CELTIC ESCAPE
Celtic music
Photos and graphic arts
The sea and its universe
Celtic heritage and legends
Photos and graphic arts
Brittany
Nice photos covering mainly Brittany, appearing in a restrained presentation of good taste.
Link to Photos from Brittany and elsewhere
Scotland
Beautiful panoramic pictures which will take you directly to the heart of Scotland, they will make you feel the loneliness of Highlands glens and discover its marvellous lochs.
Link to panoramic pictures of Hervé Sentucq (Text essentially in French, go to "Photothèque" and Ecosse)
Another site, not to be missed, also with some beautiful landscape photographs from lochs and glens, by a Scottish photographer.
Link to site scotlandscapes with photos from Graham Macfarlane
A professional photographer whose beautiful landscapes illustrate his books and calendars.
Link to photos from Phil Banks
Ireland
An excellent selection of Irish landscapes by Marcus Günther.
Link to photos from Marcus Günther
The sea and its universe
Old sailing boats
Bought in 1984 by "Mystic Seaport", The Rosenfeld Collection gathers more than 800.000 photographs covering the period from 1881 to the present. It naturally includes the famous documents of Morris Rosenfeld & Sons of New York, comprising in particular some exceptional images of the America's Cup from the great era of "J Classes".
Link to The Rosenfeld Collection
The Beken family of Cowes, a genuine institution in its domain, has been taking photographs since the start of the century of the most beautiful sailing boats which ever existed, constituting a collection without equal. Schooners, "J Classes" from the America Cup and others, photographs in B& W simply sumptuous which are a real joy to contemplate.
Link to Beken of Cowes
Jim Thompson is a contemporary painter of great talent specialized in "marines", whose great sailing ships are depicted with exceptional delicacy and lightings.
Link to Tim Thompson paintings
Celtic heritage and legends
The Spur of Talbert
A unique curiosity in Europe, it is of particular interest to us in view of its immediate geographical proximity, and its spearhead represents the most Northerly part of the Breton peninsula.
Situated at the far end of the "Presqu'île Sauvage" ("Wild Peninsula") which is demarcated by the ria rivers of "Le Trieux" and "Le Jaudy", the spur of Talbert pushes its sand and shingles arrow as far as 3 kms away from the shore into deep see. Its etymology would be "Talberv", with ""Ero" or "Erv" meaning spur and "Talb" meaning "which faces up to". As a matter of fact, the latest face the heavy swells having crossed the Atlantic ocean. The shingles it is made of, pushed by these swells, have been separated from the rocky plateaus during the great freezings of the quaternary.
This spur which was formerly longer, was broken a first time at the beginning of the XVIIIth, then again at the XIXth, but this time it reconstituted itself after 15 years.
Its role is important for the protection it brings to nearby inhabitants : its disappearing would be a tragedy for the whole area, with a risk of a resulting higher sea level. Moreover, this peninsula shelters many sorts of sea birds and its fauna is not less interesting.
The legend of the Spur, or the love affair between King Arthur and the Fairy Morgane
This legend which runs across the moor of Larmor, spread by the winds, appeals to us all the more since at low tide we can just perceive from our place the island of the Fairy Morgane :
"Morgane the Fairy was living in the island of Talbert, separated from the coast by a small sound of sea. King Arthur, on the occasion of one of its long rides, having ventured up to the limits of flood, perceived the Fairy sitting on the rocks of her island, combing her long and beautiful hair in the sunlight. As swiftly as can be the lightning of the good sword of King Arthur, love sprung out between them. Unfortunately the sea was separating them, Arthur had to return without having been able to join Morgane.
He had to hide his spite to the Queen and to the court, but soon returned towards the sea kingdom of the beautiful lover. The latest, devoured by desire, had hardly perceived the King that she filled her dress with white shingles and entered the sea. She threw ahead from her a shingle which was immediately transformed into a rock, then more shingles close to each other, and rocks joining together formed a causeway. Soon, the Fairy was able to snuggle into Arthur's arms. The Spur of Talbert was born; a very small sound of sea separates it from the islet and only the leap of a fairy can jump over it. Morgane wished it to be so in order to forbid the access to its spur to the profanes."
The Book of Kells
A book written or rather drawn by monks of the VIIth, illustrating the New Testament with illumination of extraordinary delicacy. Kept in the Kell's monastery during the best part of middle-age, it is preserved in the library of Trinity College in Dublin since the middle of XVIIth. It is a genuine masterpiece of medieval art, of which one page is turned every day at the Trinity College where it is accessible to public.
Link to a few extracts from the Book of Kells
