New Arrivals

at the Barkers

Victorian Excess and A Very Lonely Confluence

The Royal Marine Hotel Dunoon - site of the first telegraph office in Scotland and where my cousins Chris and Kirsty had their wedding reception (I made the wedding but not the ceilidh after - feeling ill - but retrospectively probably social anxiety - I am over that (mostly) now). Also the location for Kirsty's parents courtship - when it was the yacht club headquarters.

The hotel is Victorian with later modifications and is right opposite the ferry terminal from Glasgow - it was built to impress (more of which later) and it certainly does. Thankfully there has has not been any "changing-rooms" style makeover - its still pretty much original - the HUGE bathrooms, the stained glass, the trophy cabinets and Scottish-Baronial trimmings. I spent an hour getting a grand tour from the owner/manageress and ALL the history.

Map of Clyde Steam Ferry Routes - its original!

I am at HUNTERS QUAY and I am going to take the COLINTRAIVE ferry to Isle of Bute

And then a short drive to Rothesay

 Rothesay is special to me as I lived in Rothesay Avenue whilst at Nottingham University - no 11 I think.  I have checked it out in Street View and its still there.

Colintravie Ticket Office

 The highland ferry ticket offices seem to be staffed by cheery grandmothers, straight out of Dr Finlay's Casebook - always up for a natter while you are waiting for the

(Colintraive) Ferry

In case you forget where you are...

 Of course the other reason for visiting Rothesay is the gentlemens convenience... famous the world over, a national monument built to REALLY IMPRESS visitors just off the ferry from Glasgow.  I am told that ferry captains used to race - each company claiming to have the fastest service to the islands - got a bit serious and there were "incidents"

Anyway - the loo - its number 4 in the world top ten urinals

British hydraulic engineering at its best!

On a nice summer day Rothesay must be busy - but not on April 1

War Memorial, Rothesay - so many didn't come back

The impressive bauhaus-inspired pavilion of 1938 - history explained to me by the nice lady with the umbrella - is used for dances now

There is a poignant bronze of little Lena in the visitor centre - very sad

No one on the promenade

And absolutely no one on the promenade deck

 I took the ferry to Wemyss Bay - very nice and friendly staff - and finally I got to eat the masterpiece that is the...

Scotch Pie

I'm now running out of time (and possibly daylight) as I rush down the cost to visit N055W005 - only visited twice - the second visitor writes "This one is not for the faint-hearted and I can see now why no-one has visited it since Gordon's initial visit - I almost gave up on several occasions."

Its a very deserted spot!

 The day before I had taken a picture of the route on "www.streetmap.co.uk" - if my camera battery ran out (as it has started to do - randomly) - I would be stuck!

very very deserted

Its in there somewhere

Success!

The visit is here: N55W005 and it was now getting rather...

Dark

A cold and blowy jog through the gloom - I have to be with my cousins in Carlisle by 19:30 - we are eating out with the practice staff.  The A75 was a nightmare - so much traffic but my Sat-Nav took me off onto the A712 - zero traffic and right through Galloway Forest Park - OK driving my Volvo tank is NOT quite the same as my SAAB 93 Aero but it still can get a shift on - lovely.  I arrived with 10 minutes to spare, had a bit of a sponge down in the car, got changed and made the event just-in-time.

The Great Glen and a Prickly Scramble

Today the plan was to drive from Inverness to Dunoon along the Great Glen

Filling up at West End Garage on the A831 - the road to Glen Affric

Like the old days - no computers or flashy stuff - the lady came out to confirm how much I had put in and then we had a nice chat for a wee while and I handed over the necessary cash.

I have been looking forward to visiting the proper Caledonian Forest for years and years - and the best (that is road accessible at least) is in Glen Affric.  I was not disappointed - it is a single track road and it must be awful in the summer but I had it all to myself for an hour or two - the birches just coming into leaf, the pines looking magnificent and in the distance the gentle clanking of a JCB and Bobcat 'dozer remaking the main walking trail in time for spring opening.

Glen Affric - looking promising

and I was not disappointed

Very nice pine trees

more very nice pine trees

The Commando Memorial - near Fort William

Far too many recent tributes

A solitary and solemn visit - freezing temperatures, freezing wind and freezing rain.   The original commando units were trained in the hills, lochs and mountains around Fort William.  This memorial is in a stunning location - do stop and pay your respects.

Pole position on the A82 (Glen Coe)

The A82 is a very nice road - but too straight and too much traffic - slower but much more fun is the B8074 from Bridge of Orchy to Dalmally (StreetView it and see why)



The sun came out just as I parked up for my attempt at...

N56W05 - All the Zeros

A rather challenging confluence - I have been orienteering 36 years and the forest was the thickest I have encountered - some of it must be naturally seeded as nobody would plant trees that close and certainly not on a slope that steep.  The confluence had not been visited in 5 years - and then David Coombes on 29th March and me on 31st!

With the sun shining

Bent fence and what's that on the tree?

Oops - someone didn't make the corner

The Old Road & Bridge

Over the Glen Kin Burn

 and finally to the impressive...

Royal Marine Hotel in Dunoon

 more of which later but first - I'm very very hungry...

Aberdeen Angus Beef Sausages in Ghillies Café Bar

...The cathedral was shut in Kirkwall...

St Magnus Cathedral is meant to be something special and it is meant to be open - but it was shut - for a private function - and they would not even let me peek round the door - and even though the function had not started.  Not enough time before my ferry to go visit somewhere else - so I got a hair cut (£8) and spent the time until "alcohol sale permitted" talking with the shop owner about Polish Vodka (they shift a lot in Kirkwall - hotel staff and port workers mostly) and which Whisky to buy Cousins Chris and Kirsty (the local distilleries also being closed visitors)

In the end we settled on a £60 bottle from the Scapa Distillery - malted but un-peated (interesting) and distilled by concerned Highland Park employees while Scapa was officially shut down - just to exercise the equipment and maintain the otherwise mothballed plant in working order.  Happily Scapa is back in production and you buy the 16 year old now.
 

Dounreay - the visitor centre was open but I did not fancy popping in

The main road to Forsinard

What is this strange device?

Ahh - all is explained

The flow Country

Forsinard is in the middle of the Flow Country - I first heard about this when it was at centre of controversy over 'Tax Breaks For The Wealthy".  The government were encouraging destruction through draining and then planting of Europe's largest expanse of blanket bog.  One name I particularly remember was that 'Mr Nice' - Sir Terry Wogan.  Luckily that is all over now - and much of the area is under the protection of the RSPB as a bird reserve.  Leaflets explained all about the "star species"

But, as suspected - on this last day before spring there were NO BIRDS AT ALL!  Just like yesterday.  I was there for an hour and a half - and just one little chaffinch - but that was in someone's garden.   The visitor centre was very firmly shut - but there were maps of the bog walk.  "Paved with slabs of Caithness Stone - you won't even get your feet wet".  This may have been the case last year when the stones were laid - but the density of stone being about 2600kg/m^3 and sphagnum bog at close to 1000 meant that to complete the walk meant getting really quite wet indeed... Things sink in bogs - dense and heavy things sink particularly quickly.

Forsinard Station - on the Far North Line

Leaving Forsinard - a drive along a traffic free and really very rewarding bit of road - and the RAF Tornado being very low and silly over Loch An Ruathair was very fun!

Below is the site of Scotland's last major gold rush...

Baile an Or - 2011

Baile an Or -1869

After a cold and damp visit to 58N 4W and a tour round some very special mountain roads to a Clootie Well

It was twilight, cold and dead calm.  From the lonely car park it just looked like a normal patch of Scots forest - but as I turned the corner...

Every trunk and every branch hung with ribbons, rags and clothes.  In the leaden silence it all became a bit too spooky - well worship was outlawed a thousand years ago - but I have seen it in Mongolia, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan and close to home on Clent Hills.  Here the natural spring water exits near the top of the hill - perhaps why it was chosen as a "special place"

The water comes out at the top of the knoll - It must be an artesian well - impressive though

And then to Inverness:

The very nice Winston Guest House in Inverness

The not so nice parking meter - that charges from "tell me do you feel lucky punk" am to 6pm

Inverness has boomed since I was last there - the locals tell me that "scum" have been relocated up from Glasgow/Cumbernauld and that the local economy has overheated and there will be trouble.  I got this message all over - from Gairloch, Kinlockbevie, Thurso and Inverness.

Certainly driving in off the by-pass it felt more like Urban Berkshire than Scottish Highlands.  The restaurant quarter reminded me of the worst of Broad Street Birmingham - so I ate at McDonalds - cheap and quick fuel.

Parking was a nightmare "one way street!", "no stopping", "park here (full)", "short stay parking (full)", "No overnight parking (still full)" - at last I found a space in a pay-and-display  - the meter would not take my money - as it was after 18:00 but there were no signs at all telling me when the parking charge started the next day -  you can pay for 24hrs BUT NOT AFTER SIX IN THE EVENING!!!!


Mentioning my ticketless state to the helpful hotel owner... "charging is from 7:00 but the wardens dare not show their faces before 9:00 - so be away by then" - I suspect that this is due to pressure from the very many hotels in the vicinity of that particular car park...