Give Way

Scotland is at a cross-roads.  In 3 weeks time the people of Scotland will vote in a referendum on whether or not to be an independent country.  It's a momentous occasion - the eve of a new dawn for Scotland, or the precipice of a new disaster, depending on who you talk to.  I certainly feel for everyday Scots, who are just wanting to do the right thing by their country and fellow countrymen, but are struggling to see the truth for the barrage of claims and counter-claims of added prosperity or poverty.  Before we came "north of the border", I felt it would be better for Scotland to remain part of the UK, but after our 3 weeks so far here, I can certainly see things from the point of view of the pro-independence group.  We've met people from both sides of the campaign, and even went to a referendum debate in a local town hall!  We learnt that a lot of farming families were leaning towards voting against, feeling that their farming future is brightest as part of the UK.  A family of Czech-republic immigrants that we stayed with also felt that staying in the UK was the way to go.  When we got into the Highlands, as we have over the past week, the views up there were much more strongly in favour of independence, feeling that their ultimate representation by Westminster was very remote.  As one Highlands lady that we stayed with quite wisely pointed out though, the decision will be largely made by the Edinburghians and Glaswegians, due to their sheer proportion of the Scottish population.

From a small incident this week, I can relate to how the undecided/unsure (of which there are many) Scots feel.  We have spent 3 fantastic days on the Isle of Mull, and on our last evening were heading towards our final village stop with the hope of "splashing out" and having Fish and Chips for tea.  However there was one corner of the Isle that we hadn't yet seen, and did looked interesting.  As we were stopped at the junction trying to decide what to do, a car pulled out of the road from that corner.  We waved them down to ask them about it - they told us the scenery was absolutely amazing, and there were great wild camping spots, but only one shop that was unlikely to be open when we got there.  We faced a difficult decision - go down to the island corner and try our luck with the shop, but also be sure of a good spot to camp, or carry on to the village (which we hadn't yet been through), and hope there was a fish and chip shop and a suitable spot to camp.  It was the uncertainty of the outcomes of each choice that made it so hard, and it seems a lot of Scots are facing this dilemma also.  We sat at the intersection for 10 mins before finally deciding to carry on the village.  The result?  No fish and chip shop :-( so we went for a pub meal instead.  We did also find a park for the night, but it wasn't exactly idyllic, being right beside a roadworks project with a few comings and goings in the night.  The outcome wasn't terrible, but wasn't as good as we hoped either.

Thankfully that was just one average night, out of many many more great ones!  The tagline for Britain is "The green and pleasant land", much like New Zealand is the land of the long white cloud.  I think that tag certainly applies to England, but it becomes very inapt when you get into the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.  The steep, barren mountains, long long lochs, and crumbling, long-forgotten crofts are wild and dramatic much more than they are "pleasant".  Driving around this beautiful area has been very enjoyable and special, if not a bit nerve racking at times!  The roads around here are all single lane only, with intermittent passing bays (large enough for 1-2 cars to pull into), and the locals all drive around at a fair clip of speed.  As you see every car approaching there is the game of "who is going to give way?".   If one car arrives at a passing bay first, they pull in.  That's easy - it's when both approach an individual one (a couple of hundred metres apart) at the same time that the challenge comes!  The usual scenario is that both cars pull into their respective bays.  An exchange of headlight flashes then occur, until one car decides to take the lead and pull out to go past.  The 2-3 finger wave is invariably given, by the happy tourist or friendly local.

At this time of year the barrenness of the landscape is broken by the bright purple heather, a supposed indication of summer.  We certainly could have been fooled!  We've been sporting our full wardrobes of polar-fleece jumpers and raincoats, paired with our venerable "wellys" which at one point we wore for 3 days straight!  In the last couple of days though, the sun has come out, and on Tuesday we were singing hallelujahs in the cool reprieve of the Iona Abbey.

Our Highland adventure is sadly almost over, but our Scottish cultural one isn't quite!  We're heading to the Cowal Highland games this weekend, which should be lots of fun.  You see local Highland games advertised in many towns around this time of year - games that have been going on for many centuries.  Whether or not Scotland becomes a politically independent country, there will be no impediment to the Scottish culture.  It is still as strong as ever in these parts (maybe stronger than ever), and I'm sure will continue to endure irrelevant of the outcome.

A very pretty town in the Highlands that we visited

A permanent resident of the central gardens of Tain

I am the bread of life, I am the rose of Sharon, I am the true vine, I am the lilly of the valley, His fruit was sweet to my taste (Jean's now favourite stained glass window)

It's scary what you find in the Scottish woodland!

A very magical woodland walk - the photo doesn't do it justice!

Packing up in a hurry after our first encounter with the West coast midges.  They are like tiny mozzies, but don't take the hint when you swat them away or even coat yourself in insect repellent!

Driving through the Highlands on a misty, atmospheric day

There were too many beautiful bays and inlets like this to count - this was one of them

Another one!

Our camping spot for the night in Applecross.  A typical evening for us is sitting and reading, looking out to views like this.

Driving over the highest (road) mountain pass in Scotland

Eilean Donan castle - very pretty.  We didn't go in but enjoyed looking at the outside

Another camping spot by a beautiful and remote gorge

The mushrooms are pretty large around here!  We didn't try eating it....

We found Glenbogle!  The house will be well known if you're a fan of Monarch of the Glen

The church and cemetery used in scenes of Monarch of the Glen.  It was really cool to be able to visit here.

Travelling west from Fort William

Our camping spot the night prior to crossing on the ferry to the Isle of Mull

Meal with a view!

We crossed over to Tobermory, the biggest village on the Isle of Mull.  It was a beautiful day and made the village look especially pretty.

A collection of ruined crofts.  These are scattered all over the Highlands and Isles of Scotland, a reminder of the changes that have occurred over the past century in these lands.

Maybe my ancestors lived here??  Some of my ancestors are McLeans, and The Isle of Mull is the traditional lands of the McLean clan

Exploring Aros Castle on a very windy day.  This castle was really fun to explore, as it was off the tourist track, and free to climb around and explore "properly", unlike lots of tourist ones where you have to pay to go in, and lots of areas are roped off.

Abandoned boats on the Isle of Mull - there were a number of these scattered around the coast

We took a boat trip to Staffa Island.  This island is geologically very interesting, with its crazy rock formations.  The boat trip was sunny and lot of fun - great to have a break from driving!

Exploring the Isle of Iona, and Iona Abbey.  The Abbey was great to visit, and the Isle had a really relaxed feel.  Tourists aren't allowed to bring their cars, so people mostly walk around the Isle.  It would be a great place to come back to if you needed a recharge for a few days

Highland cow on the Isle of Mull - Jean really loves them!

We met two of the residents of Duart Castle!

Duart, on the Isle of Mull, is the seat of Clan McLean.  Half of the castle is opened up to visitors, and the other half is lived in by the 28th and current chief of Clan McLean.  A lot of the rooms you could visit were left in the state as they were restored to in the early 20th century (the castle was formerly pretty ruined). 

Who do you think you are?

This week has been all about family. We have spent the week in Aberdeenshire in the North East of Scotland exploring where my ancestors came from and meeting relatives that are still in the area. We seemed to have timed things well, staying indoors all week, which was nice since it hasn't been ideal camping weather.

Our first stop was a couchsurf. We stayed in a cosy stone croft which was heated with power from the owners windmill. We really enjoyed their home-made furnishings and sitting round the chunky wooden table in the kitchen at meal times. There were also a Spanish couple staying through Help-Ex and the atmosphere of the house was very relaxed, with everyone chipping in and doing things together. I cooked tea the three nights we stayed there and had to be a bit creative as the host was vegan, but I enjoyed the challenge!

During our stay there we visted Peterhead where my Dad's ancestors came from. Peterhead has always been, and still is a fishing town - it smelt like it! It was fairly easy to imagine things how they were in the old days and listening to the seagulls overhead helped to set the scene.  We took photos of a couple of houses my ancestors lived in, but some of them are no longer there.

In the second half the week we headed over to Fintry Farm at Turriff. During WWII my nana Molly and her brother Donald were sent from their home in Kent (right on the bombing path) to stay with their cousins in rural Scotland. Think of the start of the Narnia movie "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and the children that were sent as evacuees, and you'll be about right (except with a much more friendly family). It has been a very special time for me to stay at Fintry Farm after hearing about it so much as a child. Parts of the house have been nicely modernised but there is still plenty of old charm. Even though the house has been divided into two, the part we were staying in still has 6 bedrooms including a lovely big wooden staircase (perfect bannister for sliding down).  You would expect a big old house this far north to be chilly, but with a clever boiler burning their oil seed rape straw, it was roasting!

There is plenty of family still close by in the area and we had a fantastic time sharing old memories and making new ones. Various relatives popped in for a cuppa during our stay, and it was fun chatting and listening to their accent.  Around this area they have their own dialect and if you're not concentrating, it's nearly impossible to understand what is being said (especially if they're chatting between locals).  Between many cups of coffee, lots of generous meals, lots of stories and joking around, a warm house and a very friendly family, it has been a very precious time.

Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven

"Fisher Jessie" statue in Peterhead. Tribute to the many local women who were employed to process fish at the docks in the old days. 

Out for dinner in Turriff with Uncle Murray, and John and Moira Ledingham.

Fintry Farm, Turriff

Barley is the main crop of the area, and it was being harvested on the farm during our stay.

Fintry Farm House

We even had a "Narnia-like" wardrobe in our bedroom!

The lovely Moira and John Ledingham

Maggie Ledingham and children at Fintry Farm in September 1939. My nana Molly is far left and her brother Donald is second from the right.

Breaking the "home habit"

People in all sorts of fields will talk about the 21 day rule - 21 days to break a habit, or 21 days to form a new habit.  We've been on the road for a week now, and our "living a normal life in a normal home" habit is slowly but surely starting to break.  Jean mentions that yesterday was the first day that she started to feel or realise that we're not on a short-term holiday break.  We'll report again in another 2 weeks as to whether we've fully broken our "habit"!

The start of our new life - lived out of the back of our Land Rover - has been remarkably smooth, interesting and mostly fun.  We're learning the tricks of "wild camping", which doesn't necessarily mean out in the wild, and could be equally in an urban carpark, as was the case in our first night of Wild Camping in Langholm, in the Scottish Borders.  We befriended an ice-cream van man, who told us despite the fading "no overnight camping" sign in the carpark, that lots of people stayed there overnight.  It turned out to be a good spot, with an undercover pavilion where we cooked our first "wild dinner".

You wouldn't get on well in our particularly compact campervan-type setup if you weren't the organised and efficient type.  It requires German-level efficiency to live successfully (and happily), which thankfully is already part of our psyche.  Everything has it's place, which is fine - the catch is that to get to one place (storage compartment, crate etc), you have to move a number of things to get there, in a certain order - and back again, of course in the reverse order.  When the bed is down for sleeping, 2 compartments are completely inaccessible, and when the table is put down for cooking, a different 2 crates are out of reach.  We are getting quicker though at getting in and out of the different compartments, and planning ahead for what we need for the activities ahead.  Patience goes a long way to having a happy experience - thankfully we're not in any hurry.

We're currently in Aberdeen, having been in Scotland now for 5 days.  We've enjoyed our Scottish experience so far, and it's nice change from the busy-ness of England.  Straight away you notice and feel the effects of a significantly "lighter" population.  The roads are wider and smoother, the towns are more spacious and better laid out, and there is more than 5 miles between each village!  Coupled with the dramatic scenery that everyone talks about, it's been a very enjoyable drive so far, with much more yet to see.

Here's some of the highlights from our first few days:

First wild camping spot in Langholm carpark

First couch-surf in Cupar - they had built a climbing wall on their staircase walls for their kids to use, especially in winter.  Absolute genius use of otherwise wasted space.

Visiting the University at St Andrews

Wild camping - in the wilds near Falkirk!

The giant Kelpies of Falkirk

Visiting the battlefield of Bannockburn

THE Stirling bridge - site of William Wallace's famous victory over the English army

Abandoned farmhouse in the Angus area - with distinct pink stone of the area

Glamis castle - the best castle or palace we've visited so far!  Really loved walking in the footsteps and rooms that the Queen Mother lived in, and Queen Elizabeth II visited

In the walled garden of Glamis castle

Some cows we fell in love with on the drive through Scotland

Luxury dining wild-camping style!  Rib-eye steak with raspberry and cream-cheese sauce.  Raspberries freshly picked from the roadside.

Finished off with a wild-raspberry desert!