We spent Friday evening at John Hoyland and Dom Gill’s 70th birthday party at the exquisite Orangery in Holland Park. It was a chance to catch up with old friends and the food, the booze and above all the company were tremendous, the evening flew by all too fast. Click here to see all the photos.
Isabel and I spent a pleasant hour today looking at the magnificent and stunning objects in the British Museums exhibition ‘Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World‘. I urge you to catch this one before it closes, some of the objects are on a par with the objects I once saw during a visit to the tomb of Philip II of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great) in northern Greece, the Afghanistan exhibition is that good.
Here are a few pics I grabbed in the Museum’s great hall with my iPhone, including one of Isabel contemplating the giant quartzite head of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III.
I tried. I really did. But in the end the Scottish Highlands defeated me. The wind and the rain slowly ground me down and I started thinking “what I am doing here? I must flee south towards the land of hosepipe bans!”
It is so wet that motorists have to be warned about the dangers of amphibians!
We had left Scourie and travelled the 40 plus miles south to Uallapool, a lovely little port town we had visited before where we knew there were shops and and things to do even when the weather was bad. On the way we drove the long detour out onto and around the Stoer peninsular on the winding single track road, through the inevitable showers and gusts of wind, and even managed a short unexpected hike up to a really fantastic waterfall a Clashnessie. We had dawdled our way south and got into Ullap[ool late afternoon. The terraced house we had booked at first sight seemed lovely, stylishly decorated and roomy if a little dark. However we quickly discovered that the place was somehow just very inconvenient to live in, everything seemed a little awkward and irritating. And it was decidedly chilly, with what seemed like woefully inadequate storage heaters as the main form of heating. For some reason almost everything about the house seemed to irritate both isabel and I.
The waterfall at Clashnessie
We wandered around Ullapools, bought some food and planned some excursions for the following week. As we huddled in bed that first night reading our books and trying to warm up a bit I tried to work out what being there reminded me of and then I realised it just like being a kid again. A house where only one room is warm, and the water that comes out of the tap is so cold it hurts your teeth, sleeping under the weight of several blankets pressing down on your body in bed (which felt odd after decades under duvets), only a few channels on the TV, no internet, wearing shoes in the house to keep your feet warm. It was just like my childhood.
It turned out that we had scheduled our visit to Ullapool at the same time as the annual rain and wind festival and the locals assured us that this years wind and rain was the best they has seen for many years.
The first full day in Ullapool the weather remained challenging, waves of low grey clouds bringing bursts of rain, lots of wind, occasional brighter periods. We drove out to the Corrieshalloch Gorge and the Falls of Measach (which fall a staggering 46 metres) neither of which were a disappointment and we walked up and down both sides of the amazingly deep, steep and narrow gorge and admired and photographed the stupendous falls. But the rain kept returning and in the end we drove back to our cold house in our sopping waterproofs, had a cup of tea and some biscuits and took a little nap. The there just time for another stroll around town before the next shower so we rented a DVD and spent the evening watching telly.
The second day we awoke to more low grey cloud and the sound of rain on the windows, there was a severe weather warning of an approaching gale. Volcanic ash was also forecast. How unusual and pleasant.
We hiked up to the top of the hills overlooking the town during a brighter interlude and took in the views and felt exhilarated by the already fierce winds. Then the rain returned and we went home for a spot of lunch and a bit of reading. The weather worsened all day and by early evening the wind and the storm began to batter the town. We had hired a DVD and thought we would have a cosy evening in front of the TV.
Then the electricity supply to the town failed.
Somewhere the storm had brought down some power lines and as we later discovered the whole of north west Scotland had had it’s electricity supply severed. This also knocked out the mobile phone signal. I half expected zombies to start wandering the streets.
As soon as the lights went out I drove around to the local Tesco, the only building with a back up power source, but they had no candles. So there I sat in the conservatory in the darkening twilight typing this bit of the blog on a laptop whose battery was almost flat. We had one candle and couple of wind up torches. The rain and wind was lashing at the roof and windows. Soon it would be time to go to bed. I was, apparently, on holiday.
My spirits lifted a little the following day. Electricity had returned and between the fierce rain showers there were some periods of brightness and occasional glimpses of the sun. The wind persisted however. We decided to drive out to the little town of Achiltibuie and have a look at the mockingly named Summer Isles. I am glad we did. The drive was a long pleasant meander along a single track road through stunning scenery and we found Achnahaird Beach which was beautiful with huge waves crashing ashore and we went for a short walk into the gale force winds. Shortly after we had a truly smashing lunch in the deserted cafe at the Piping School.
The waves break at Achnahaird Beach and Isabel strolls in her new water proof
And so the last few days in Ullapool passed. Little excursions whenever the rain briefly lifted and then back to our house and a trip to the nearby pub to get an internet connection for my iPad. We managed a hike about two thirds of the way up the wonderfully Stac Pollaidh which promised stunning views for those who made it to the top but the rain returned and the visibility dropped so we turned back.
We had a lovely evening at the Ceilidh Place watching the very talented Budapest Cafe Orchestra belting our a series of Balkan and Hungarian pieces. The next day the rain settled in and this time there were very few breaks in the downpour. Tomorrow Dave and Chris will join us for a night as they travel north for their holidays and then we will wend our way south and home.
The view from Ullapool Harbour during a moment when the winds died and the rain lifted
We have nearly finished out week in Scourie in northern Sutherland and it’s been a mixed experience. This really is a fantastically beautiful and remote place full of sudden unexpected elemental vistas. The problem has been the weather. All week with monotonous regularity wave after wave of big dark clouds have rolled over releasing varying amounts of moisture, often quite substantial amounts. On top of that there is has been a truly ferocious wind blowing almost the whole time, on some walks we have almost been blown over and found ourselves literally leaning into the wind and pushing forward hard in order to make any progress. As long as the rain held off the wind was OK and actually very exhilarating, if a bit tiring, as long as we had the obligatory multilayers, tightly sealed, on both our tops and and legs, hats, gloves and backpacks full of supplies and additional layers. It’s also been a bit nippy at times and the last two days the howling wind felt as if it was coming straight from the arctic.
Here is a video of us battling with the breeze
We have spent a lot of time in around Durness the most north westerly town in Britain. Its actually charming place with a little craft village in an old MoD camp which houses a couple of nice cafes, bookshops and even a shop devoted to chocolate. Nearby are places like Smoo Cave and Balnakeil Beach and the walk out to Faradie Head. Balnakeil Beach is absolutely stunning (as are many other beaches in this neck of the woods) as vast stretches of pristine almost white sand are revealed by each low tide and on the horizon sits Cape Wrath. On out last walk we passed the local fun run as hundreds of weirdly dressed people sped past heading out to Faradie Head. It was part of the Cape Wrath Challenge week.
The fun runners on Balnakeil Beach looking like a Lowry painting
Isabel explores Smoo Cave and walking above Loch Stack (the tiny figure on the left on the path)
Isabel strides across the fantastic Balnakeil Beach in the face of the wind, and walks across the vast sand dunes on the way to Faraid Head
Isabel with the obligatory multilayers of clothing ready to stroll the beach
We tried an inland walk above Loch Stack but the wind made even an inland walk quite demanding and in the end we have spent most days on a beach or coastal walk.
Our accommodation is a cosy converted old Youth Hostel and we have a ridiculously large number of rooms for two people, which has been great as we wander about calling out to each other. Tomorrow we are off to Ullapool about 40 miles south which boasts a bit more in the way of civilisation (i.e. more than one shop) and in a couple of days Jean, Isabel’s sister, will be joining us.
This part of the world is fantastic, overwhelming, primordial but god knows how anyone can live here full time. I guess I am just a soft southerner.
We are about halfway through our Scottish Highlands road trip and we have covered about 1200 miles since leaving London. The first long haul at the start of the trip was from London to Edinburgh on the east coast route via the M1 and then the A1. This turned out to be a pleasant if long drive with just one awkward detour above Newcastle when we discovered the road ahead was blocked by a serious accident and we had to route around.
The actual arrival in Edinburgh was oddly stressful because the hotel we were booked in to was on the central Princes Street and we had been told there was a loading bay where we could unload our numerous bags and kit before parking in the nearby Waverley Street station car park. It turned out the loading bay did not exist and instead we had a mad scramble to get a luggage trolley to our car whilst parked on a double yellow line at a very busy traffic intersection blocking a bus lane. Amazingly this is the recommended way to unload at the Ramada hotel. Our impression of the Ramada Hotel was not improved when on the second night we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant as it was raining heavily outside. Big mistake. The food was poor (Isabel refused to pay for her slab of indigestible liver) and the service so poor it was farcical. All around us were American and Australian tourist dazed and confused by the non-arrival of their food. Opposite us was a poor woman who waited an astonishing 45 minutes for her ice cream dessert. At least the shared suffering caused a sort of solidarity to develop and we ended up in a long conversation with some nice Australian tourists.
Edinburgh was very impressive and I would like to go back sometime. We visited the Castle, the National Library of Scotland, numerous little shops and cafes and ended up at the Scottish Parliament. It was the day of the elections so it felt very apt.
Isabel checking the guide book in Edinburgh and The Scottish parliament sits empty on the day that saw the election of a nationalist majority
The next day we were off to Inverness which turned out to be a lovely town, our positive impressions no doubt helped by the much improved weather. We had several hours to potter around the town, browse in Leakey’s Second Hand Bookshop, possibly the best second hand bookshop I have ever been in (housed in a huge old church), followed by a very good meal in an Italian restaurant.
The lovely river side and the ornate pedestrian bridge in Inverness
Leakey’s wonderful second hand bookshop in Invernes
The following day we had plenty of time to get to Thurso and our ferry connection to the Orkneys so we visited the site of the Battle of Culloden, the last battle fought on the British mainland in 1745. The visitors’ centre and exhibition was very well done and included an overpowering multimedia show which involved wandering about in a large room whilst a gory and fairly realistic re-enactment of the battle was shown on all four Miramax size walls simultaneously making one feel as if you were actually in the middle of the battle, the whole thing accompanied by very loud surround sound audio. I loved it but it was not Isabel’s cup of tea. The actual battlefied is really just a bit of nondescript heathland but it has the Jacobite and Crown lines marked with flags, various stone markers explaining the significant action where it unfolded and on the edge of the field are the sad little markers to the mass graves of the Jacobite dead divided into separate clan burial mounds. I was a little irritated by some of the older signage which lazily perpetuated the myth that this was some sort of clash between the Scots and the English (which it wasn’t) but nevertheless it was a good day out.
The memorial at Culloden battlefield outside Inverness
After Inverness it was the drive to Thurso and then a pleasant ferry crossing to Orkney. Right away I have to say that Orkney was fantastic, palaeolithic sites everywhere, a stunning coastline, unnervingly friendly people and everywhere on the main island is no more than 30 minutes drive away. I really felt we only scratched the surface of what the Orkney Islands have to offer. The week on the Island was greatly enhanced by sharing it with our old friends John and Moira.
It’s hard to pick out the best bits but they included:
Visiting two 5000 year old burial cairns including the stunning Maeshowe chambered cairn which is accessed by scrambling along a longish narrow tunnel bent almost double, after which you enter a spooky central chamber with uncannily well done stone work (including a pivoting stone door that would not look out of place in an Indiana Jones movie). The fact that the Viking rune graffiti in the chamber was added nearly 4000 years after it was built brings home just how ancient the place is. I always find such ancient efforts to preserve the dead oddly moving. Someone once cared about those whose bones were interred here enough to devote an enormous amount of effort to preserve their spirits and their memory. Now their individual identities are all long forgotten.
Inside Maeshowe chambered cairn, the quality of the 5000 year old stone work was astonishing, and Moira crouches low to exit the cairn through a long tunnel
The 5000 year old Mid Howe chambered cairn on Rousay. The bones and skeletons of the dead were stacked in these stalls, many in a crouching position
Skara Brae where an almost intact stone village from 5000 years ago was uncovered from beneath the beach side sand dunes. It’s very odd to look into these ancient living rooms with their stone beds, stone side boards and shelves and imagine the countless lives lived out in those spaces so long ago. What is alway hard to grasp is that some of these places were inhabited and in use for longer than London has existed.
Someones living room from 5000 years ago at Skara Brae
The Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar, two almost intact and very large stone circles very close to each other on a narrow strip of land between two lochs with sweeping views across the undulating landscape.
One of the 20ft high Stones of Stenness the oldest henge on Orkney, and John has a Kubrick moment at the Ring of Brodgar, Isabel and Moira are in the background
The Ring of Brodgar in it’s natural arena
On top of all this was a stunning cathedral in the capital Kirkwall (where we saw a traditional music performance), numerous exhilarating walks along cliff tops with the fresh air being blasted into your lungs, innumerable birds and lots of basking seals. And in the evening we could eat fish and chips and get pissed on the local ale. I wish we had booked longer.
Eating lunch and watching the basking seals at Saviskall Bay
John and Moira bird watching in the Brough of Deerness
John photographs a pebble at Brough Head and takes a rest from all the beauty
A beautiful moment at the tiny port on Rousay and Isabel watches the cliffs of Hoy on the ferry back to the mainland
After an all too short week John and Moira flew home and Isabel and I took the ferry back to the mainland and drove onto to our next cottage stopover in the tiny village of Scourie in the very remote west coast of Sutherland.
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Dave celebrated his 60th birthday on Sunday with, amongst other things, a meal for friends and family at the Tufnell Park Tavern. It was jolly good fun. The photo are here.
Thirty nine years ago, in the summer of 1972, Jo Robinson and I took a bunch of kids for a day out to look at the trains at Kings Cross. At some point I popped into a photo booth and grabbed a few pics including these two of Kelly Wild sitting on my lap.
Yesterday I popped over to Kelly’s place and took some photos of her, her son Noah and the very newly arrived Finn. They are here. Time passes.
Back in 1972 Sam was considerably less happy than Kelly about having his photo taken.
Isabel and I went on the gigantic demo against the cuts today and encountered a vast cross section of humanity and lot of very funny posters. The photos are here.
Here is a selection of some of my favourites.
A view along the Embankment (make sure you view this one full size to get a feel for the size of the crowd).
The sentiment of the masses pithily summed up
The Red and the Black – it takes me back. I got warm feelings of intense nostalgia when I encountered the anarchist contingent, I was just sixteen when I joined my first anarchist group.
This also captured something from my youth, a moment, a feeling, an intensity.
A few posters
Some faces in the crowd and our own armoured division!
We gathered for Geraldine’s 60th birthday party. Old friends were embraced and kissed. News and gossip exchanged. We chatted and laughed. Champagne was drunk and food eaten. There was some dancing. And Ralph read a poem he had written to celebrate the love of his life. Here is the video – it’s a bit dark but the lights were low.
Terry left to work in Ethiopia for the next year and the night before she left she held a farewell party. Here are a few seconds of video from what was a very nice night full of old friends.
Yesterday we gathered to celebrate Alison’s 60th Birthday. I remember her 20th birthday, I bought her an album, or an LP as we called it then, it was “Air Conditioning” by the band Curved Air. Seems like yesterday. Where does the time go?
The birthday party was great – the photos are here.
