Ironbridge

At the weekend I headed down south for a change and stayed at HD’s digs for the weekend. On Saturday we went to visit the town of Ironbridge, which unsurprisingly is famous for having an iron bridge. More than that (of course!) it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features 10 museums showing various aspects of the area’s history in iron-smelting, mining and manufacture. It is also very pretty, even when the weather is dingy and cold. We visited 4 or 5 of the museums, and I think the Jackfield Tile Museum was my favourite. The area was known for mining and producing iron from the mid 16th century, but during the Industrial Revolution the smelting of iron using coke (cleaned up coal) rather than charcoal meant that it could be mined cheaply and plentifully. HD reckons Ironbridge could therefore be reckoned as the birthplace of global warming.

Anyway – pictures:

This was an amazing 12 metre long scale model of the entire valley.









This last one is a bit blink-and-you’d-miss-it as I didn’t have my super-duper zoom lens on me, but anyway the eagle-eyed among you might notice a blob of yellow. That, dear readers, is the first crocus I’ve seen this year (there were snowdrops too) which means that spring is on the way! (no sign of any up here yet, but I’ll take them where I find them).

Castle Semple Loch

Today HD and I made the most of the clear, bright, dry day (though we won’t talk about the temperature, brrrrr!) and went for a walk around Castle Semple Loch in Ayrshire, which is near the village of Lochwinning, about a 40 minute drive away (I wasn’t really paying attention to how long the journey was but it was less than an hour!). It was a very gentle walk, but really lovely, as you can hopefully see from these pictures:

HD was very patient with me stopping every 5 seconds to take pictures. Well it’s still a new camera to me, so I had to play, didn’t I! Typically though, I finally thought enough was enough as we got back to the lake’s edge at the car park, took a couple of swan pictures, then put my camera back in my rucksack. Literally about 10 seconds after zipping up the rucksack, two of the swans started a courtship dance right in front of me (you know where they do that beautiful dance and with their necks), but by the time I’d got my camera out again the moment was over – not helped by someone nearby throwing bread in the water and proving once and for all that swans are more interested in food than sex, they swam off just as I was ready to take a picture of them forming the heart shape. I guess it just goes to show that however many photos you take, there is always another waiting to be taken so DON’T PUT THE CAMERA AWAY! (I’ve already apologised in advance to HD, I’m sure when we go on holiday soon I am going to be unbearable. I bet I get some cracking photos though!).

New Lanark

Today HD and I drove the short journey to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at New Lanark. When I first moved up here I went a couple of times, as it is a handy place for visitors and new people to be taken, but both times instead of looking round the village we did the walk by the river up to the Falls of Clyde. HD had never been, so this time we had a look round the village, which was built as an integral part of a large set of cotton mills and was very ahead of its time in terms of the social reforms incorporated into the community (such as education for all the children, a village shop which bought in food in bulk so it was much cheaper for the workers than going into town for food). The main reformer was the mill manager Robert Owen – there are quotes of his dotted all over the place, this is the one on the front gate to give you an idea of where he was coming from.

One good thing was the Annie McLeod experience, which involved us getting into a two seater seat a bit like a ski-lift or fairground ride and then get taken on a 10 minute ride explaining the daily life for people working in the mill, narrated by a 10 year old mill worker. The graphics were good, and there were parts where you rode down a corridor with pinpricks of light that I really liked. Obviously as we were moving the photo didn’t really work, but I kind of like the effect anyway!

After that we looked in on a room where the thread was spun, and then went up to the roof garden which gave great views over the entire village. Here are a few photos from that:

North Kelvin Meadow

I’ve recently discovered the website of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign. I don’t know if you remember we had our lovely little community garden near here where I used to add my food waste to the compost, but which was evicted and the land given over to developers last year. It looks like something similar is happening here, with the added ridiculousness of the locals being taken to court for the heinous crime of creating a wildflower meadow and growing their own veg. I’ve signed the petition and would encourage any of you to do the same (top of the left hand side bar).

I was a bit sad and subdued this morning, listening to a programme on Radio 4 about Shetland. I know I did the right thing not taking the job, the timing was all wrong, but an island life away from the rat-race is still a dream. But at least while I’m in the city I can try and support the green oases of calm we have here, while we still have them.

Crimes against apostrophes, and other random happenings

Today HD and I made our second annual pilgrimage to Penrith, to Potfest in the Pens. Before we could feast our eyes on the beautiful pottery though, we were met at the venue (Penrith Market) by this scary character:

For some reason this is the meeting point for lost people (I guess you can’t miss it). However I do think this is a bit flawed: if I were a little kid who’d got lost the last thing I’d want to go near is this, and if I were a lost adult I would be far too grumpy about the hideous misuse of apostrophes on the sign (“Granma’s and Grandad’s and Lost Parents” etc) to wish to be anywhere in the vicinity.

Anyway. Once that was out of my system, we proceeded to the festival. Like last year, a huge hall full of beautiful things. It was interesting though, last year when we went we actually had some money and plans to buy something (for ourselves and as presents). And last year, I saw absolutely loads of things I really liked and could have probably taken home half the exhibits. This year, as we are both broke, we both went round thinking we’ll only think about buying something if we really really really really really like it, and we hardly saw anything we liked at all! Well, not that we didn’t like any of it, a lot of it was lovely, but going round with the mindset that most of it was unobtainable meant that we didn’t really stop to appreciate it. I don’t know if that makes any sense at all, it did feel quite strange. One thing I did like was the absolutely mad stuff by someone called Julia Roxburgh – here’s some examples of her stuff that sells in Fortnum & Mason: mad teapots. Most of her stuff was in this sort of style, I particularly liked the butter dishes, but I’m sorry I don’t care how wonderful and quirky and brilliant they are, I’m not paying 65 quid for a butter dish! Her stuff did make me smile though, and if I was rich and had far too much money I could be tempted.

As we left we still had a good part of the afternoon left, so we decided to make a bit of a day of it and go into Carlisle, as neither of us had been there before. It seemed quite pretty (here’s some pictures of the citadel):

There didn’t seem all that much going on though, so we retraced our steps and headed for Hadrian’s Wall. Now I’m really embarrassed to admit that despite reaching the grand old age of 40 I have never ever seen any of this UNESCO World Heritage Site in my own country. We went to a Roman fort at Birdoswald, with fabulous views:

Mystery Location

So, the place I had my job interview was the wonderful Shetland Islands. So you’ll understand when I said that it would have been remote, and a big big scary move! Although I decided not to take the job, hopefully these photos will show why I loved the place, and why I was originally tempted to even apply! Actually HD and I are harbouring a not-so-secret dream to live on a Scottish island at some point, but I don’t think either of us had anticipated getting the opportunity so soon, and it doesn’t feel like the right time for us right now. But that’s not to say that it won’t happen at some point in the future.

Anyway, photos! This first one is (obviously) from the plane, and is of Fair Isle, which is actually mid-way between Orkney and Shetland, although administratively it is part of Shetland. It is mainly known for its knitting (google Fair Isle jumpers if you’re unfamiliar with the style) and for being a top bird sanctuary.

Next up, here’s a couple of views from Lerwick harbour. Lerwick is the main town in Shetland (with a population of 6,600, out of a total population across all the islands of about 22,500), and where I was staying and would have been working.

This is a view of Commercial Street, which is Lerwick’s main shopping street. I liked it a lot – apart from a couple of banks and a Boots, it was pretty much all local shops rather than chains.

The next four are of a walk I did in the early evening, just away from Lerwick Harbour along the cliffs. As you can see from the picture of me with my immaculate hair (!) it was starting to get a bit bracing! And I noticed the yellow lichen in the fourth picture all over the place.

The next day after my interview I got changed and then caught the bus south to Sumburgh Head (the bottom tip of the Mainland), these next four are pictures from the walk I did from near the airport to the RSPB reserve at Sumburgh Head, where I was so happy to spot a few puffins (sadly my zoom photos weren’t very good, I’m still trying to get used to HD’s camera, but I was chuffed to bits that I did see them anyway, as apparently most of them had flown away following the breeding season – normally they don’t leave till mid-August):

Everywhere I went I saw the unofficial Shetland flag flying. As you can see, it is basically the Norwegian flag but in the colours of the Scottish flag. Both Shetland and Orkney used to belong to Norway not Scotland, and you can see Norse influences all over the place, both in place names (the Guest House I stayed in was in King Harald Street, just round the corner was King Erik Street and St Olaf Street for example!) and in the customs and festivals (such as the famous Up Helly Aa festival in January when Vikings seem to do a huge organised pub crawl which ends with the burning of a Viking longboat). It had a very different feel to the Hebrides, where there is a very definite Gaelic culture. We also noticed in Harris and Lewis (especially Lewis) the very obvious conservative Presbyterian culture and feel to the place, but Shetland is totally different in that respect, with no Gaelic culture to speak of. The Christian culture seemed quite different too – I took a look at the ads in the Shetland Times and although I found lots of free evangelical independent churches, it didn’t seem to be quite so dour as in the Hebrides.

The next four photos are of the most extraordinary archeological site, called Jarlshof, which features dwelling places and a farm from Iron Age, Bronze Age, Pictish, Norse, and medieval times (they kept getting covered in sand and then built on). The site was rediscovered at the end of the 19th century when part of the cliff fell into the sea and the broch and a couple of wheelhouses were exposed, and once they started investigating the site they found all sorts of things from all those different time periods. It is remarkably well-preserved, and well worth a visit – I was sad I could only spend about 1/2 an hour there as I had to catch the bus back to Lerwick (the buses from Lerwick to and from the South Mainland were referred to as “frequent”, in reality this meant one every hour or two, which was a bit of a shock to my city system!).

One thing you can’t help but notice in Shetland is the ponies. Even with my horse phobia I could cope with them, they were so dinky! If you’ve travelled in the Scottish Highlands before, you’ll know that every so often you’ll come across some random hairy coos. In Shetland it’s the same thing, but instead of the coos you get the lovely ponies.

So, there you are. It would have been an amazing place to live and work and bring up a family*, and I didn’t feel like it was as isolated as you would have expected for such a remote place with such a small population. I was lucky in that even on the interview day when it rained a bit the weather was basically pretty good so I got to see it in its best light (I understand it can be pretty bleak in winter when it’s howling a gale, which is more often than not!). Maybe we’ll still end up there, or on another island, at some point in the future. For sure I’d love to go back for a holiday and spend more than a couple of days to explore, as there was something about the “feel” of the place I really liked. But despite it all, I do feel I’ve made the right decision. And I got to see such an amazing place – I’m so lucky and blessed.

* no I’m not, that’s hypothetical, in case anyone’s wondering!

Dr Who exhibition

We went to the Dr Who exhibition at the Kelvingrove Museum on Friday, it was really fun. Unfortunately we managed to be walking to the Kelvingrove at exactly the same time as Glasgow’s heavens decided to open, and got utterly drenched – there was so much rain we just had to laugh, there was no way we wouldn’t get soaked!

The tardis marks the entrance to the exhibition, and I was amused to see a bride having her photos taken by it – they were obviously having their wedding reception at the museum, as later on I saw her and the groom emerging from one of the galleries (the one with Sir Roger the elephant) – I have to say I would *love* to see their wedding photos! (“Me by the Tardis” “Us below the Spitfire” “Us with Elvis” etc).

Anyway back to the exhibition. It’s pretty much all an exhibition of the more recent series – it featured costumes and props from the series featuring Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant. I think I would have liked to have seen some stuff from earlier series as well, but apart from this touch screen thing where you could see the opening sequence from the Dr Who era of your choice (the one in this photo was from the Tom Baker era) and a poster which featured all the pre-Tennant Doctors, that was it. It took us about 3/4 hour to go through the whole thing, stopping to look and read some exhibits and not spending ages on others.

As well as costumes and models of some of the various baddies and other characters, there were also sections on how they create special effects and on the art and costume designs. I really enjoyed it I must say – it was very clear that the days of wobbly sets and low-budgets are now well and truly over! If you’re a fan I’d say definitely pay it a visit if you can (I think you can buy tickets on the day from the Kelvingrove shop, but probably best to book tickets in advance to make sure).

Once you get through the exhibition you find yourself in the shop, where they have a whole heap of Dr Who tat to buy. I was particularly amused by the inflatable daleks, who, well let’s just say certain bits were a bit flaccid! (I think some Dalek Viagra might be in order!).

Another excursion

At the weekend HD and I went on a little jaunt to the Highlands. We started off with lunch at Fort William before heading off for Ben Nevis, the original plan being that he would walk up it and I would sit in the bar at the bottom and do lots of work (that I had brought with me). About 20 minutes after dropping him off at the bottom of the mountain however he phoned to say that he didn’t seem to have his walking legs with him, so he made his way to the bar and after a quick rest we decided to head back to Glen Coe to have a more gentle explore around somewhere a bit less strenuous. So we went to the Visitors’ Centre at Glen Coe and did a very gentle and short walk round there, and then decided to go to Oban. Neither of us had been there before, and had no idea what it was like, but it turned out to be rather pretty. HD thought as we walked into town from the car park that it reminded him a bit of Whitby, and once we got to the harbour I thought it reminded me a bit of Stornoway. We took a walk up to McCaig’s tower, where there are fabulous views over the town and across to the island of Kerrera (and beyond that to the mountains of the Isle of Mull). What a sweet place, I liked it a lot. Photos are here.

Arran birthday

So, now that life has officially begun I feel, well, not much different really – creaky still, but I’ve been creaky for years! I had a lovely birthday, and feel very blessed and loved and cared for. The actual day itself (Wednesday) HD and I got up early and after opening my presents and cards we set off for the coast, Ardrossan to be precise, to catch the ferry to the Isle of Arran. I’d wanted to go there for ages and ages, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Arran is the 7th largest Scottish island, and the 9th largest island surrounding the mainland (presumably the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight are the two non-Scottish islands that are larger). It is also just under an hour away from the coast, so very accessible for a day trip, although there was lots to see so it would be easy to spend a week there and not be bored, we could only scratch the surface really. After arriving in Brodick we drove around the north of the island (there is a road which circumnavigates the island), stopping first in Lochranza on the north-west of the island. It was a really lovely drive – the north is the more mountainous/hilly half of the island (Arran is often referred to as “Scotland in miniature” due to the similarity to the Highlands in the north and the southern lowlands) and I noticed that all the wild flowers seemed to be out – lots of purples and reds, it was beautiful. I should also mention that it was lovely and sunny – not as warm as earlier in the week, but still gorgeous.

Our first port of call was the Isle of Arran distillery at Lochranza – this is Scotland’s newest distillery, and it produces a light, non-peaty single malt whisky. We joined the tour round the distillery, and were also rewarded with seeing two golden eagles flying high over the nearby hills. At the end of the tour was a whisky tasting – as HD is the whisky connoisseur among us (I can generally take it or leave it, though the odd sip I can cope with) he particularly enjoyed that bit, and we also found one he particularly liked so that’s his birthday present sorted out : -) We stayed there to have lunch, and apart from the tea and coffee afterwards taking ages and ages to come, I’d definitely recommend it as somewhere for lunch – they use lots of local produce, and our various salad dishes came with huge chunks of Arran cheese (which we quite often buy from our local farmers’ market and already know we like).

From there we drove just a short way and parked up on the coast at Lochranza, and then took a brief walk to have a look round Lochranza castle, a ruined castle that was apparently the inspiration for a castle in one of the Tintin stories. We then carried on driving down the west coast road, through some villages until we reached Machrie Moor. On the moor are a series of stone circles so we walked to see all of them – in the background are Goatfell (Arran’s highest peak, not quite a Munro but not far off) and neighbouring peaks, so we had a beautiful backdrop as well as a pleasant walk. And on the way back of course we had a view over the water towards the Kintyre peninsula (although an island, Arran is surrounded down both east and west lengths by the mainland, thanks to Scotland’s interestingly shaped coastline!).

At that point we weren’t sure if we’d drive through the middle of the island back to Brodick for the ferry or if we’d carry on round the south. In the end we decided to do the southern coastal road, so that we could say that we’ve circumnavigated the island – we’ll just have to come back and explore the inside of the island a bit another time! We drove all the way round until we reached Lamlash, 4 miles south of Brodick, where we stopped for a quick drink and a walk. The bay at Lamlash is really pretty, featuring Holy Island (as with so many of the Scottish islands, and also (I think) Anglesey in Wales, islands with a smaller satellite island just off them often seem to call the satellite island Holy Island). Arran’s Holy Island is now owned by a Buddhist group who run retreats and things. We took a look along the sea front and harbour, before heading back to Brodick to catch the ferry. It was a really full day, and I think the only thing I had wanted to do but didn’t get the chance in the end was to look at house prices in an estate agent’s office! We noticed loads and loads of “For Sale” signs, so I was really curious to see what they’re going for (given that the house prices we saw on Cumbrae a few months ago were very tempting!). Unfortunately we never did find an estate agent, so that’s something else to look for, if we ever manage to get our broadband sorted out (it’s still not working and we’re still dongle-reliant, grrrr).

Sadly the day ended with me having a killer headache – all I can say is hooray for Migraleve which did wonders, but I was miserable and probably not very good company on the drive home from Ardrossan, it was a shame to end such a lovely day like that but there we go. Anyway I’ve got lots of lovely memories apart from the evil headache, it was a really lovely birthday, and 2 days later I can say that I don’t feel any more decrepit than I did beforehand : )

You’ll be unsurprised to know I took lots of pictures – here’s a link to a selection of them on flickr (if you’re a friend of mine on facebook you can see the entire 111). I’d definitely recommend Arran for a holiday, it was great for a day out but there was so much it would keep you going for a while.

Hidden Gardens

This afternoon we had a lovely time meeting up with some friends for a cuppa and a walk round the Hidden Gardens, which is round the back of the Tramway Theatre not far from where we live. It was a lovely day, and great to be able to sit out on the grass and chat and drink, and I even needed my sunglasses! It was also the first day this year that I have gone out wearing sandals and (horrors) exposing my feet to the world. The weather the last few days hasn’t been very good, so I’m happy that it managed to sort itself out for the weekend rather than being gorgeous on a work day when I’m stuck in the office!

This photo is of HD walking through a funny arty gate sculpture thingy – it had coloured flashing lights which must look fantastic when it’s dark. This picture makes me laugh – I think all it needs is some dry ice and HD saying “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be ….” for this to be straight out of “Stars in their Eyes”!

The garden has a number of different sections, including a herb garden and a random chimney stack (as the name of the theatre might suggest, this used to be a yard for the trams, but has been transformed into a really interesting space, both indoors and outdoors). Photos from the garden might well find their way onto my Glasgow blog later in the week.