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!

NORTHERN IRELAND - Time for a Dawlish moment

The Antrim Coast is rightly famous for it's spectular scenary and the World Heritage Giant's Causeway, less well know though is the coast of County Londonderry. It is equally stunning and known to some in the train fraternity because this is where NI Railways has it's Dawlish moment with the trains running along the beach at Downhill.

On the headland above the beach and the railway line is the Downhill Demesne, a large National Trust property consisting of parkland, gardens, the Mussenden Temple and the ruins of Downhill House. 

Frederick Hervey the 4th Earl of Bristol later became Bishop of Derry in 1768 and commissioned Downhill House to serve as his residence here. Unfortunately the house fell into disrepair after WW2 but today the site provides wide open spaces with views of Downhill Strand, Donegal and of course the trains.

Mussenden Temple served as the Earl Bishop's library, a fire being kept lit in the basement to stop the damp damaging the books! It is perched right on the cliff edge. Apparently when it was built you could drive a coach and horses right round it, that definitely can't be done now. 

The National Trust currently hires the building out as a wedding venue - could be the perfect place for a statue of Dame Vera though?

Well folks that is pretty much the end of my trip here as I am flying to Birmingham tomorrow to visit Mum before returning home. Not long though till the next trip - Oban, Mull and the visit to Glasgow I couldn't do last year should be coming up next month if Nicola and Boris allow it!

NORTHERN IRELAND - Culture in Cultra

Lets start by improving your rolling stock recognition abilities.

Trains run by NI Railways are silver and blue, those operated by Iarnrod Eireann are silver and green. The sight of one of the latter at Belfast's Lanyon Place station today proves that cross-border services are operating normally despite the ongoing UK/EU Sausage War.

The Ulster Folk and Transport museum occupies a sprawling site at Cultra, 7 miles east of Belfast and the best way to get there is by train as the station at Cultra has direct access to the museum.

The folk section is a large open air museum which follows the same format as St Fagan's in Cardiff, Beamish in Northern England and the Black Country Museum in the Midlands. The museum is set in the period around 1900 and has an "urban" section with shops, churches, terraced housing and other village buildings. Then there is a country section consisting of farm, cottage and mill buildings spread out across several acres of parkland.

There were several of these one room dewllings where humans and animals lived together

I was particularly intrigued by the notice in the doctors which gave information on how to deal with someone with Consumption - many of the instructions have a lot of relevance with the ongoing pandemic.

To be perfectly honest, the museum needs more than one day, but with limited time in the afternoon I continued to the transport section. This consists of a series of galleries containing mainly large exhibits relating to trains, trams, buses and cars. There is also a very good section which covers the Titanic. There are additional galleries for air and sea transport but these are closed for refurbishment.

Because Cultra is on the southern shore of Belfast Lough and the evenings here are long at the moment, after the msueum closed I walked along the shore of the Lough for a couple of hours and got the train back from further down the line.

This arch, under Helens Bay station was built so that Lord Dufferin's carriages could gain access via his own private carriage drive to the railway station to collect and drop off visitors to the Clandeboye Estate.

Crawfordsburn Beach

NORTHERN IRELAND - Back to the Giant's Causeway

It's time to revisit the Giant's Causeway, but the weather forecast for today was not that good with rain, or liquid sunshine as the Irish call it, forcast for the afternoon. As it happened though it was a fantastic day. Last time I was here I visited the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede and then walked  along the coast path to the Causeway. Today I started at the Causeway and continued walking along the coast path to Portrush.

Now look at these pictures of what is the National Trust's most visited site - very few people - in fact at one point I was standing there with just one other couple. A combination of pandemic and poor weather I guess.

The folk reading this from the lighthouse will be aware of a debate that is raging in Dover at the moment about our White Cliffs - I was thinking today that the end of the Giant's Causeway might be a suitable spot for a statue of Dame Vera ?? !!

The expected rain didn't really materialise this afternoon so the walk along the coast path was great. A blanket of cloud usually improves the general visibility and there were good views of Inishowen, Donegal and I could also be just make out Scotland on the horizion. The walk to Portrush took in a castle and a couple of lovely sandy beaches, sandy beaches that I had almost to myself, just a pity I had to have a hoodie and anorak on!!

Runkerry Beach

 Dunluce Castle

White Rocks Beach

 

 

NORTHERN IRELAND - Derry ~ Londonderry

Hello everyone and welcome back. I have returned to Northern Ireland for a 4 day break, which is one of several that I shall be taking within the Common Travel Area over the next few months.

Today you find me in Derry ~ Londonderry, the province's second city, set on the banks of the River Foyle. Known as Derry amongst Nationalists and Londonderry amongst Unionists, it gets its London prefix from the London Livery Companies who provided the money for the development of the city in the 1600's - it's city walls are the most complete in Ireland.

The city was at the forefront of the struggle for control of the English crown when Catholic King James II was deposed and replaced by Dutch Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary. Supporters of James II tried to regain his throne via the back door - Ireland. In December 1688 the Earl of Antrim and his army marched on Londonderry in support of James II but a group of 13 apprentice boys stole the keys to the city gates and locked them shut, thus preventing access. A standoff resulted which lead to a seige lasting 105 days in 1689 in an attempt the starve the Protestant residents into submission. Food eventually got through by sea and river and the city did not surrender.

Coming by train you arrive at the city's recently and wonderfully restored Waterside station on the opposite side of the River Foyle to the city centre. You cross the river by walking over the stunning Peace Bridge which was opened in 2011.

This brings you to a point opposite the Guildhall behind which run the city walls, the path on the top of the walls can be accessed at several points. This is a city that has an edginess to it, so don't expect it to be twee like Chester or York

The city's Protestant cathedral is within the city walls and is dedicated to St Columb (also known as Columba or Colmcille) . He was an Irish abbot who went to Scotland and founded the abbey on the island of Iona - so there will be more about him when I return to western Scotland later in the year.

Derry ~ Londonderry is of course famous for it's murals. Most are political but in recent years a number of contemporary ones have been commissioned. If you watch "Derry Girls" on TV you may recognise this!