Thread: Ramblings from the UK.

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Glasgow was built mainly upon the earnings and overseas interests of merchants and importers, who were hard hit when America became independent.
They lost not only the capital they had invested in their southern plantations, but also the income derived from their monopoly over the importation of (mainly) cotton and tobacco.
That was when the rot set in with an economic downturn for Scotland, but Glasgow in particular, and this is shown in the age and style of the majority of the buildings still extant.
Glasgow stopped.
The shipyards and engineering industries survived until the 1940's; but after that...pfffft.

How do I know this?

I read about it in a museum last time we were here.

We wandered up Bath St from our hotel (Apex,) to an underground restaurant called The Butterfly and the Pig for our tea. I ordered the black pudding as an appetiser, while She ordered the beer battered fish as her main.
The service was very quick indeed, the meal was very well cooked, and the servings were huge; my supposed appetiser became my main, I didn't want any more; and She couldn't finish hers...left better than half of it on the plate.
Back to the hotel, and a couple of stubbies called Birra Moretti.
Fairly bland; but palatable enough.
Something I had noticed yesterday that is the same the whole world over, was reinforced tonight; HGV and PSVs, when approaching a red light on a steep incline; go down through the gears while still some distance from it, hoping to avoid having to stop, and then overcome the inertia of moving away from a standing start on an incline.
Hell; I've done it myself!

But it sorta struck me that we all work out the same answers to the same problems...



Thursday 12th May.



Charlie McKerricher, Rosie's other cousin's husband came to the hotel to pick us up and take us to their place at Ruh, about an hour's drive away.

From here we'll go to Tir-na-nog (which translates as: 'the place of everlasting life',) some time in the next day or two.

Friday 13th May.

Left Ruh about 10:00 heading for Tignabruich, headed out past Greenock, home to most of the former shipyard area on the banks of the Clyde. Most of the buildings and yards have been cleared for redevelopment, although some of the old warehouses have been demolished, and then rebuilt in their original architectural style as tenements.

To Gourock, where we caught the ferry 'Sound of Souy' across the Clyde to Dunoon, a 15 minute run. The Clyde runs in a glacial fjord, is tidal, very deep, and when the tide's running out is very swift.

The area we were heading for is very rural, the roads are for the main part single lane, but with passing bays every 5 - 600ft. Through the wee settlements and past the individual houses along the way are 'stane dykes' (stone walls/fences) up to 6ft high.

There is a lot of forestry here, mainly fir, but it was interesting to note that replacement plantings contained a lot of larch; one of the few conifers that sheds its leaves.
The terrain here is post glacial; rough steep rugged valleys, bony, stony, and infertile.
Makes ya wonder why the Poms wanted it and the Scots fought to keep it.
It's God-forsaken.

Arrived Tignabruich, and headed for the Cook ancestral home of Tir-nan-og...The Land of the Forever Young.

The house is vacant at the moment, but for insurance purposes Christine and Charlie have to make regular visits to ensure everything's ok, so had decided to delay their visit until we too could be here to return and reminisce.
Thanks for that...much appreciated!

Then out to the cemetery to say 'Gidday' to those that have gone before, and Charlie noticed that in the row immediately behind the rellies was a Critchley!
Dunno if it's related to the ones from Annan who employed the Grandad/Great Grandad; but it's still a coincidence.

Took the 'round in a circle' route to return to Glasgow and Ruh, up over the Rest and be Thankful, down the other side; where there has been extensive engineering works done, in the form of massive steel pylons put into the ground, with huge 'chain-mail' nets strung between them; all designed to catch slips and rock-falls.
Impressive.

At the Ardgarten turnoff and start of the Argyll National Park down the bottom of Rest and be Thankful, Charlie pulled off to show me a carved totem of a golden eagle at the top, with three beaver carved into the bottom.

American customs (totems,) and American critters too...anybody know what the connection is?

And so back to Ruh...stopping along the way to pick up some more beer!

Thanks Charlie and Christine for a great day out...loved it!

Originally Posted by rspears

Hey, jb, when you're near Kirkwall stop by Findlay's Photo Shop at 11 Albert St. They sell a smash little pocket digital, and they give lessons!!

Attachment 65752

Oh dear!
I
used
to
be
thick
but
I'm
alright
now!

Kirkwall, Kirkwall!
I should have clicked...but I didn't.
Very droll sir, very droll.
You're a smart man Mr Spears!

Originally Posted by johnboy

Kirkwall, Kirkwall!
I should have clicked...but I didn't.
Very droll sir, very droll.

LOL! Just thought by posting the picture of the actual shop it might be sort of a Pavlov's Dogs moment - jb walking down Albert Street, seeing the shop and recognizing it, but not remembering why, knowing he'd never been there before, but then "I've seen this place before".... Next thing we know jb's wandered in, they've recognized his needs and he walks out with a flash new digital picture taking machine! Nah, not in this lifetime...

Thanks for the smile this morning!

Saturday 14th May.

Away by about 11:00, heading out through Paisley, where there are beautiful well managed pastures grazing predominantly sheep. but with a lot of cropping.

Through to the east of Glasgow without entering the city proper, but the views from the motorway reinforcing the observations of the other day of improved prosperity with the number of new and revamped buildings, plus the demolition of abandoned properties.
The whole country, ie buildings and infrastructure, is looking smarter than it was a few years back.

Out through Lanark; grazing, cropping, and market gardens, This is really high fertility highly productive land; they must have a micro-climate that suits as well.

The Scots have some great names; we passed Tillietudlum Castle. (Pronounced Tilly to dill um.) There must be a story behind it, but Charlie says he doesn't know it.

Around this area we passed many abandoned glass house complexes, some encompassing several acres, all built on a slope, and all with a chimney at the bottom end.
I would guess that this was for frost protection; light a fire in the fireplace at the bottom, and the hot air would then rise up through the glasshouse to the top. From the look, style, and condition of these structures I'd make another guess and say they were built around 1940 for the war effort.

Arrived at our destination: New Lanark, a village built around a mill. The mill itself was built in the late 1700s and early 1800s by a Robert Owen, and was powered initially by an immense overshot water wheel that was an engineering feat in itself. A tunnel was driven through the granite to draw water from above the Dundaff Linn falls on the Clyde. the water then being flumed down to the wheel, which was about eighteen feet across.
In 1881 a steam engine was incorporated into the system to be used only at times of low flow in the river; as steam was much more expensive than the free water power.

Once the mill was operative he started building the village to house his workers.

As his business prospered and grew, so he developed the facilities in the village to the benefit of his staff; with a co-operative store, where prices were lower than in the town above, a resident village doctor, where for a payment of two shillings and sixpence per family they had unlimited access to medical treatment, a church, a building the housed 'The Institute for the Formation of Character', and a school, 'A Rational system of Education', well equipped and with spacious classrooms for the kids and any adults who chose to study at the night classes that were held.
All free.

As part of the tour we were put in ski-lift-type pods and taken on a mono-rail tour through the life of a young village girl.
She was born in 1810, left school to work in the mill at the age of 10, lived with her granny (who was too old to work so lived with and was cared by dad, and after many years of work in the mill was too deaf to hear much,) her mum and dad, her siblings, (including her sister and her man, plus their child,) a total of eleven people in two rooms.
She worked ten and a half hours a day, six days a week, and got two days holiday per year.

Why did our forebears get to hell out of the place I wonder!
NZ, Canada, Aust, USA...wherever...it must have appeared paradise!
And yet this Robert Owen was considered a philanthropist and a forward thinker of his time.

A bloody interesting tour.

Headed back to Ruh through Carluke, Helensworth, and Newhouse, once again highly productive fertile land; albeit with a very low pH. (That's potential Hydrogen...thought I'd better explain...)

Johnboy, you got me curious. I've never been to Scotland, but I have Scottish ancestors, so I started looking. Tillietudlem Castle is a fictional place from Sir Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. He had visited Craignethan Castle near Tillietudlem in Lanark, South Lanarkshire some time before writing the novel. Apparently, the visit worked its way into the novel. The folks of Tillietudlem seem to have capitalized on the connection to draw in tourists. Not a bad idea, and very enterprising of them. Sorry for the ramble, but you did bring it up.

Thanks for that Jack; I didn't know that. Even cousin Charlie, a born and bred local didn't know that.

And if anybody else can point out little bits of info like Jack; please do so!

Sunday 15th May.

Underway about 1:00pm, heading for Erskine to Caulders Garden Centre Bishopton, an enterprise that is leased to Caulders by the Erskine House Charity, formerly the Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers. The Charity was started during WWI, to rehabilitate sailors and soldiers who were maimed by the loss of limbs during the war.
It's an indictment upon the nature of the human animal that it's still needed today.
What have we learned over the last 100 years?

I digress.

The purpose of the visit was to meet up again with Christine and Charlie's son Ewen, daughter-in-law Barbara, and their two kids Ben and Murray.

They're nice people; but totally incapable of understanding what hot rodding is about, what hot rodders do, or why.
"Why didn't you just buy a newer reliable bus and convert it?"
Because it would never be the same.
"Yes it would; it would be even better as far as I can see."
It wouldn't have the same cachet.
"So?"
sigh.
We've made this particular vehicle peculiar to us; there's not another one the same in the entire world.
"But an old bus like that wouldn't keep up with traffic."
Yes it will. Its got a late model 400 ci V8 in it, with a 5spd 2spd behind it.

I was pushing water uphill with a rake here.
The great unwashed just don't get it.

Never mind: it was good to meet up with some more bones...

A major difficulty when being hosted by bones is that their definition of 'early' is entirely different from mine.
I'm usually awake around 5:30, so 7:00 on the road is okay by me.
Charlie's definition of an early getaway is 10:00, and it's more usually later.
Bloody hell; half the day's gone by then!

But what can ya do?
It's their house, their car, and they're showing you around out of the kindness of their heart.
And that is appreciated.

Originally Posted by johnboy

I was pushing water uphill with a rake here.
The great unwashed just don't get it.

Never heard that one before Mine has always been "shoveling s**t against the tide".

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Never heard that one before Mine has always been "shoveling s**t against the tide".

This puts me in mind of a gent (?) I used to know from France. We had a '68 Dodge A100 van with a warmed up 318, and a '68 chevelle Malibu SS 396 that I raced. Pierre just couldn't get his head around any of it, and was always tsk-tsking me about it.

Keep posting JB, it makes good reading.

And seeing as you're in Pommy-land it will be safe for me to head back up to the North Island!

Originally Posted by Kiwi37

Keep posting JB, it makes good reading.

And seeing as you're in Pommy-land it will be safe for me to head back up to the North Island!

Wouldn't count too much on it Tom...the new member who made the Fopar may have finished with the goat, and have it ready and waiting for you!
(...and thanks for the kind words...)


Anyway; to carry on:

Forgot to mention that yesterday, at the garden centre, I wandered out of the cafeteria at some stage for a ciggy. Sat on a plinth set in the middle of a fairly new lawn, and...ragwort!
Twenty or forty thriving cabbages of it!
At a garden centre!
Not a good look.

jb




Monday 16th May.

Today has been designated as a 'shopping day for the girls', so at 12:00 we headed for Loch Lomond Shores Shopping Centre.

We had lunch.
I went to the toilet.
I went outside, had a bit of a wander around, (couldn't go too far; didn't know how long they'd be,) found myself a rock, sat on it, looked at the water, and had a few cigarettes.

We were back home by 2:30.

Jane and James arrived about 6:00 with haddock and chips for tea, ate that, then sat around with She drinking bourbon, the bones drinking scotch, and the hoi-polio (me,) drinking beer, a very nice Orcadian drop called Dark Island.
An exciting day.

And to-morrow we all head for the Orkney Islands!

Tuesday May 17th.

Jane and James in their car, Christine, Charlie, Rosie and myself in Charlie's car, and we were away from Ruh by 9:30, heading for Thurso prior to ferrying to the Orkney Mainland to-morrow. Local knowledge let Charlie take rural back roads toward Stirling, through under utilised land running gorse, (lots of gorse,) sheep, a few beef cattle, fewer dairy cattle, mainly fresian, one jersey herd, and predominantly cropping nearer Stirling.

Wanted to stop for a cuppa at Auchterarder, but there wasn't a park to be had in the village proper, so we all pulled into a school parking lot to stretch legs and maintain nicotine levels.
A wrought iron gate in a stane dyke 100ft or so away piqued my interest so wandered over for a closer look.
It was a fake; the whole thing was arc welded. But...there 100ft from school grounds was a magnificent area of hemlock.
Not a good look.
Don't these people know their noxious/poisonous weeds?

Followed the Tay river for quite some distance, running parallel to the Cairngorms; interesting wild scenery. and...semaphore signals on the railway track. Haven't seen those in years.

Golspie; and a statue to the Duke of Sutherland.
That surprised me, he was the bloke responsible for most of The Clearings that threw the peasant farmers off their land, and created much hardship, starvation and suffering.

5 miles on...and a sign indicated Dunrobin (Dunrobbin'?) Castle...is there an ironic joke here somewhere?

Well out on the east coast by now, and met up with the infamous stretch of road known as Berridale Brees.
A descent and climb out the other side of (about) 200ft, a gradient of 13%, 3 hairpin bends at the bottom, and another hairpin on the northern side.
Just no way no how to keep revs and gears up.
After seeing it first hand I can understand why the truckies hate it.

A relatively flat and straight run along the coast with wind turbines all over the place, arrived Thurso, our hotel for the night about 6:15, and we're now just a short drive to the ferry for Orkney to-morrow.

Life is all good.

Wednesday May 8th

Breakfast was part of the deal at Park Hotel, so it was ordered last night to be ready for us this morning. An excellent breakfast it was too! Black pudding, mushrooms, tomato, potato, and scrambled egg. All good.

Away by 8:30 heading for Scrabster Harbour and our ferry the MV Hamnavoe. Not as big as our Inter-Islanders; but still surprisingly large.
There was fog, a misty drizzle, and light winds as we left, the wind grew in strength as we progressed, (as did the swell, although it was still a calm enough crossing,) the fog lifted a fair bit, and as we approached Mainland Island we were able to see the Old Man of Hoy, a sandstone column at the base of the cliff on island of Hoy about 80ft high and a width of about 30ft.
Arrived Stromness 10:10, a bit over an hour and a half sailing time.

First mission was to find our hotel; the Merkister. Charlie and his navigator managed that in jig time, dropped our bags off; so next mission was the Orkney Brewery in the old Sandwick school-house at Quoyloo.
James found that, first on the agenda there was lunch; then a brewery tour.
Their beer, especially Dark Island, is a bloody gorgeous drop, but the business is tourist oriented; get 'em in and gut 'em.
Not good.
Their beer is recommended, a visit to their brewery...nah.
One thing that was noted here...the immediate vicinity is devoid of trees...no trees for miles.
Except...opposite the brewery is a lone NZ native cabbage tree...
God knows where it came from or how it got there.

Next on the agenda was the Ring of Brogden.
This consists of the remaining (extremely large) stones that had been arranged in a circle about 100 yards across around 2500 BC. (All the same like Stonehenge) The antiquity of these things messes with your mind...to touch these things and think that someone 4500 years ago had their hands on this very same stone.
Didn't stay too long here, unfortunately the rain was horizontal, and the temperature was 5 degrees.
Cold as a bank manager's heart it was.

Back to Kirkwall and a visit to St Magnus Cathedral.
Building of it started in 1137 (nearly 900 years ago) and it's an awe inspiring building even by today's standards. Both the stone and wood carvings are truly magnificent.
These old-timers were nothing if not ambitious!
I doubt anything I built will be extant in 900 years...

And so back to the Merkister Hotel.
A lot to see, do, think about, and try to assimilate.

All good.

I'm following along with you on Google Maps, Johnboy; fun.

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