Scotland

Hamish (I swear, that was his name)

Monday 02 February

Okay, so it’s been a couple of weeks since I updated this…I’m writing this on the train from Montpellier (in the south of France) to Barcelona, Spain. I managed to survive France with my limited (read: “absolutely rubbish”) command of the French language, and in fact, I bought the ticket for this trip using only French. Trust me – that was a miracle!

From Newcastle I went to Edinburgh, Scotland – the Dunedin of the North. The name “Edinburgh” means Eiden’s (Edin) Town (burgh). Just as Dunedin means town/hill (Dun) of Eiden (edin). So, there you go. Edinburgh’s an awesome city. I really liked it. All the streets are named after streets in Dunedin (or is it the other way around?), so it’s bizarre walking down Princes Street, Hanover Street, etc.

As I arrived at my hostel they were just about to go on a free walking tour, and who am I to turn down anything free. It was actually a really good way to get to know the layout of the city.

On my second day in Edinburgh I went on a day long bus tour up through the Scottish highlands and Glencoe (where some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed – but you’ve already seen the pics of Doune Castle). We went up to Urquhart castle (a ruin) which is on the shores of Loch Ness. Try as I might, I didn’t see the Loch Ness monster. Maybe next time…

Urquhart Castle with Loch Ness in background

Third day in Edinburgh was spent at the Edinburgh Castle (to be honest, it’s way cooler than Larnach’s Castle), at Holyrood Palace, which is the Queen’s official residence when she’s in Scotland. Some of the furniture had belonged to Charles II, so it was pretty old. The best part was the Great Gallery where the Queen holds official receptions. It’s a massive corridor, about 58 feet long – it would take you a couple of minutes to cartwheel down that. Very tempting…

From Edinburgh I went up to Inverness, with a quick stop off at Stirling and Doune. Inverness was FREEZING – snow on the ground. I know you’re having 30 + degree heat…well, I had snow. I took some video footage on my camera which I’ll try to upload…we’ll see how that goes!

One of the days in Inverness I went over to the Isle of Skye, which is on the west coast of Scotland. The busses weren’t running according to the timetable I had, so I couldn’t get to the main town, Portree, so I just had a wander around Kyleakin.

Castle Moir on the Isle of Skye

Then to Glasgow. Again, another very cool city. As I was wandering the streets, having a look, I could hear some music. In Dunedin we’re all very familiar with the sound of the bagpipes. I could hear a bagpipe being played, but as I’d heard no bagpipe being played before. It was playing a very funky tune with all sorts of slides and bends, almost jazz bagpipes. As I got closer, I could also hear some kind of drum beat playing along. I finally found the source of the sound – two guys busking, one on a set of bagpipes he had modified to play jazz and the other sitting on a cabinet, playing it like a drum. I went up and started talking to them, asking if they had a CD that I could buy, or download any of their music. The drummer said that they didn’t have a CD of them, but he had just released a CD. I said I host a world music radio show and that I’d be keen to play their music on it. The drummer gave me his business card, wrote a note on the back of it and told me to take it to a particular CD shop and they’d give me a free copy of his CD!!!

They also told me of a gig that was happening that night as part of this Celtic music festival that was happening. The show was fantastic. To open there was a group from Sweden called Baskery – three sisters. One played guitar, one played double bass and the other played banjo, harmonica, and drums (just with her feet) all at the same time. Google them.

The other band, the main drawcard, was a Glaswegian band called Shooglinifty. The leader of the band, who played violin, looked a little like a skinny Billy Connolly. They did a solo set then were joined by a traditional music group from Kabul. I had to leave just before this, because that’s when the last bus left, but apparently that was an awesome set.

From Glasgow I went back to London, then on to France. Updates on that later.

Oh…umm…there was another music shop in Glasgow that sold cheap sheet music…