attention. I can tell you that, whilst looking on - and listening - Allie was quite ... excited!
Scenes like this at Aberdeen's Hazlehead Park would have greeted Kira and Aidan at Ravenscraig's own annual Highland Games. Allie attends as many such Games as she can, though the Aberdeen Games hold a special attraction!
Allie's dream ... to be serenaded by marching pipes and drums! An enthusiastic Highland band, much like this one from Aberdeen, would have greeted Kira and Aidan at Ravenscraig.
Needless to say, the braw Heilanders of the oh-so-famed caber toss always catch Allie's eye ... likewise Kira's. (even if Kira knows Aidan can best the most stalwart of the champions - hands down!)
Allie -and Kira- say that anyone seeing anything deliciously wicked in this particular caber toss photo, well, let's just say that Heilanders are sexy men ....
As noted in HIGHLANDER IN HER DREAMS acknowledgment, I spotted a quite dashing kilted-looking man high atop a dune during a late afternoon stroll along a remote North Sea strand. He had an 'otherworldly' look about him, almost as if he were a 'guardian' of this lonesome stretch of wild and romantic shoreline...
At this point, Allie was certain that she was seeing something extraordinary - this man just had that out-of-this-world kind of feel about him!
Needless to say, Allie wasn't at all surprised when the dishy Guardian-Heilander vanished right before her eyes! There, where he'd stood only moments before, remained only this bright glowing orb ...
~ And, yes, Allie raced up the dunes to see where he'd gone. But, alas, there was no man to be seen. Only the wild and empty expanse of grassy dune and moorland, stretching in all directions, as far as the eye could see, with nary another soul in sight ... leastways a living one. Of special note is that this rough and wild North Sea shore has seen countless ships wrecked all down the ages. It seems fitting that such a lonesome and tragic strand might have its own vigilant watchman.... ~
(Allie certainly likes to think so!)
A Glimpse into Highlander in
Her Bed
This is Dorothy Joy, the "real" Dottie, as noted in
this book's acknowledgment. A beautiful and sweet-natured springer
spaniel, Dottie is no longer with us. She shared her life with
my good friend, Anne MacDougall Bryant and Anne's friend, Ellen. Dottie
was a true MacDougall heroine and she lives on in the hearts of all
who knew and loved her.
The book's lively Jack Russell Terrier pair,
Scottie and Dottie, were based on my own much-loved Jack Russell, Em.
Here he is posing with pillows decorated with a few of my "Welfonder" Scottish
medieval covers. Although Em has never chased around a stableyard or
played in a reeking dung pile, he has enough antics and tricks of his
own to keep me on my toes.
Mara's "MacDougall
Memorial Cairn" would have looked very similar to this one at
Glencoe. Dedicated to the valiant MacDonald chieftain who lost his
life at the tragic Glencoe Massacre on 13th Feb. 1692, the memorial
can be found on a tranquil rise at the end of Glencoe Village. The
memorial is a fitting tribute to the great MacIain, a worthy and proud
Highland chief whose days should never have ended as they did.
This is the Drover's
Inn, just north of Loch Lomond at Inverarnan. The inn is one of my
absolute favorite haunts along the scenic A-82, the route I always
follow from Glasgow north to Inverness. The A-82 runs straight through
the heart of the Highlands and the views are breathtaking. Mara is
also quite fond of the Drover's Inn, a wonderfully atmospheric and
friendly place. I never drive past without stopping, if only for a
cup of tea. The tea is served with shortbread, there's always an open
fire going, and best of all ... the hunky servers are kilted!
The charm of the
Drover's Inn is apparent the moment you walk in. This is just inside
the front door - the dark and cozy pub with its open fire and kilties
is immediately to the left of where I was standing when I snapped this.
The inn is usually crowded, always welcoming, and lots of fun. It's
a place to linger and make memories. And if ever you visit, look in
the back corner near the hearth - you just might see me sitting there.
At one point in HIGHLANDER
IN HER BED, Euphemia Ross, a minuscule dragon of a woman also known as
the Cairn Avenue shrew, fusses about the lack of mist in Scotland. Well.
I must admit, what would the Highlands be without all that romantic billowy
stuff sliding down the hillsides? Blessedly, unlike Euphemia, whose sharp
tongue and persimmon-personality must have frightened away the mist,
I always manage to find Highland mist when in Scotland. Here is just
one lovely example, taken along my beloved A-82, at Glencoe.
Another example ... I'll call this one Sun-mist. This stunning panorama
was also seen along the A-82, again not far from Glencoe.
