SCOTLAND – Gallus Lad

Style Hotspots for Visiting Glasgow

November 19, 2015 by Gallus, posted in MENSWEAR, SCOTLAND, TRAVEL

Will you be visiting Glasgow soon?
Here at some of the areas you style aficionados will not want to miss…

Merchant City

Once the home of the thriving trade scene in the city, stacked to the rafters will wealthy tobacco and spice dealers, Merchant City has grown to become of the upmarket epicentres of Glasgow.

High class designers, cool bars and cafes, independent designers and highly-priced apartments compile every street.

Jewellery desigers Brazen, winner of Scotland’s most stylish retailer Cruise, Agent Provocateur, Mulberry, Ralph Lauren, Armani and Hugo Boss are only some of the incredible brands which make of this small area of a few streets.

Princes Square

Princes Square is a shopping centre situated in a restored listed building right in the heart of Glasgow City Centre. Hidden behind a main shopping street, with only a slim entrance doorway on Buchanan Street – Princes Square would be very easy (but heartbreaking) for the inexperienced Glasgow-shopper to miss.

Offering over five floors of quality shopping, drinking and dinning – it would be dangerously tempting to spend your entire trips budget in a couple of hours.

You will find the likes of Belstaff, Cos, Kurt Gieger, Vivienne Westwood and Ted Baker rubbing shoulders with the well-designed and high-quality cafes and restaurants.

Silverburn

Silverburn is a shopping centre located outside of the main Glasgow City Centre. However, the centre is still easily accessed by public transport or taxi. With over 75 acres (214,000 sq ft) of high-end shopping Silverburn is one of Glasgow’s largest shopping centres.

Silverburn is a relatively new location for Glasgow, having opened their doors for the first time in 2007, however it has grown rapidly in popularity over the last few years. The main reason that Silverburn stands out against the other shopping “malls” in Glasgow is due to the fact that the original developers aimed to attract a mainly wealthy clientele from the more affluent suburbs of Glasgow.

This has resulted in the process of selecting which stores are allowed retail space within Silverburn being particularly strict. Don’t expect a MacDonalds in there anytime soon.

Buchanan Street

This wider-than-average, pedestrianised, stretch of road is the city’s main shopping district and is flanked by a highstreet hit-list of upmarket outlets.

Sweeping from the infamous Sauchiehall Street down to St Enoch Square, Buchanan Street is a gracious boulevard lined with architectural gems.

The magnificent House of Frasers store, boasts Scotland’s largest and most comprehensive beauty hall. Buchanan Street’s status as a hot fashion destination for men and women of style is further evidenced in the beguilling array of quirky labels at Urban Outfitters. Scotland’s first branch of American Apparel on Nelson Mandela Place is just around the corner, while cool London fashion label All Saints, the jeans-led Italian powerhouse Diesel and iconic varsity style specialist Jack Wills all have stores close by.

Travel Blog: Pitlochry and The Enchanted Forest, Scotland

November 3, 2015November 24, 2015 by Gallus, posted in SCOTLAND, TRAVEL

Those of you who I am lucky enough to have following me on social media (the buttons are there 😉 —–>) may have seen that I recently spent some time in Pitlochry in Scotland.

My girlfriend and I had traveled up to see the areas annual Enchanted Forest show. A multi-award winning vision and sound experience which we had received glowing reviews about from friends and family.

Pitlochry is a town based in the northern Perth/Kinross area of Scotland and hosts some of the more spectacular scenery you could ask for. It tends to be quite a regular area for tourists due to its relatively easy reach from both of Scotland’s main cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

From where I live, Pitlochry is only a two hour drive. This was handy as I was not really mentally prepared for an overly long time in the car.

However, after listening to my girlfriend sing for two-hours, the journey seemed to take forever.

We finally reached our destination and initially pulled into the infamous Pitlochry Festival Theatre for a short coffee break before heading out for a bracing walk up to the local Pitlochry Dam and Fishing Ladder.

The Dam itself is not the prettiest of sites … not many working Dam’s actually are; but from the bridge of the Dam you get some fantastic views over the local area. I highly recommend anyone heading to the area to check it out.

Following our walk, and after warming ourselves by the artificial fire in the wonderfully traditional Mackays Hotel and Bar we finally set off for the Enchanted Forest.

The Enchanted Forest, now widely renowned to be one of Scotland’s premier sound and light experiences, regularly sells out, attracting an impressive 46,000 visitors to their 2014 show.

I missed out on the show last year, I wasn’t making the same mistake twice!

The 2015 show was entitled FLUX…

*Note – This post was in no way sponsored by The Enchanted Forest.

Travel Blog: Kilpatrick Hills, Scotland

October 2, 2015October 2, 2015 by Gallus, posted in SCOTLAND, TRAVEL

One of the greatest parts about living in Scotland is the incredible scenery that is within driving distance.
It’s often something we Scot’s very often take for granted.

This week my partner and I decided to tackle the stunningly beautiful walk on the Kilpatrick Hills up to the very “Scottishly” named Loch Humphrey. We even managed to convince my old Border Terrier Harry to tag along for the walk too.

Neither my partner nor I had partaken in this walk previously and so I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into when agreeing to this plan.

As we arrived at our destination and a VERY steep climb came into sight; I began to fill with a significant dose of trepidation.
I was not prepared for this … both mentally … and in terms of my clothing choices.

Situated 9miles from the heart of Glasgow, the Kilpatrick Hills are a remote, green-coated moorland.
However, the terrain was never too difficult to walk on; despite its steep climb.

The one bonus that came with the climb was that the added height gave access to some spectacular views over the River Clyde, Loch Lomond and the infamous, luxurious, Mar Hall Resort in Bishopton.

…when we finally made it up the hill to Loch Humphrey, it was worth it.
The water was beautiful and we instantly agreed, “let’s do this again.”

Travel Blog: Culross, Scotland

September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 by Gallus, posted in SCOTLAND, TRAVEL

I spent last weekend in Culross, Scotland.

Culross is a village and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland with a population of roughly 400 people.

I had previously heard quite a bit about Culross over the past few years, with many of my family and friends claiming it to be a beautiful place that I simply “must see”. These consistently positive reviews had also been backed up by the fact that the village had been voted as one of the most beautiful places in the whole of the United Kingdom.

I decided to finally make the trip…

I must admit, as I drew ever closer to Culross I began to think that I was on the receiving end of an elaborate practical joke.

The reason for my trepidation was that Culross has the unfortunate location of being placed between a multitude of power stations and chemical plants. However, as I drew into Culross itself – I knew I had arrived somewhere special instantly.

Culross is the closest thing you will find to a real life 17^th century model town that you could ever find. It is a Brigadoon if I have ever seen one. It was so pristine I wasn’t entirely sure if I was going to be greeted by humans beings or Hobbits. Had I wondered into the shire?

It is clear to see why the picturesque town has been chosen for the filming of such blockbusters as The Little Vampire, Captain America: The First Avenger and the highly popular Starz TV programme Outlander.

The main highlights from my trip has to be the Culross Palace which has been beautifully restored to it’s original mustard yellow colouring and the high standing Culross Abbey. It takes a bit of walking to get up to the Abbey – but it’s worth it when you get there.

An added bonus to Culross is the village’s proximity to one of Scotland’s newest landmarks The Kelpies; at approximately a ten-minute drive from the village itself. The Kelpies are a pair of 30-metre high horse head sculptures as designed by the now legendary Scot’s designer Andy Scott.