Day 14 Fort Wiliam to Glasgow, Farewell

The last day of our tour we headed south from Fort William through the stunning scenery of Glencoe glen. A number of movies, including the 3rd Harry Potter, have used this area as a set. The tragic massacre of the MacDonalds of 1692 continues to give this area of natural beauty a tragic air. Richard played a recording of "Glencoe Massacre" sung by Alasdair Macdonald which made us all quietly contemplate. Much of the land in the glen is now owned and protected by the National Trust of Scotland. We stopped at the view point of "The Three Sisters" mountains. Margaret's finally agreed to pose for my camera.

Our last bit of nature before heading back to Glasgow was a stop on the shores of Loch Lomand where sang “The Bonnie Banks o Loch Lomond” It was penned by a prisoner of the Jacobite campaigns before he was executed. He believed that his spirit, upon execution, would travel back the spirit world via the “low road” to the place of his birth, Loch Lomond, while his prison mate, who was to be set free, would have to walk back home to Loch Lomond. So this gives new light to these words: “You’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye. But me and my true love will never meet again on the Bonny bonny Banks of Loch Lomond.”

Upon returning full circle to Glasgow we visited the Burrell Collection, housed in a museum in Pollok Park. Sir William Burrell amassed great wealth in the shipping business and spent his money on collecting artwork from all over the world. There are many tapestries in the collection. Helen Hughs, the textile conservator, allowed us a veiw of the conservation room where the work of studying and preserving the embroideries and tapestries take place. She feels "textiles are at the heart of Glasgow's history. The raw materials, like Turkey red dye, and cotton, came here because of the shipping industry. The Textile Department at the Glasgow School of Art continues to train designers who go into the interior fabrics trade."

Dina Ward, guided us through the tapestries on display. The collection includes large and small tapestries from Flanders, Brussels, and France. I really enjoyed Dina's insights on "The Dishonest Miller" tapestry, made between 1300 to early 1500's. I have seen this tapestry many time, but when she told us about the reputation of millers, pointed out the dress of the two couples depicting different social status, the story began to reveal itself to me. Entry to the museum is free and walking around the park which has a large herd of Highland cattle, flowers, and trees, is a green peaceful retreat in the middle of the city.

I want to thank Richard, our coach driver/guide from Rabbies Trail Burners http://www.rabbies.com/ once again for driving us 1692 miles around the country. He was still smiling at the end. He is always off scoping out good scenes as soon as he drops us off and cleans up the coach. He sells photographs of scenic Scotland on his website. http://www.scotlandthroughthelens.com/

How do I summarize 2 weeks on the road in search of threads, ruins, and tunes? We had no major illness or mishaps, and so much sunshine that some pale skinned northerners got sunsburned. It was wonderful to share the best of the sites, places, and people I had met on 5 previous trips to Scotland with the 15 travelers on this tour. Some were seasoned travelers, having been to Scotland numerous times. For others this was their first venture out of the U.S. You may enjoy reading newbie traveler, Bob's take on the trip at his blog site http://ramblinrobert.wordpress.com/

Travel is a wonderful teacher. We leave our framework of our normal, everyday lives, and are thrust into a culture, which may not seem so different from our own. But as we talk, eat, ride on ferries, visit museums, breath in deeply, we learn in subtle and sometimes not so sublte ways, that every culture has unique things they offer to the world.

Scotland has always offered her friendly people and welcoming nature to me and I believe my travelers felt this too. We fly back home and leap back into our lives, but we are not the same. Our being has been touched and changed. I always come home so thankful for the affordable food, fuel and energy we are privileged to have in North America . And I’m reminded to give back the hospitality to visitors in our communities and homes that we received in Scotland. Thank you for blogging along on this journey. If your interest has been peaked, I invite you to come along in person next year. I'm taking reservations now!

Day 13 Leverburgh to Fort William

I always think a fine way to leave a place that has had a profound affect on you is to walk. So as I walked from Rodel Hotel to the Leverburgh ferry dock, the photos opening this day's blog bid me farewell to the Isle of Harris for another year. The hub bub over Sunday ferries to and from the Outer Hebridean isles has dissipated now two years after this service started.

And we were blessed with smooth water on our Sunday morning crossing from Lewis to North Uist to Skye. You really have to hustle on the drive between ferries from Berneray on North Uist, to Lochmaddy. Our driver showed off his expert driving skills and we made it 3 minutes before the ferry started loading.

Skye welcomed us with typical style and rained but still the green rolling hills and lush vegetation greeted us to this peaceful island. As we left the outer Hebridian’s behind, we all sang "Waulking Song from the Misty Isle of Skye" and "Skye Boat Song." With the only oil refinery in northern Scotland on strike, signs like this were common at fuel stations. The price you see in the pump is the cost per liter.

Eilean Donan Castle at Dornie was our destination. The castle sits on a small little island, making a picturesque view from every angle. Pat stands at the entrance gate. Castles have stood on this site for 800 years. The site was a monestary until the 8th century. Vikings ruled here for 450 years. Alexander the 3rd evicted the Vikings and the MacRaes owned this castle from the 1300’s until today. In 1719 the building was destroyed as the castle was a stronghold of support for the Jacobites. The castle stood in ruins for 200 years. In 1912 they started rebuilding the castle and completed the present building in 1932. The renovation was based on the 16th century version of the castle. http://www.eileandonancastle.com/

As we continued into the heart of the highlands, the clouds dissipated, the sun came out and the veiws beckoned us to stop. Here is a shrine of cairns, right along the roadway, no double added to by each traveler who stops. We also saw Ben Nevis. At 4480 feet, it is the tallest mountain in Scotland. Typically, only 52 days of the year is Ben Nevis visable.

We lodged in Fort William and enjoyed a fine meal at The Lime Tree restaurant. This B&B has an unusal feature in that as a former church, one part has been converted to a private gallery space that has exhibitions of highland artists and also shows work from the National Art Collections. http://www.limetreefortwilliam.co.uk/

Day 12 Isle of Harris

At an unlikey gallery, the upstairs of the An Clachan grocery store in Leverburgh on the southern tip of Harris, is displayed a wonderful labour of love. Gillian Scott-Forrest instigated the Millenium Project. A series of hangings was designed, one for each part of the island. The tweed fabric and the wool yarn used for the pictorial embroidery was hand dyed using plant dyes. Of the 1600 people living on Harris, 90 were involved in the project. The images on each hanging depict both history and current events from each area of the island. Each of the 8 panels are 5 fett by 2 1/2 feet. Until the project, called the Harris Tapestry, finds a permanent home, you can get your gas, buy your groceries, have breakfast, and learn of the rich history of the people and the island all in one stop. http://www.harristapestry.co.uk/

From Harris we drove up to Tarbert and over the bridge to the island of Scalpay to visit Sheila Roderick and John Finlay Feguson at croft #37. Scalpay island has 40 crofts in all. Sheila and John have been farming here for 30 years. The farm goes back in their family to 1890. To make a living, the industrious couple have 100 lobster creels, 40 Hebredian black sheep, a flock of ducks, guineas, chickens and raise turkeys for the Christmas market. The photos show a Hebredian lamb and ram and also the end result of the spun fleece. On of the travelers, Doreen, purchased some of the fleece and was clever enough to have brought along a drop spindle. She started spinning that this very afternoon!

The couple still harvest their own peat and grow potatoes in lazy beds. On their Hattersly loom, they weave linen cloth and linsey-woolsey. Some of their fabric ends up in costumes for movies and the theater in London and NY. Success does not come without long hours and hard work but you can hear the love of this rural life in Sheila’s voice. http://www.scalpaylinen.com/

We all enjoyed sitting around refurbished sewing machine tables to eat lunch at First Fruits Tea Room in Tarbert. Most of us didn't have room, but if you visit, be sure to leave room for their home baked desserts.

Just down the road in Tarbert we visited Terry, a current Harris Tweed weaver. Today, weavers have to complete a weaving course to prove their skill and competancy before going to work for the industry. There are 150-200 weavers on the island that supply the industry weaving on Bonas Griffeth double wide looms that are driven with a pedals like a bicycle. Due to some politics with the newish owners of the mill in Stornoway, there has not been any warps given out to tweed weavers for several months now. And then there is the issue of how to keep tweed fabric in the eyes of the fashion industry. Read more about the history of the industry at http://www.harristweed.org/

Winding our way back to Leverburgh via the Golden Road, we happened upon Katie Campbell's studio and shop in Plochropol, Harris Tweed and Knitwear. Katie has been weaving tweed for over 40 years. She and her sister grew up at the foot of their father who was also a tweed weaver. "Grannie had 11 girls who all spun. My mom died young. There were 4 of us girls and Dad bought a Hattersly Loom. We went to sleep to the click clack of the loom. It was lovely. It was safe." Katie and her daughter keep two Hattersly looms humming along turning out colorful contemporary and traditionl tweed cloth. Besides yardage for sale, they have their fabric sewn into caps, backpacks, handbags, jackets, teddy bears, etc. http://www.harristweedandknitwear.co.uk/family.html

We capped off our 2 days on the islands with a celebration at Rodel Hotel. http://www.rodelhotel.co.uk/ Donnie and Dena MacDonald have converted a former school into a hotel and restaurant where fresh and simply prepared local fare is served. The seafood, some hand dived for just down the road, was the best we have eaten on the trip, as Jan's face concurs.

Bill Lawson, local history, genealogy expert and author of many books, joined us and told us about the history of the tweed industry and the island. http://www.billlawson.com/Then is wife Chris, and the rest of the "Luadh" group did a wualking for us. They thumped, rubbed and passed a length of tweed around a table while singing waulking songs in Gaelic. Waulking was the process used to full and finish the cloth once it came off the loom. All was very orderly and efficient until they asked for volunteers from our group. After that not much waulking but a lot of laughter was acheived!

Day 11 Ullapool, Lewis, Harris

The ferry took us to the Outer Hebridean islands of Lewis & Harris today. But before leaving Ullapool, some of the group checked out Strandlines and The Unlimitied Colour Company, two shops that carry handknits, and other textiles from the UK and around the world.

We journey the 2:45 minutes by ferry because this is the land of Harris tweed. Some of the group productively knit away with yarn they purchased on the trip. Others used the time and comfortable reclining ferry chairs to catch up on sleep!

The definition of Harris tweed: made from the wool of Scottish sheep, spun in the Outer Hebrides, woven by hand, and finished in the Outer Hebrides. When the potato famine hit Scotland 1845-47, Lady Dunmore took the tweed the islanders were weaving, traveled the world, marked up the price 20x and came back and gave the weaver all the profit. Harris tweed became famous worldwide and the demand kept growing. Originally the tweed was naturally dyed. Crotal, a lichen, gave light to dark rusty color. Spinning mills came in 1907 and all the yarn was then aniline dyed.
In 1926, the Hattersley Loom greated increased the productivity of the weavers. The looms had hands free flying shuttle mechanisms and were powered by stepping alternately on two pedals.

This is the loom you see Donald Macarthur, weaver at Gearranen Blackhouse Village weaving on as we stepped into the past to All the handweavers in our group marveled at the wonderful hands free, shuttle mechanism sends up to 6 different shuttles flying across the warp. The warp Donald was working on was 33" wide set 18 EPI with 18 PPI. In one and a half days, 100 yards could be woven on a Hattersly loom. http://www.gearrannan.com/

Most of the 9 houses at Gearannen were built in the 1850’s. In 1989 a trust was formed to restore the houses and the village opened in 2000. When the blackhouses were built, they were long structures with an open plan. Animals lived and one end and people lived at the other. The roof was thatched. Blackhouses were very similar to the much earlier Viking long houses. Most had open fires in the middle of the living area. Medical officers required that dividing walls and windows be put into the houses by the turn of the century. Some also put in chimney’s. 50% of the rurual population on the island still lived in blackhouses up to 1939. Mary, our guide, taught us some Gaelic words and offered us these thoughts. “The people who lived in these houses were penniless. But they had a lot of thing we need here now…community spirit and tolerance. We are losing the richness of simplicity.”

Dun Carloway Broch rises up on hill in the midst of current modern day farms. Perhaps ¼ of the original broch still stands. But the impressive stonework remaining gives a good idea of what life in this multi-storied landowner’s home from the Iron age was like. http://www.stonepages.com/scotland/duncarloway.html

The sky clouded over by the time we reached the Callenish Standing Stones, but I think that light makes them all the more impressive. A small visitors center tells the history of the area and surmises about the why and how of the circle. The cross formation of stones intersecting this circle sets it apart from stone circles we saw on Orkney. Many other smaller standing stones line the west coast of Lewis. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lewis/calanais/index.html

Harris lies south of Lewis. The islands are actually connected by the road, but as you reach Harris, the hills rise up and the landscape becomes much more rocky. Harris also has brilliant sandy beaches. We stayed in the vicinity of Leverburgh tonight and the next to get a better feeling for this island where farm animals far outnumber the people

Day 10 St. Margaret's Hope to Ullapool

Nature provided our venue of the day. We departed St. Margaret’s Hope on South Ronaldsay Orkney on the 8:00 a.m. ferry and pulled into Ullapool just before dinner. This drive across the North and Northwest of Scotland was no ordinary journey. This is the least populated, most remote and rugged and least visited area on the mainland…my favorite landscape in all of Scotland. Once past Thurso, it is mile after mile of rocks, beach, hills, water, heather, birds and grazing sheep. The road often goes to one lane. At Dunnet Head, the North Sea meets the Atlantic Sea. We were blessed with sunshine that added to the richness of the color of the sea and stone. Uarda, dressed in her handwoven suit, chose the right outfit for this breezy day.

Just outside of Durness, we stopped at Balnakeil Craft Village. www.durness.org/Balnakeil Once a military base, it was taken over by hippies when the military left and now is inhabited by small shops and craft studios. I told the group that the reward for all this sitting and riding today was dessert at Cocoa Mountain, the gourmet Aardvark shop at Balnakeil. They specialize in truffles with unique flavours like strawberry pepper, and hot chocolate. You can't miss this heavenly stop if you like chocolate. http://www.cocoamountain.co.uk/

Finally some rain by the time we passed Ardvreck Castle ruins. I keep telling the travelers that the these views are even better in the rain! We stopped at Highland Stoneware Pottery shop in Lochinever. The driveway and garden of the shop proved very entertaining with large stones, an automobile, a gigantic concrete sofa, all covered with broken pottery. http://www.highlandstoneware.com/ Before heading on, make sure to drive into town and get a homemade pie from the Lochinever Larder. Their savory or sweet pies are in such demand, they post them around the country. http://www.piesbypost.co.uk/
Once we reached Ullapool we settled into our B&B's. You see the view here from my room. No one ever wants to leave this idyllic spot. A hearty thank you to Charlotte at Dromnan Guest House http://dromnan.com/
who always goes out of her way with hospitality, this time offering to run a load of wash for us. A fine reprieve from handwashing those socks one more time.

Just down the road from our B&B’s at Ullapool, we enjoyed a delicious meal at the Royal Hotel restaurant. Here you can see the entire group relaxing. You may have noticed that I talked a lot of about food today. I think travelers are happiest when not only their eyes are delighted by scenery, their minds are expanded by history, but when their stomachs are satisfied. However, after 10 days of travel, we have eaten every kind of potato and have started pleading with the servers, "please don't bring so many!"

Day 9 Mainland, Orkney

The big island, or as Orcadians call “mainland” is home to numerous stone circles and structures dating back as far as 5000 years. Nowdays, the 17 or the 65 islands that are populated are home to 20,000 people, 100,000 beef cattle, 68,000 sheep and one fishing fleet, on Westray.

Maeshowe, a grass covered burial mound in the middle of a farmer’s field, is that old. You stoop low to walk through the 10 meter entrance tunnel before standing up inside a tall rounded chamber. As in all the sites, some of what the archeologists have found is known fact, other is speculation. Was it in fact a burial mound for the first peoples who build it, or a place of healing and rituals connected to the astrological cycle? In fact, each December the mound is equipped with 3 webcams where you can watch the light in the mound as winter solstice approaches. http://www.maeshowe.co.uk/ Vikings raided the mound in the 12th century and left many runic inscriptions. No great mysteries were revealed however once these inscriptions were translated as they say things such as “Ingibjorg is a beautiful woman.” The lion carving illuminated by our guide, some say is the most stunning carving in the mound.

From Maeshowe you look across a loch and see both the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar in the distance. Modern technology has shown that the stone monuments above ground are just the tip of the iceberg of all the ancient stone sites under the earth in this heart of the island. There is currently a new archeological dig exploring a newly found site not far from the Standing Stones.

Michael, our local guide while Richard had a day off, told us tales and speculations about these sites. Stenness means “stone point” and indeed the tall stones still standing are pointed on top, but just 3100 years old. Also known as the Temple of Moon, couples came to perform a marriage ritual which would bind them together for one year and one day. After that period, they would have to come back to the stones to renew that ritual or to break the contract. Thus was their system of “marriage in installments.” www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/

The Ring of Brodgar once had 60 stones standing. Brodgar means “farm by the bridge.” This 2500 year old ring is said to grant the gift of fertilitiy to anyone who runs around it counter clockwise 3x without stopping. Considering the large circumference, this running ritual also meant you were in shape! As we walked the ring, many of us touching each stone, the wind blew us along, urging us to consider what ancient wisdom moved the people to build such impressive sites. What did they know, that we have long forgotten? www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/

Skara Brae was uncovered when a storm hit William Watt’s farm in 1850 and eroded the beach front. The settlement wasn’t excavated however until 1928. This fine example of a stone age community was quite advanced as they even had a sewage sytem and a stone trough area they filled with water and hot rocks to steam the sea life they ate. www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/

Stromness is the 2nd largest town on mainland Orkney with a population of 2000+. Tait and Style studio sits above the harbour. For 16 years Ingrid Tait has run this company that creates knitted and felted scarves, throws, pillows, and accessories for the high fashion market in London and New York. She discovered a needle punching machine in Yorkshire that was used to make industrial materials. Sensing it could be retooled to work with wool fabric, she acquired the machine and has been punching or felting her marks with fleece or yarn onto commercially woven wool.

As the fashion industry constantly changes, Ingrid is flexible, open to taking commissions from both home furnishing and clothing fashion design houses to create new lines for each season. She is a sought after lecturer and also ofters workshops at the studio. Tait and Style's retail shop is now at The Longship Complex on Broad Street in Kirkwall. Ingrid also runs the jewelry company founded by her mother, Ole Gorie. http://www.taitandstyle.co.uk/ Here is a fabulous hand knit sweater that had Piper's name on it.

The Pier Arts Centre sits unassuming on Victoria Street just off the water front in Stromness. Inside, the centre houses a fine collection of contemporary art. I was delighted to find a number of pieces by British sculptor, Barbara Hepworth. http://www.pierartscentre.com/

Corrigall Farm Museum in Harray is a wonderful example of rural agricultural life on the island. Implements, tools and household furnishings from the 18th-20th century fill the buildings. Inside the buildings are all kinds of fascinating things like a simmon, rope that was made from twising grass, a spoon kaise, for holding cutlery and some North Ronaldsay sheep, the breed that eats seaweed! http://www.orkney.org/museums/

Each Wednesday night, the Orkney Accordian and Fiddle Club practices at the Ayre Hotel in Kirkwall. They welcome listeners and players alike. The night I joined in, they were practicing for their performance at the Orkney Folk Festival. The accordians outnumbered the fiddles, but thankfully some of the fiddlers read music and had notation I played from. The stamina of the players is mighty. After 3 hours I was ready to go to bed, and they kept playing!

The 26th Orkney Folk Festival, is May 22-25 with most concert venues in Stromness. http://www.orkneyfolkfestival.com/

Day 8 South Ronaldsay and Main Island, Orkney

On the short drive from St. Margaret's Hope to Hoxa, Scapa Flow and the distant Martello Tower commands one's attention. 3 such towers were built in Scotland towards the end of the Napoleanic wars. http://www.scapaflow.org/genbtm.htm

It’s easy to see why the blues in Leila Thomson’s tapestries are so stunning. Out the window of her Hoxa studio and gallery the water flashes a brilliant blue in this day of yes, sunshine After graduating from art school in Edinburgh in 1980, Leila came back home and has been designing and weaving ever since. 12 years ago she opened her gallery and now visitors from around the world view her stunning work.

Leila weaves private commissions, working from her own charcoal sketches and full size cartoons. Working full scale from the initial sketch, she feels her woven work comes out more like a drawing. She interprets and chooses all the colors as she weaves blending a variety of fibers. This really gives the tapestries an energy and vitality often lacking in other pictorial textiles. Words and pile texture are also trademarks in her designs. Leila always weaves to music ranging from Metallic to the London Philharmonic, she likes the volume loud. As Leila readily admits “I work in a state of splendid isolation.” After the tourist season ends in September that is. http://www.hoxatapestrygallery.co.uk/

Orkney abounds in artists. One can pick up maps of the Orkney Craft Trail and visit many studios open from after Easter until the early autumn. When I asked one of the Orcadian artists we visited today why the islands are such magnets for creativity, she suggested that it was the influx of artists who came up here from England that got the movement started in the 60’s.

Driving from South Ronaldsay, you cross several of the Churchill Barriers. The British fleet was stationed here in WWII and the barriers were build using labor of POWs to protect the fleet from the Germans U boats. Before the large concrete barriers, salvage ships were lined up end to end and sunk to create the barriers. One German U-boat managed to penetrate those original barriers and sunk a the HMS Royal Oak, with the cost of over 800 lives. Today the area around the seven remaining WWI German sunken ships is one of the top dive sites in the world.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/index.html

The Italian Chapel stands on the Island of Lamb Holm just over the fourth barrier. Italian prisoners of war who built the barriers and worked in agriculture, were given a Nissen hut to turn into a chapel. Domenico Chichetti designed the chapel and the prisoners worked to decorate and furnish it over a period of 3 years with materials they could scrounge. When the prisoners were released at the end of the war, Chichetti stayed onto finish the work on the chapel. The detailed painting and metal work is a testament to what can be created from nearly nothing when you have dedication and vision. http://www.scotsitalian.com/orkney_chapel.htm

Kirkwall, the largest town in the islands is our home base for exploring the main island. All this fresh air and glorious vistas makes one hungry. We satisfied our hunger at The Reel Cafe. The cafe, music center, and music shop is run by Hazel and Jennifer Wrigley. After being on the road playing concerts since their teens, the sisters now stay close to home and foster the music tradition on the island by teaching lessons and providing a site for weekly sessions for area and visiting musicians alike. At the start of each day on the coach, I play a recording appropriate to the area we are visiting. Today it was Jennifer and Hazel's compositions, The North and the South Ron Reels. http://www.wrigleysisters.com/

You can't be in Orkney without spying old or new Orkney chairs. Locals made these chairs for hundreds of years with materials they had at hand. The chairs combine wood (originally driftwood) for the frame and oat straw coiled and stitched with sisal for the chair backs. We saw the chairs being made first hand at Fraser Anderson's workshop, Orkney Hand-Crafted Furniture, in Kirkwall. Just 23 years old, he is already a master at making Orkney chairs and employees his cousin who fashions the chair backs and several aprrentices who prepare the oatstraw and help in the wood shop. It takes up to 3 weeks to complete each chair. Fraser is honoring the tradition while designing new shapes and styles of chairs, rockers and stools. http://www.orkneyhandcraftedfurniture.co.uk/

Sheila Fleet, is the sister of Leila Thompson, the tapestry weaver we visited this morning. There is no shortage of artistic talent and vision in that family. In 15 years Sheila’s business has grown to 42 employees. Sheila is the chief designer, creating 3 new collections each year. She has done a total of 150 collections so far. She and her son took us on a tour of the workshop while explaining the lost wax method used to produce her jewelry. I found two of the steps extremely interesting. The skill of the master pattern maker who takes each design and hand cuts the metal master has to be exacting. The enamelists also have a painstakingly detailed job, applying the enamel mixture (ground up glass and distilled water) to the jewelry, then curing each piece, one at a time in a tiny kiln on their worktable.

Sheila enthusiasticly answered all our questions and shared her philosophy. “ A measure of success is how you feel about what you are doing. I’m still enjoying myself. You have to look at keeping the balance. Find something you really like doing and you’ll never work again.” If you can't come to Orkney to meet Sheila, she now also has own gallery/store in Edinburgh. Many of the group left Sheila's wearing a peice of jewelry to remind them of the pristine landscape that inspires Sheila's fabulous desigsn. http://www.sheila-fleet.co.uk/

A local friend, Mina Flett, is a wonderful advertisement for the jewelry. Her husband, Arnie has purchased many a gift from the shop. 11 years ago I met the Fletts as I walked off the ferry with a large pack on my back. Arnie drove me around to visit artist studios in exchange for me helping him warp a loom he was given. A retired pipe major, Arnie still teaches piping to dedicated students, and he and Mina entertained us with tunes and poems after dinner tonight. Sitting just a few feet from Arnie as he played tunes he has composed on his chanter, I discovered that he has the unique ability to circular breath as he is playing, a rare gift for a piper.Arnie shared copies of his notated music with one of our group who plays small pipes. Blue skies, incredible art, generous artists, history at our feet, good food and conversation and sharing of music, was this not the perfect day?

Day 7 From Insch to St Margaret's Hope

Each day the sun shines the majority of the time , I or the group comes up with a song about sun to sing. I have already used up "You Are My Sunshine", the Sesame Street theme, "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Good Day Sunshine", "Here Comes the Sun", "Zippety Do Dah". What sun songs can you think of? I know there was a plethora of songs penned between the late 1800's and early 1900's by the Tin Pan Alley composers. I think the next one I'll learn is Irving Berlin's "Some Sunny Day".

This, our biggest travel days so far, took us through 5 regions of Scotland. Aberdeenshire, Invernesshire, Rosshire, Southerland and Orkney. We started in Insch in the shadow of Bennachie, the tallest hill in Aberdeenshire, drove through the Speyside region to Dingwall. On the way, thanks to the urgent need for a bathroom break, we stopped at the new Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre. This famous battles lasted just 45 minutes and was the end of the Jacobite uprising. The visitor center overlooks a flat field where on April 16, 1746, the Duke of Cumberland sent Bonnie Prince Charlie fleeing. Not only were the Jacobite forces massacred that day, after the battle, Cumberland, know as "The Butcher" ordered all Jacobite supporters in the Highlands hunted down and slaughtered. http://www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/Home/

For a poetic take on this site, see "Culloden Moor" by Alice Macdonnell found on http://www.rampantscotland.com/literature.htm#Poetry and listen to the McKassons "Culloden" on their recording "Tripping Maggie" http://www.themckassons.com/recordings.htm

Just several miles down the road from Culloden, lies Clava Cairns. This Bronze age burial site sits among pastures and fields. In the UK, the Bronze Age was the period from 2700 to 700 BC. The site is comprised of three stone mounds and some standing stones, trees, and a few interpretive signs. As the group strolled through the site, which isn't much larger than a football field, I think the atmosphere seeped into our beings and most talking ceased. How can we ponder something so old when we live in a time when a car is old after 3 years, a dress is out of fashion after one year, and buildings that are 80 years old are torn down to make way for modern structures? http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/majorsites/clava_cairns.html

As we headed to lunch, we drove along the Moray Firth. You are more likley to see dolphins in these waters, more than any other place in Europe. We lunched at The Storehouse at Foulis Ferry on Cromarty Firth. The storehouse is a "girnal" meaning "grain store." Girnals are unusual in the Highlands. They were built as close as possible to water transport in the 18th and 19th centuries, before there were railways in the area.

A tour of the Glenmorangie Distillery in Tain lead us through the entire process of distilling single malt whiskey from the fermentation of the grain, to the storehouse where the magic happens in the aging process. Glenmorangie single malt has a very slight peaty taste and it quite light in colour. That comes from the water and the malting process of roasting the barley with peat. Glenmorangie owns the land surrounding the spring where the water comes from . The distillery uses up to 290 tones of barley a week to make 22 mashings. The mash goes through 3 soakings. The distilling of the sugars into alcohol is a two step process. They age the whisky a minimum of 10 years in both American oak barrels that previously held bourbon, and also in French sherry barrels. Nothing like a dram of whisky to settle the stomach after lunch! We tasted their Quinta Ruban. http://www.glenmorangie.com/

From there the A9 winds north along the North Sea. Numerous oil rigs are visible off shore. Along the way, just a few miles off the main road along the River Brora is the studio of Joan Baxter, tapestry artist. Joan trained in Edinburgh and Poland and has been weaving tapestry commissions for over 30 years. Joan is inspired by the land and landscape. She and her husband live on a seven acre nature preserve. One can see the influence on the land in her traditional and mixed technique tapestries. Joan loves mixing colors, "Why use one colour when two will do?" She often works from a concept and loose sketches, preferring not to use a detailed cartoon, so the work can develop as she weaves. Joan also teaches tapestry to serious students. Joan's husband is a bladesmith and musician. So between caring for the land and creating things with their hands, there is rarely a wasted moment at Ford House. http://www.joanbaxter.com/

Our final destination on the mainland was the Pentland Ferry at Gills Bay. http://www.pentlandferries.co.uk/ Just a short hop from John O Groats, this is the shortest ferry crossing to Orkney at this time of year. Prepared with motion sickness drugs, patches, shock watches, and pressure point bracelets, the travelers boarded the ferry for the 1 hour 15 minute crossing which proved not so rough. Some of the group found the best way to sail to St. Margaret’s Hope is with the wind in your face on the open deck.

St. Margaret’s Hope is on the island of South Ronaldsay. A quiet, sleepy little town, it is a great place to spend the first night on Orkney. Many visitors to Scotland don’t travel to Orkney, and even many mainlanders have never been here. I discovered the barren, enchanting pull of these islands on my first trip to Scotland. Orkney and the Shetland Islands lie between mainland Scotland and Norway. The islands once belonged to Denmark, and the Nordic influence in the place names (St. Ola, Stenness, Brodgar) is especially strong. Orcadians pride themselves in their heritage and not being mainlanders. Of 65 islands in Orkney, 17 are inhabited with a total of 20,000 residents. However, more and more folks are discovering this magical place. This summer over 60 cruise ships will dock in Kirkwall. One more reason I like to tour off-peak.

Day 6 Oyne

We had another day of sunshine for our workshop at the rural setting of the studio at Touched By Scotland in Oyne. Not only does Robin and Jan have studio space for classes, but a wonderful newly enlarged gallery full of metal, jewelry, paper, fiber, painting, glass, ceramics,wood, and straw artwork all made from UK artists. In addition to the large gallery space, a restaurant on location will open this summer. http://www.thelandofmacbeth.com/tbs/

Elaine Lindsey is a local artist who has worked for the past 25 years reviving the Scottish forms of straw work. Today we soaked in the history and learned some technique of Scottish straw work from Elaine. http://www.somethingcorny.co.uk/ " I make a wide range of natural decorations and gifts, suitable for all occasions, including weddings, housewarings, and Christmas. I never know where it will lead me next, from making a traditional Skeklar costume for an exhibition in Los Angelese to producing straw accessories for Hugo Boss. I love reproducing traditional designs but I also enjoy designing more contemporary items too. I am a member of the Guild of Straw Craftsmen and the National Association of Wheat Weavers. " http://www.nawwstrawart.org/

A gifted teacher, Elaine is so enthusisastic and knowledgeable about many kinds of straw work from around the world. She is always learning new things herself and this shows in the vast of array of traditional and contemporary work she produces. Elaine uses wheat for most of her work, although traditionally, straw was used in Scotland for the traditional "corn dollie" work. Elaine's wheat, the "Maris Widgeon variety, is grown in the midlands in England.

Corn Dollie doesn't necessary mean a doll made out of straw. A corn dollie just means that it is straw work that still has the "ears" or heads of the grain incorporated in the piece. "Dollie" comes from the word "idol". There are many different stories about the significance of the last sheaf of corn (corn is the word used for grain in the UK) harvested from the field. In Scotland the last sheaf, the "cliach", hung in the farm kitchen. The seeds of this were the first planted the next year. It was good luck to have a dollie in the house.

You don't need fancy tools to work with straw, just your hands, scissors, straw and cotton string. In the photos, you can see how proud we were of our creations at the end of the workshop!

Nearly everywhere you travel in Scotland, stone ruins are found. Near our lodging in Insch, stands Dunnideer Fort. The remnants of the fortifications at the site date back to the Iron Age. A number of us took a pre-dinner hike to the top.

Sunday night G&T came back to treat us once again to a house concert of folks songs of Scotland. Trish Norman and Gaye Anthony travel around the UK and Europe performing at festivals. Their voices blend in sweet harmonies while trading off the lead. Trish’s high, clear, lilting soprano is grounded by Gaye’s rich, round alto voice. They accompany themselves with guitar. They sing songs about the sea, fishing, and even taught us the chorus to their famous haggis song! Their stories and banter interspersed between songs kept us all smiling and laughing and singing along. They learned a song new to them, just for us, "The Spinning Wheel" and I got to join in. Gaye and Trish have made 3 recordings. You can hear their joyous sounds at www.mypsace.com/gtgayeandtrish

Three members of the Grampian Weavers Guild were our guests for the evening. Jean Thain, Margaret Wallace, and Zahara Mcmillan brought things they had made and the travelers who were wearing things they had made, and there was a sharing of co-creativity.

Day 5 St. Andrews, Dundee, Aberdeenshire

To get from Edinburgh to St. Andrews, you cross the new Forth Bridge. The old Forth Railroad bridge, a cantilever bridge, is considered to be the 8th wonder of the world. Completed in 1890, it was the world's first major steel bridge and still carries many trains a day. http://www.forthbridges.org.uk/railbridgemain.htm

Most people think of golf or the university when they hear, St Andrews. The town is also home to Di Gilpin Knitwear. (In the photo Marjorie Ann is modling one of Di's sweaters.) Di presented a slide lecture for us of her journey as an artist knitter. She started knitting when she was 6. To make money while in university, she would knit things for people. After a stint as an English and history teacher, she moved to the Isle of Skye. For 5 years she knit, painted and took photographs, inspired by the beauty of the water and mountains out her window. She opened up Struan Knitwear and people started coming. Her goal has always been to get people to knit and over the last 26 years, she has been successful in bringing it back into vogue in Scotland.

Di's early work focused on Fair Isle patterns and intarsia color work. Now in addition to those, she works with lace weaves, deconstruction and a technique she developed called “knit-weave.” Di designs for companies, writes books, travels for inspiration and to teach. She is now starting to make many of her knitwear patterns available to purchase from her website. http://www.digilpin.com/

In 2000 she moved her studio and shop to St. Andrews. A large knit club gathers there regularly and she offers one, two , and three day workshops. Di knits and designs as she goes, taking technical notes. “I let pattern come through me and develop. I never have a pre-conceived idea." Once the piece is complete, she creates the pattern and the directions. “I think my work is innovative because I come at it from both the technical side and the creative side at the same time. Knitters like to think. I put knitters high on the intelligence stakes.”

The sun always seems to shine when I bring groups to this town. Here are Uarda, Kathy and Pat enjoying a cup of tea.

North of St. Andrews lies Dundee,known for 'jute, jam, and journalism.' It was once known as “Jutopolis.” Over 50,000 workers worked in the jute mills. Verdant Works Jute Mill, built in 1833 , was the 16th largest of 61 milles. The last of the jute mills closed in 1997. Verdant Works is now a museum depicting the days when jute was king in the city on the River Tay. http://www.verdantworks.com/

Jute fiber was brought by ship from India. Large bales were brought to the factories where it was processed, spun into yarn and woven into cloth. Boys only worked in the mills until they were 18, when they were made redundant. Women comprised the majority of the workers in the mills and had a lot of power. We had an excellent guide, Earl Scott, who lead us through the interpretive displays. Each time I come to the museum there is something new and this year it was an excellent film showing the task that each machine played in the processing of the raw material into cloth and rope.

I was delighted as I’ve had a special interest in the weavers of this town having sung Sheena Wellington’s “The Weavers o Dundee” and Mary Brooksbank’s “The Jute Mill.” You can listen to this song at http://www.singingweaver.com/ and clicking on the revolving musical symbol on the home page.

Now there are no jute mills left in Dundee. Some of them have been torn down, others turned into housing and others refitted for other industry. But no industry since has matched the success of the jute mills in the 19th and early 20th century. A number of songs tell the stories of working in a jute mill. My group, Straw into Gold has recorded 2 of them, Sheena Wellington’s “The Weavers o Dundee” and Mary Brooksbank’s “The Jute Mill.” You can listen to this second song at http://www.singingweaver.com/ by clicking on the revolving musical symbol on the home page.

If any of you traveled to the U.K. twenty or just ten years ago, you may laugh when I say the food in Scotland is excellent! But indeed Scotland has come a long way with their cuisine. Many places focus on using local ingredients to prepare healthy and tasty fare. This night we enjoyed a special feast, “A Taste of Grampian” at the Barn and Bushel in Thainstone. Each Saturday night, they feature locally raised foods such as angus beef, venison, lamb, fish, parsnips, potatoes...well actually you get potatoes in one form or another served in abundance at every restaurant! Since Barn and Bushel is located at a livestock market area, the beef, pork and lamb are especially fresh. www.goanm.co.uk/highlandcuisine

Day 4 Edinburgh

Finally weather I associate with Scotland, rain. But that didn't keep visitors away from Roslyn Chapel. If there are 3 large buses of tourists at the venue in April, that confirms why I don't travel to Scotland in the summer. The chapel was made "famous" in the Dan Brown book "The Davinchi Code." However, it is a private chapel of the Sinclairs. A temporary roof covers the chapel undergoing restoration. Photography is not allowed inside, so you'll have to visit yourself to see the exquisite carving. Many theories and legends abound as to what is buried beneath the chapel, including the Holy Grail.

The group was free to explore the Royal Mile in Edinburgh for the rest of the day. Had the weather been fine, I favored a walk to Arthur's Seat, but in the blustery weather, I holed up in the office of the coach company I contract with and caught up on email. The rain did stop by evening and after an excellent dinner at the Hotel Ceilidh-Donia, www.hotelceilidh-donia.co.uk, run by Annette and her family, a walk to a nearby estate yielded peacocks, blue sky and daffodils of course. Daffodils are planted by town councils and individuals in every ditch, boulevard, park, garden, you name it.

You can't stay home on a Friday night in Edinburgh. Three of us checked out the session at The Tass pub on the corner of High Street and Jeffrey and struck musical gold. Not only did we get seats right next to the musicians, but a fiddler offered me use of his fiddle to play a tune. I had left my instrument back at the B&B thinking the session may not be open to outsiders. But part way through the first tune, the E string broke and the owner of the fiddler promptly took his fiddle back! E strings usually break when you are tuning them, not playing them, so it was an unusual occurence. However, I did offer up a song later in the session. The session is run by guitarist George Duff, singer Christ Myles, and joined by Willie Haines on concertina and Duncan Wood on fiddle. They played a mix of Irish and Scottish tunes. Pubs close down by 12:30 a.m but a few have late licenses, like the Royal Oak. If you haven't had enough music, they play there until 2:00 a.m.

Day 3 The Borders and New Lanark

Each day of the tour, I shared a poem that was relevant to the place or area we were traveling. As we went to the Borders today, we passed the home of the poet known as The Ettrick Shepherd, James Hogg. His poem, "A Boy's Song" eloquently describes the rolling green hills of sheep and cattle pastures bisected by the rivers Tweed, Clyde and Yarrow. One stanza goes....Where the mowers mow the cleanest, where the hay lies thick and greenest, there to track the homeward bee, that's the way for Billy and me...

I couldn't help thinking of the song Karine Polwart sung last night, "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow" as we drove through the Borders today. This sad song is on her album "The Fairest Floo'r". We heard Karine in concert last night at Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline. A fine song writer and singer, I was most moved near the end of the concert when just her voice and a piano accompanying treated us to several traditional old songs. www.karinepolwart.com

Locharron of Scotland was the venue of the morning. One of the few weaving mills left in the Borders, this Selkirk based company weaves tartans and fashion fabrics for designers and companies around the world. Since last year they have moved into their new home at Riverside industrial area and feature a huge new showroom of their goods. A guided tour starts with the dying process of the wool.

The process continues with cone winding, winding the warp and then tying onto the looms. If the current order has the same number of warps per inch as the previous job, a machine can tie on the entire warp in one hour. If an order has an unusal set, a worker has to hand thread the heddles, about an 8 hour job, just like us labor intensive hand loom weavers have to do in our studios. The reel that had just come off the warping machine had 9 different warps on it, one tied to the other.

The Swiss power looms the company weaves on are quite new. But still much hands on work and checking is required to retain the high standard of quality the company demands of their cloth. The women in quality control handle and inspect every yard of fabric after it comes off the looms. If an error is found, they may have to hand needle in yarn to fix the problem for up to a 40 yard length. The finishing of the cloth is jobbed out to another company. Locharron has their own inhouse design team. The head designers spend half their time in New York and Japan. When I asked the guide how Lochcarron has survived when most other mills have closed, he answered simply “quality. When companies buy from us, they know what they are getting.” In the photo you see Brad Bonar, hefting a finished roll of fashion fabric.
www.lochcarron.com

New Lanark World Heritage Site is the site of a former mill where cotton was spun. Today, in one of the restored mill buildings, there is a small production of wool yarn being spun on a large spinning mule for the sake of education and for profit.

The community was built below three falls on the River Clyde in the late 1700’s by a Mr Dale. The mill ran on power generated by the falls. Today New Lanark still produces hydropower that runs the community, with enough left over to sell back to the power grid. The mill was purchased and run by Robert Owen from 1800-1825. He was a social reformer and forward thinker far ahead of his time. He ideas were not popular with other mill owners. But his efforts gave him the title Father of trade unionist movement in Scotland. He banned children from under age 10 from working in the mill. He started the first nursery school in the UK. Children from ages 2-9 went to school while their parents and siblings worked in the mill. Once children reached age 10, they worked in the mill and then attended classes at night. Mr Owen treated his own 7 children no differently than he treated the children of the mill workers.

The school was built by money generated from the company store which was run as a cooperative. New Lanark was the first cooperative that lead to the foundation of The Co-op, a grocery store still thriving around the country today. In school not only were reading, writing, and arithmetic taught, but the children studied dancing, music, and nature studies.
www.newlanrk.org/

The workers lived in buildings just across from the mill. A family of 10 may share one room, but they were warm, well fed, and had healthcare provided by the mill doctor. The work day started at 6 a.m with a breakfast break at 9 a.m. and lunch break in the middle of the afternoon. The work day ended at 7pm. The mill ran 6 days a week and was closed on Sunday. The mill operated until the middle of the 20th century until it could not operate profitably. The mill buildings sat empty and fell into disrepair from the elements and vandalism. A foundation saw the value in restoring the site and started the vast restoration of the mill in the 1970’s. The restoration still continues today. In the past year a new roof garden has been added on top of one of the mill buildings.

The site is a glorious example of public and private cooperation to preserve an important part of Scottish history and to educate generations to come. Today 150 people live on the site. Many visitors may only take the Millenium Ride. But I encourage you to view the movie, The Annie McLeod Story, in the school building, visit Robert Owen’s house, spend time looking through the exhibits in Mill buildings 1&2 and the housing block and take a hike up to the top falls.

This time of year, there is a 24 hour peregrine falcon watch along the trail where a falcon is nesting. Telescopes are set up so you can view the nest. This year we stayed at the mill hotel. It was soothing to fall asleep to the sound of the River Clyde rushing by. I was very struck by this place on my first visit 11 years ago and each visit deepens that impression. I think it is the most tasteful and educational tourist site in Scotland.

Day 2 Paisley Area

We started at the Paisley City Museum. This is a free museum and the oldest municipal museum in Scotland. It houses one of the best collections of Paisley shawls in the world. The collection curator, Valerie Reilly, gave us a detailed talk and slide presentation of the history of the Paisley shawl from the design's origins in Babylon where it was a fertility symbol, how it spread to the Kashmir region of India, and then finally to Europe. The East India company started importing them to Europe in 1780.

Originally the shawls coming from Kashmir were made of pashmina goat fiber that was collected bushes where the goats would rub it off. These shawls were woven on simple wooden looms and took months to weave. The limited source of the fiber and the time it took to weave these shawls in Kashmir made them very expensive. Josephine, Napolean's wife, had 200 shawls in her wardrobe. By the late 1700's the shawls were being produced in Edinburgh, Norwich, France, Russia and Paisley on draw looms. Paisley had highly skilled weavers who had previously woven linen.

The town of Paisley in the height of popularity of the Paisley shawls around 1840, had hundreds of weavers making these wonderful cloths, then on the Jacquard loom. An elaborate paisley design could take 484,000 pattern cards to produce it. But the weavers had to be accurate in their weaving, so that by the time they had woven an entire shawl pattern, they were within 1/4" of the required length.

The paisley pattern changed throughout the 100 years the shawls were in fashion. The designs became more elongated in the Victorian era. The size of the shawls also changed as women's fashion changed. In the 1850's, the shawls were woven 5' 6" x 11' so they could be folded and used like a coat to fit over crinoline skirts. When the bustle came into fashion 1865-1870, this was the death of the paisley shawl as the shawls didn't work with the protruding bustle shape. www.renfrewshire.gov.uk

Sma Shot Cottages are just down the road. The name Sma Shot comes from the binding weft thread that was thrown every 7th pick to hold the rest of weft threads in place in the paisley fabric. A society has resurrected and preserved one of the weavers cottages from the era when linen was woven Paisley, (1700's) and then other rooms depicting life in later years.

The men were the weavers, but there were many other jobs associated with making the shawls including designers, beamers, warpers, washers, steam pressers, stenters, fringers, and then the marketers. The weaver took an oath to eat his shuttle rather than give away trade secrets. Thus the shield for the weaver's trade has 3 tabby cats on it with shuttles in their mouths. Their motto was "Weave Truth with Trust" The first Saturday of July, is "Sma Shot Day", still celebrated. This commemorates the day in 1856 when the weavers won the case to be paid for the yarn used to weave the "sma shot."

After our tour and a fine lunch in the tea room, we treated the volunteers to our version of Danny Kyle's song, "The Music of the Loom." After just one day of practice the travelers heartily joined me on the chorus " pee nickle, po nickle a' roon the toon it's heard, pee nickle po nickle music o' the loom" www.smashot.co.uk

The Thread Mill museum tells the story of the huge thread industry in Paisley that shut the last door in 1992. The Coats and Clark company which was a combination of the Anchor Thread Mill and the Ferguslie thread mill at one time produced 90% of all the thread made in the world. The cases display mile reels of thread, posters, memorabilia from mill workers, and now all the photographs have been digitalized and are displayed on a large plasma screen. Most of the volunteers who run this museum worked in one of the mills.
www.paisleythread.org