Haste Ye Back

On Monday, we walked to the West End of Glasgow. Glasgow lends itself to easy navigation and it gets even easier as you go west where the streets are not blocked at the ends. The distances are also very short, it took a lot less time to get around than I anticipated.

We started off in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which is a bit of a jumbled display of some really great objects and artworks. There is a mix of Scottish art, wildlife, inventors, glassware, design and there is also an Egyptian display. The designs of Charles Rennie Macintosh are really interesting and there is a lot of his work in the city. He not only designed buildings but also tea rooms, furniture, glass panels, paintings and decorative art. The interiors of the Glasgow house that Macintosh designed and lived in from 1906 to 1914 are reassembled inside the Huntarian Art Gallery, but we didn’t make it there.

The most interesting display in Kelvingrove was the glassworks, the very finely detailed etched glassware from the 1800's is extraordinary. Other items of glass had intricate swirls of colour.

Glasgow used to be referred to as the ‘workshop of the empire.’ After the American War of Independence, the Tobacco Lords shifted investment into Caribbean sugar and into cotton. This gave rise to the textile trade in Glasgow. These astute Glasgow merchants also exported goods to the colonies so the ships did not go over empty.

In the early 19th century the mining of ore and coal in close proximity to Glasgow resulted in shipbuilding and engineering. The availability of a cheap labour pool of immigrants from the Highlands, Ireland and Europe led to the viability of these heavy industries. In the 1880's, the Clyde led the world in shipbuilding.

There was also social strife as workers toiled in appalling conditions and were poorly paid. The first trade union in Scotland, The Glasgow Weavers’ Society was formed in 1767. In 1787 the Calton Weavers went on strike for 12 weeks for having wages cut to starvation levels. During a demonstration, known as the Calton Weavers Massacre, six men were killed during a riot after militia fired on the demonstrators.

In the 19th Century tenement houses were built, these were blocks of one to two room flats that could be up to four stories high, housing 16 families. As the population of Glasgow grew from 250,000 in 1841 to over one million in 1912, the tenements became severely overcrowded. There is a tenement house to visit in Glasgow, but we never had time to see it.

From the 1870's, competition from America, Germany and Japan put the Glasgow manufacturing industry into decline. Manufacturing had a brief period of renewal because of the two World Wars, but it was the end of the workshop of the empire. It was really too bad to look at some of the beautiful work in glass and textiles in Kelvingrove Museum and then read that these old businesses closed.

After Kelvingrove Museum we walked over to the Botanic Garden, there are large areas of green space in Glasgow. The Botanic Garden also has conservatories full of plants. The West End is home to another shopping area with numerous bars, clubs and restaurants. We went for lunch in the one of the bars in Oran Mor. Oran Mor is a converted church which has two bars and two restaurants. We walked in the door and just went to the first bar we happened in to, lunch was really good, haggis balls and chicken caesar and whisky of the month. The more we eat Scottish food the more addicted we become - we now love black pudding and haggis, believe it.

Then we visited a couple of cheese mongers to buy some Scottish cheese to take home. These shops are wicked, filled with piles of cheese and they give you samples cut off the blocks before you decide what to buy. We can bring a small amount of cheese into Canada, you just have to make the declaration on your customs form.

We walked all day, then went out for dinner and had prawns, scallops and a cheese board that was really great, then it was off to pack as we had to catch the 6:00 a.m. train to Edinburgh on Tuesday. Our flights got all goofed up as BMI stopped flights from London Heathrow to Glasgow, Air Canada booked our return with Continental to New Jersey and we would have none of that. Before we left home on this trip, I changed our flight to leave from Edinburgh so we could fly Edinburgh - London - Toronto - Regina.

It was great walking to the train station in the early hours as there were not many people about. There was a bit of a mist and the light was soft but weighty, you know, how it looks or feels when you are in a blanket of fog. Anyway, as we walked down Buchanan Street from the top of a hill, I couldn’t take my eyes off the line of old buildings receding down the hill, as the soft light gave great effect to the buildings. John, a man on a mission that morning, eager to board the train so we didn’t miss our flight out of Edinburgh was storming ahead and missed the scene.

You have to figure out which train to take as some are commuter type trains that stop everywhere and some are like the train we took and only had a couple of stops prior to Edinburgh. The train was really fast so we got to central Edinburgh in good time and then just caught the bus right outside the train station for the trip to the airport.

Our flights were really good with risky short connection times, but we were lucky with our flights arriving on time. It was a 21-hour day or so and we were up for close to 24 hours before getting home and to bed.

Haste ye back is often written on signs in Scotland after you leave an area, it is in the airport as well. Thanks to those who commented, and to all readers for sharing our travels with us. Haste ye back, next year.

University of Glasgow, Gilbert Scott Building

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Charles Rennie Macintosh Furniture

Charles Rennie Macintosh Decorative Art - Candle Sticks and Clock

Beautiful Engraved Glass

There are hundreds of individual fern leaves etched in this glass

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) WWI Memorial

Building across from Kelvingrove, the red stone is grand

Plants in the Conservatory in Botanical Garden

From Bishop’s Burgh to Merchant Town

Glasgow has a really interesting history which is told in her architecture and in her streets. In the mid 17th century, there was nothing really special about Glasgow other than being an important Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical centre. An enormous transformation was about to take place which would change the city.

The reformation of 1560 shifted the power base of Glasgow from religious to secular and from Bishops to the merchant elite. In the early to mid 18th century the Tobacco Lords of Glasgow symbolized the success of Glasgow and the power was theirs.

We started the day with an audio-walk hosted by Neil Oliver. The walk took us from what was the old medieval town to the new town and the villas of the merchant class. In the old town, the merchants funded the building of the Tolbooth which sits on High Street. When it was built, the Tolbooth would have towered over the rest of Glasgow’s buildings which would have stood at only three stories. The Tolbooth was being restored and was completely surrounded by scaffolding, so no pic.

In the early 18th century, legally, the Scots could not trade with a British colony as that was solely controlled by the English. But the enterprising Scots started to become active in more dodgy activities which included smuggling. Glasgow was much closer to the colonies in North American than the port cities further south and the Glasgow merchants exploited that to great effect. They could complete two full crossings to and from North America to one crossing for the English merchants.

The wealth of the merchant class absolutely exploded to obscene levels when they gained control of the tobacco trade. It was a ruthless and expensive business which bankrupted many, but those who navigated the trade did extremely well. Almost half of the entire Clyde tobacco trade was controlled by three Glasgow merchants: Cunninghame, Speirs and Glassford. It is estimated that in comparison with today, the Tobacco Lords would have been earning hundreds of millions of pounds. They were the wealthiest non-aristocratic and non land-owning class.

The Tobacco Lords built villas that were very different from the usual terraced housing of Europe. They built gated streets of stand alone houses away from the medieval town. Normally, one would build west of the town to get away from the prevailing winds which carried the stench of the town; however, these 2nd rank merchant houses were built east of the city, but that was about to change.

The merchant class started to move west and in the late 1700's they built a first new town which had wider streets and the streets were built on a grid. Glasgow is famous for having a grid system of streets. Also, the houses were arcaded rather than terraced. They had shops at ground level and flats above. The streets were also a mixed development which included banks, warehouses and shops as well as homes.

The streets are also blocked at the ends and the cross streets are also blocked at their ends. This makes it really interesting to walk around Merchant City where streets end with buildings, jog and continue.

In 1780, Cunninghame built the grandest house in the city. He spent 10,000 pounds on the house which was a fortune at the time. The house was built by itself and was set to frame the new thoroughfare of Ingram Street. The home was sold to people in the textile trade and then was bought by the Royal Bank of Scotland, then the merchants gave it a huge make over in 1820 and it became the Royal Exchange, it is now the Gallery of Modern Art.

The audio-walk took us through the core of old Glasgow, then west to the first new town, on to the Cunninghame mansion and then to the kirkyard where the merchants are buried. Interestingly, the grave markers of the merchant elite are very restrained, as there were strict requirements that the memorials were not to be ostentatious. The markers are very basic, giving the name, date of death and read 'Merchant of Glasgow,' and that is it.

Merchant's House: five window, decorative urns, door scalloped out in stone

Virginia Mansions

Tobacco Lord's House

The Cunninghame Mansion

Kirkyard where the merchant elite are buried

Our audio-walk took us close to Glasgow Green, a very old green space in Glasgow which has many statues and a very ornate fountain. Also in Glasgow Green is the People’s Palace and Winter Garden. The People’s Palace is a social history museum of Glasgow and the Winter Garden is a wonderful conservatory with tropical plants and a café. We had lunch in the café, it was really sunny so it made it very warm in there. It was a great lunch spot.

The shape of the conservatory is said to be based on the upturned hull of Lord Nelson’s ship Victory. Nelson commanded the British fleet during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where the British attacked the French and Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on the Spanish coast.

During navel battles in those days, the ships manoeuvred alongside the enemy and fired from broadside batteries of guns at a range of only a few yards. The firing at close range was devastating for the crews as cannon balls tore through the ship killing crew or sending wood splinters flying. Masts and rigging falling on deck, fire breaking out and munition explosions were also common. Smaller weapons were used to shoot officers and crew on the deck. The ultimate aim was to lock ships together and board the enemy ship and fight hand to hand.

Nelson was hit by a musket shot, knocking him to the deck and breaking his back. He was carried below deck and died after learning of the victory of the British fleet. The preserved HMS Victory lies in Portsmouth harbour.

People's Palace and Winter Garden

Our view from the cafe in the Winter Garden

Doulton Fountain

Templeton’s carpet factory

The Drying Green, used to dry clothes, a wash-house was built on the Green

Monument to Lord Nelson

St. Andrews in the Square was part of our audio-walk, it was also the venue for a concert this afternoon by the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. The concert was absolutely fantastic, the acoustics in the building were simply amazing and the audience sits very close to the musicians. The last piece was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 and it basically blew us away. The Glasgow audiences are terrific, they are so appreciative of great music, the applause never stops and they stamp their feet on the floor as well. The people sitting beside me go to all the concerts and the operas, I told them they were spoiled. They also gave us a bar recommendation which we will try to check out tomorrow if we have time. Tonight we had dinner in the Butterfly and Pig, it is a bar with a restaurant.

Time is almost out on our super vacation here and we are not wanting to leave at all. We really need a few more weeks or months or years. Tomorrow we are off to the West End, it is our last day before we fly out on Tuesday, arrrrrrgh.

St. Andrews in the Square, built by the Tobacco Lords

Glasgow War Memorial in foreground

George Square

Off to Glasgow

After riding on ferries and on the bus on Thursday for a long time, we needed a decent walk on Friday. We set off for a couple of walks in the Argyll forests and met no people, there was just us and the birds.

After our walk we drove to the Ardchattan Priory as I wanted to see late medieval carved stone slabs. One slab in particular is a lot older than the rest of the slabs having been carved in the 10th century.

As it was our last night in Argyll, it was dinner out, we selected a tiny restaurant off the tourist beat and it was really great. A table of loud-talking Germans were perfect for providing background noise in such a small place. The food was excellent, we both had mussels in a cream sauce with rosemary and our usual desert of a cheese board.

Today we took the car for a wash and a vacuum in Oban as it was pretty bad and we didn’t want to return it looking like we drove it through a bog. Then it was off to Glasgow to the airport to return the rental car. En route, we stopped in Inveraray for tea at the Argyll Hotel then walked around town a bit.

We don’t normally do this, but we took the dealio with the rental car where you buy a tank of gas upfront and then bring it back empty. The car rental woman tried to get us to pay in Canadian dollars but I said no way as that is always a rip off. As it turns out we did the right thing as fuel has gone up and the Canadian dollar has gained against the pound over the last four weeks.

Anyway, 20 miles out of Glasgow the car was screaming at us to re-fuel, we thought we better stop and buy a gallon before getting stranded on the M8 or on the big bridge or something if we ran out of fuel. So we did stop near Loch Lomond and buy a gallon of fuel. The car still screamed at us to re-fuel but we knew we had enough to make the airport. Fuel is expensive, about $2.20 Canadian dollars per litre.

When we got to the rental car return, the guy came out and looked at the fuel gauge and asked if we were Scottish since we ran the car right down to the dregs of the fuel tank. He thought that was brilliant and was right impressed that we washed and vacuumed the car.

Everything worked out great at the airport, we just had to cross the street to the airport bus and we were then on our way to central Glasgow. There are three main areas for travel in Glasgow: Central, Merchant City and the West End. You have to figure this all out ahead of time and decide where you want to stay, we chose to stay in Central Glasgow.

Our hotel is a new concept, Citizen M, where the rooms are tiny, a huge bed basically takes up the whole room and then there is a sort of bathroom pod. But the room is high tech with a remote that controls everything from lights to temps to the flat screen tv and the price is really good.

After dumping our luggage we headed out into Central Glasgow, Glasgow is a shopping mecca and the streets were jammed packed with people, John and I were in humanity shock after the isolation of rural Scotland. Glasgow is so different from Edinburgh, it is a mix of modern and old buildings and has a zillion bars and night clubs.

We dropped into the Mussel Inn and had a kilo pot of mussels each, they didn’t have a cheese board so we passed on desert. Then we went to a bar called The Pot Still and had a whisky, I noticed a sign for an Isle of Arran cheese board so we ordered the one to be shared by two people. This gynormous cheese board arrived, it was crazy really, it was loaded with every kind of Arran cheese and oat cakes. We ate maybe a 1/4 of it and then wrapped up the rest in our napkin to take away.

Then we came back to our hotel to change out of our hiking pants and headed off for a super night out to a concert by the Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra. They were formed in 1888 and tonight was their 123rd annual concert in Glasgow. The concert lasted for three hours and was a fantastic mix of airs, marches, reels and other traditional Scottish tunes. Also, there were guest performers which consisted of a family of six young girls playing tunes and a guy that played guitar and banjo who sang Scottish tunes.

The orchestra was mainly dressed in kilts for the men and tartan skirts for the women. The conductor has been conducting the orchestra for 30 years, he was hilarious and very informative. John and I got an applause for being from Canada and attending the concert. This came about when the conductor asked who was from overseas and he didn’t mean the other side of the Clyde hahahaha. Some New Zealanders yelled out, we didn’t, but the conductor said there are usually people here from Canada, anybody, so we waved from the back row, literally the back row and there were also some people from Australia.

After the concert we walked over to Babbity Bowster, another one of the million bars and had a whisky, there were about three guys in there playing fiddles. Babbity Bowster is named after an old Scottish country dance.

Glasgow is a really happening city, there are lots of trendy bars and nightclubs which we avoid and tonnes of bars to our liking. The streets are loaded at night with nightclubbing types and blokes yelling and singing after having a few too many.

Tomorrow we plan on visiting the east side where the rich merchants of the industrial age built their houses and I want to visit The People’s Palace and Winter Gardens.

Our neighbours in Argyll

We encountered this guy on our way to the walk in the forests of Argyll

Slab carved in 10th Century

Carved in 15th to 16th Centuries

Ardchattan Priory

Inveraray

Inveraray War Memorial

Street Performers in Glasgow

Glasgow packed with humans

Caledonian Fiddle Orchestra

Three Isle Journey

The three isles for today’s outing were Mull, Staffa and Iona. We were up with the chickens to get the early ferry to Mull. Speaking of chickens, there are a lot of small backyard flocks. But they are not really back yard chickens, they range widely, we saw a rooster and a few hens on Mull foraging on the beach.

After getting off the ferry on Mull we took a bus to the far west end of Mull, a long ride on a single track road. Then we boarded a boat to go to Staffa, aka, Fingal’s Cave. Mendelssohn was inspired to compose the Hebrides Overture by the sound of the waves crashing inside Fingal’s Cave. Staffa is an amazing little island of basalt columns.

The wind was light today for a change so the plan was to dock the boat by a jetty at Staffa and we could then walk along the basalt edge to the large cave. The boat manoeuvred between some rocks and John and I thought they were crackers for doing this. But then they had to back out because the boat was rolling too much in the large waves. There was no way they could get in there and get people off onto the jetty. This was a real drag as we were really keen on getting into the cave. Instead, we had to settle for a trip around Staffa and backing up toward the cave for pictures.

We saw a few puffins in the water, but it is too early for the puffins. When the puffins come in, they coast in the water in large groups called rafts, then they move onto the small Treshnish Islands to nest. They only lay one egg and raise one chick. You can go on a boat to the Treshnish Islands and hang out among the puffins which would be a terrific thing to do as they are tame and quite comic.

After we left Staffa the boat headed for Iona. Iona is place of pilgrimage among Christians and they come in droves to the old abbey founded by St. Columba. Columba was exiled from Ireland, legend has told us that he landed in Kintyre first but since Ireland is visible from Kintyre, he moved on.

He landed on Iona in 563 AD and brought Christianity to the Scots. Supposedly the Book of Kells was created by the monks on Iona. When Iona was invaded by the Norse, the Book of Kells was moved to Ireland for safekeeping where it has remained ever since.

Since John and I have zero interest in the abbey and all that, we set off for the south end of Iona after getting off the boat at the jetty. It was a fantastic walk over to the west side of the island to a fine beach where we could see the ‘Spouting Caves’ which spew up sea spray. We continued to the south end of the island after walking through the golf course which was more of a sheep pasture today.

Iona really is an idyllic place, the beaches are beautiful and it is very quiet. There were only a few other people at the south end. After basking in the sun on the rocks and having our lunch we walked back to the tiny village.

As there are 48 Scottish kings buried in the graveyard we walked over to it and through the ruins of the nunnery on the way back. By this time there were a lot of people flocking to the abbey, I cannot imagine the place at the height of tourist season. Supposedly they get 140,000 visitors on this tiny island annually.

We had to get the 3:00 ferry from Iona back to Mull to catch the last bus back to the next ferry terminal to get the next ferry back to Oban. It was a great day out despite not getting to visit Fingal’s Cave.

Staffa

Yeah! A Puffin.

Great Rocking Waves

Fingal's Cave

The Dutchman's Cap

Iona

View from our lunch spot

South Iona

Iona War Memorial

Garden Critter

Iona near the jetty