SCOTLAND - Am I in New York?

London has the Tube - arguably the best urban transportation system in the world. Newcastle has a certain "je ne sais quoi" and thinks itself very Parisienne and therefore has a Metro. Up here in Scotland, Glasgow thinks its New York and has obviously thought we need a Subway.

The Glasgow Subway is the third oldest underground rail system in the world after London and Budapest. It consists of one circular line but to make it seem bigger than it really is they have divided it in two - the Outer running clockwise and Inner running counter-clockwise. It's not only the network that is small, the track gauge is only 4ft (normally its 4ft 8.5 inches) and if you thought the tunnels on London's deep level tube lines were small (11ft 8.25 inches) those in Glasgow are even smaller at just 11ft.

I travelled down from Oban by train this morning through the glorious scenary that is the West Highland Line. In Glasgow, my first bit of sightseeing was to visit The Tenement House a National Trust for Scotland property in a residential part of the city centre. Tenement houses were/are multi-occupied residential buildings that are basically small blocks of flats. When we think of tenement houses many people outside Scotland would think slums but infact there were tenements for all classes. Working class ones would indeed have been very basic, often just one or two rooms with limited sanitation but those for the upper classes would be more like what we would call flats or appartments today - indeed many Scots in both Glasgow and Edinburgh still live in tenement buildings.

The Tenement House that the NTS has is the first floor of a building in Buccleuch Street and consists of a lobby, kitchen, parlour, bedroom and bathroom with additional box beds built into alcoves in the parlour and kitchen.  It was lived in until 1982 but is furnished as it was during the lifetime of the lady that lived there from 1911 to 1975. The dwellings - now flats - on the upper floors are still used as residential property. All in all a very interesting place to visit if you like social history.

It's a bank holiday weekend here in Scotland and Glasgow is a riot (quite literally) of stags and hens so what was I to do on a Saturday evening? Well I got the Tube - sorry Subway - to Hillhead and had a wander round the botanical gardens. The glasshouses were closed as it was evening time but the weather here is warm at the moment so it was a really nice way to spend my time,

 

SCOTLAND - What's the story in Balamory?

Today, I once again caught the ferry to Mull and this time on arrival at Craignure boarded a bus for the island's capital Tobermory. People of my age will know that Tobermory is of course named after a Womble - if you can't remember he was the one that made things - however, younger readers will recognise Tobermory as the place where the BBC filmed their children's TV series Balamory.

Tobermory is famed for its multicoloured houses that stretch along the street that follows the harbour and is a pleasant enought place for a stroll and some lunch but I can't think that it would be particularly good on a wet day in a howling gale!

From the far end of the harbourside there is a path which makes a easy 2km walk to the lighthouse.

Something that has been quite interesting on this trip is the absence of other tourists, ok its not empty but it's not overly busy either. This being the two week cross over between the Scottish and English school holidays, I really did expect it to be a lot busier. Most of the visitors are older, mainly from coach tours but there are few families with children. I am guessing that the fact Scotland still has many restrictions in place has put people - particularly from England - off.

SCOTLAND - More from Corrour

You may recall that my train travel was disrupted when I was here last year due to a landslide at Bridge of Orchy after heavy rain. The result of that for me, was a stretch of line between Crianlarich and Rannoch that I was unable to travel on, so in order to get that line in the book I decided to travel up that way this summer.

Whilst I could have just gone to Rannoch and come back for the ride, after having enjoyed my trips to Corrour last year I deceided to get the morning train up to Rannoch and once again do the walk across the moor bewteen there and Corrour. The weather forecast was overcast but not wet so I gave it a go, partly motivated by the thought of a pint and a bowl of venison casserole at the end in the restaurant at Corrour Station.

Since you have read all about Corrour on previous posts, there is not much more to say other than it was another fastastic day. I will therefore just leave you with some pics.

Class 156 leaving Rannoch

Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor

Loch Ossian

Corrour Station

Class 156 arriving at Corrour

 

SCOTLAND - A Hebridean Overture

An early start saw me board the 0725 ferry to Craignure on the island of Mull, from where a large, but fairly empty, 6 wheeled double decker bus (I'm guessing there are usually many more tourists) was waiting for the run along single track roads to Fionnphort.

Fionnphort is on one side of the Sound of Iona and a second, much smaller ferry was there waiting for the short crossing to the island of Iona, one of the most sacred sites in Scotland. St Columba (remember him from Derry-Londonderry?) came from Ireland to Iona in 563 and founded a monastery from which to go forth and convert the Picts and the Scots to Christianity. It was sacked many times by the Vikings and over the centuries fell into disrepair but today the reconstructed abbey church is a place of pilgrimage.

To be honest, Iona warrants at least a day of your time, even better if you can stay overnight, it is a magical place and even more spiritual given its stunning location. Alas I was only stopping off here on the way even more amazing things so only had a couple of hours. This was enough to do a guided tour of the abbey complex, take some photos and admire the peaceful  views. The abbey is built from the local stone which is a lovely pink granite. I have to admit that the traquility of the place was partly due to the pandemic, the abbey would see up to 1000 vsiitors a day in a normal summer.

As you should by now know following my two previous visits, the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland was formed by the rapid cooling of molten basalt during volcanic activity 50-60 million years ago. What a you may not be aware of, is that this volcanic activity pops up out of the sea again on the Scottish island of Staffa, some 6 miles from Iona. Therefore I was picked up by a small boat as part of a tour to Staffa this afternoon to go and have a look.

Staffa is an uninhabited island now owned by the National Trust for Scotland and it is made up of huge basalt columns that rise up out of the sea. The most amazing feature, however, is Fingal's Cave, a sea cave that runs into the basalt that is accessible by walking along a ledge just above the high water mark. It is truly amazing and when I got there, I was able to take some photos and then sit alone in the cave for about 10 minutes before anyone else came along - very special.

Fingal's Cave from the water

This is very similar to the Giant's Causeway

Inside Fingal's Cave

Inside Fingal's Cave

Fingal's Cave is famous of course as the place that inspired composer Felix Mendeelssohn to write his overture "The Hebrides". He visited the island in 1829 on a particularly rough day but for him, like me and many other people the island left a lasting impression.

Staffa

SCOTLAND - Greetings from Oban

Hello again everyone, you now find me in the Scottish west coast port of Oban. It took over 11 hours to travel up here by train from Kent yesterday and I was only 2 minutes late on arrival - that folks, is how trains should work!

Oban sits on western side of Scotland a little further down from Fort William where I was last year. It is very much the gateway to the Hebrides with ferries leaving regularly for Mull, Lismore, Colonsay, Coll, Tiree, South Uist and Barra. It's also a fishing port and markets itself as the "Seafood Capital of Scotland" In fact in the last 24 hours I have only eaten fish! Last night it was Haddock and Chips from the chippy (they don't eat Cod in Scotland for some reason), lunch time was Dressed Crab and tonight it was back to the chippy for Lemon Sole and Chips. I can keep going tomorrow too as there are several stalls in the town serving Mussels in White Wine, hot in a polystyrene container to take away! 

What is also really good here is that the seagulls don't seem to bother you if you sit on the harbour wall eating - now there's one for a university degree dissertation "Why are Scottish seagulls better behaved than English ones?"

Oban Harbour with McCaigs Tower on the hill behind

When in Scotland of course the best place to start exploring is the local distillery. Oban's is right in the centre of town and although owned by the same company (Diageo) as the Dalwhinnie distillery I visited last year, the tour was completely different and therefore also very interesting. The tasting included a whisky that retails at £100 per bottle - unfortunately, not being a whisky drinker I couldn't really tell the difference between that and the normal stuff!

The washback where the fermentation takes place

The still where the distillation occurs

For a good view of the harbour and of the ferries coming and going you need to climb up to McCaigs Tower or Folly, the colosseum shaped building on the hill behind the town. It was commissioned  by local philanthropist John Stuart McCaig in 1897 to provide work for the local stonemasons. Unfortunately McCaig died before it was finished and only the shell remains but it gives good views and the inside is laid out as a garden.

Don't be fooled by the locals wandering round in t-shirts and shorts, the weather is just warm enough for an Englishman to take his coat off. Neverless I did walk along the coast to Ganarvan this evening and sat on the beach for a while, however, there seem to be loads of jellyfish around here at the moment which rather put me off a paddle!