Salisbury and Stonehenge

The stones in the dawn light

Recently we paid a visit to Salisbury, the main reason being to see Stonehenge (of course).  I had booked this tour back in July, and we weren't visiting until December.  The reason for the long delay  was that the tour we wanted to go on was actually this special access tour. This means we went before the henge was actually open to visitors.  But even better was that we weren't restricted to standing behind the barrier (about 30m from the stones), but instead could get right up inside the stones.  As you can imagine these sorts of tickets are pretty popular, and we were restricted to weekend trips, hence the incredibly long wait.

Just a few of the barrows around Stonehenge, the landscape is full of earthworks

They are really quite big

In fact the wait was so long that I actually booked a hotel in Salisbury for the weekend, forgot I had done so, booked another hotel, and then got random text messages from the original hotel which I ignored thinking they had been sent to me by mistake.  Have to try and not do that again!  But the place we ended up booking was really good, so I can't really complain.  It had some of the best food I have eaten whilst I have been in the UK, which is kind of surprising from a hotel in Salisbury.  But the scallops, I'm drooling just thinking about them, and the pork belly with fig, oh man!

But we weren't here to eat, we were here to walk in the footsteps of the neolithic man.  So rather early on the Sunday morning we were off through the gloom and the slight drizzle to the stones.  They are set in a slightly bizarre location, really close to a rather busy road, though to be fair, the road is probably busier than usual because of the stones.  Apparently they are planning on shifting the road and building a big visitor centre and things.  Which perhaps makes sense.  You would think Stonehenge is one of the most visited sites in the UK, and yet the visitor centre is a demountable, and the car park is tiny.

Obligatory cheesy photo

The slaughter-stone and the heel stone in the distance

So anyway this tour we took, the guide is involved in a lot of the archaeological digs around the area so he really had a lot of information for us.  As we were there we could see there were some other people who had also thought the out-of-hours tickets sounded good.  But the thing with out-of-hours is that not even the visitor centre is open, so you can't get an audio guide or anything, and there aren't any interpretive signs up.  So really it's just a bunch of rocks, if you aren't there with someone who knows their stuff.  We saw a couple of them go up to the security guards and ask them questions, and some only stayed for 15 minutes.

There was also a group of drummers whilst we were there, that was slightly weird, but I imagine they aren't all that uncommon.  So they stood around in a circle and sang for a while, then started taking photos of themselves with the stones.  But our guide, Pat Shelley, was amazing.  Seriously if you are ever going to visit the stones this is the guy to do it with.  Not only does he know so much about the stones themselves, he also knows how it all fits into the wider landscape.  Though don't go with him if you want to get all druid-y and start chanting.  It seems that a lot of people in this area don't really hold with that sort of behaviour.

From inside the circle - looks bigger from this angle

The big knobbly bit used to be in the ground

Surrounding you are hundreds of other neolithic sites, there are a few in the car park in fact, which are marked with just what looks like a manhole.  They were from around 8000BC and used to hold massive wooden posts.  They are actually the oldest monuments in the area, but they don't get so much as a sign.  But all around the henge are burial mounds, heaps of them, all over the place, once you know what to look for.  There are also random ditches and banks, but these are really hard to see since they are thousands of years old.

We also walked along the avenue, from the river to the henge there is a bank-ditch then a wide path followed by another ditch then bank.  And it appears to be the route of gentlest slope up to the stones from the river.  But what is more incredible is that for most of the time the stones are hidden behind a small rise, but then when you are quite close you come round a corner and suddenly the stones just appear.  It's really quite cool to walk up that way to the stones, it really feels like that is how people thousands of years ago would also have approached, but for them it would have been this real procession (not that anyone really knows).

Stone-Age dowel

It was funny, but as we approached the stones from the outside both Dave and I commented on how it looked a lot smaller than we thought it would, but then once we got inside the stones, it suddenly felt much bigger again.  And the stones are massive, there is no hiding that.  It was incredible to see the amount of work that must have gone into the creation.  The stones are all really quite smooth, and you can see from some of the ones which have fallen over that they came from much larger pieces and the amount that they chipped away.  And these people were stone age people, so just bashing stone against stone until you got what you wanted.  It was cool to see how old the concept of a dowel is, or whatever they call it when it is in stone, but they all locked together, as you can see evidence of in the photo to the left.  The bit sticking up would have stuck into a hole in the stone sitting on top of it.

There's also the slaughter stone, which unfortunately had nothing to do with human sacrifice, apparently there's no evidence of any sacrifices going on, which I was a bit disappointed about.  It's called the slaughter stone because of the iron oxide, which makes water pooling in it look like blood.  Which you can kind of see in the photo above.  The thought is that the slaughter stone used to be a bit of a gateway into the sacred site.  Which lines up with the Newgrange passage tomb we saw in Ireland, that definitely had a stone gate that you had to step over to get inside.

Approaching the stones from the Avenue, they suddenly appear from behind the crest of the hill

Woodhenge near Durrington Wells

Near the slaughter stone is the heel stone, this is standing off by itself, almost in the road.  From inside the circle the sun rises over this stone on the summer solstice, but it's also aligned to the winter solstice sunset, and some people think that Stonehenge was actually more important at the winter solstice, than the summer one.  Though tell that to the 10's of thousands of people who descend on the stones on the summer solstice.  The idea is that Stonehenge was the area of death, whilst around Durrington Wells was the living.  And they were connected by the river and then the avenue up to the stones.  Which is why people think there are a lot of burial mounds around the place, and cremated remains, but no evidence of life.  Whereas around Durrington Wells, which is only like 5 miles away, there is heaps of evidence of life.  The idea in vogue at the moment is that on the winter solstice you would make the journey from Durrington Wells up the avenue, to see the sun set, the death of that year, marking the rebirth of the next one, that sort of thing.

What can I say, the tour was really great, and I got such a feel for the area and how much stuff was around.  It was also pretty amazing to see what an effect humans can have on the landscape.  If you knew where to look you could still see the evidence of the earthworks from thousands of years ago, still there.  Which makes you wonder what effect all our industrialisation is having on the earth now, and how that's going to look in 6000 years time.

Master and Margarita

We were off to another play the other day, another one at the Barbican, which is where we saw Cate Blanchett in her really weird German play.  I gotta visit the Barbican more, seeing as how my work is just one block away.  For one they have this art installation there at the moment, which is a room with rain constantly falling (sounds like London really).  What is so cool though is that they have all these motion sensors and so while you walk around you are constantly surrounded by rain, but it never falls on you.  Sounds like my kind of rain.  They are also meant to have a pretty good library, full of travel guides, which means I don't have to buy one next city I visit, I only have to borrow one.  Now that's a good use of a public library.

But anyway this night we were there to see the Master and Margarita, it was an adaptation of the book by Bulgakov.  If you have read the book you might see that it is kind of a hard story to convert to the theatre, there is so much going on, and there's a lot of devilish action, a lot of flashbacks.  It was done by Complicite, which had actually already done a sell-out run of the same show earlier in the year.   When I saw they were doing another showing, I was straight on to the ticketing.  Which meant we ended up with seats 4 rows from the stages.  This actually turned against us, when halfway through it became a bit more like a really scary comedy show where it was almost like you were going to be forced on stage and sell your soul, either that or take off all your clothes and give them to one of the actors.

I was also interested to see how they treated the fact that in the book the Margarita of the title spends about a third of it completely naked.  I was sure they wouldn't really have her completely naked, surely they would have her in a skin suit, or underpants.  But no, completely nude, and I'm talking completely.  And there was quite a lot of action in the second half, so she was running around, jumping on chairs, flying through the air, all in just high heels.  It's very odd watching someone completely naked, whilst everyone else is fully clothed, and sitting in a theatre surrounded by a bunch of high brow types.  They did have some unnecessary naked old man action in the first half to balance out the female nudity in the second half.

Another thing I noticed about this theatre troupe is that they weren't uniformly pretty, in fact very few of them were even what you would call attractive, just everyday people, or really a little strange looking, everyday people.  Which I thought was kind of weird in the acting world, in that it seems that you have to be good looking to get ahead.  So points for that as well.

I think if you do get a chance to see one of Complicite's productions give it a go.  It really sticks with you.  I really liked the book too though, so perhaps that helped.  I don't think you needed to have read it to enjoy the show though, this wasn't a Harry Potter movie.  I would put it up there with Cate Blanchett's Big and Small play.  I think the acting was better with Cate Blanchett (no surprise there), but the ambition of this play was much greater.  And the things they did with video and sound was another notch up.

It's odd to compare the shows I have seen at the Barbican with those I've seen at the National Theatre.  So far at the Barbican we have seen a Japanese rendition of a Shakespeare play, Cate Blanchett, and now this.  Whereas at the National Theatre we have mainly seen Irish plays set in periods where the Irish were going through a bit of a rough time.  I'm not sure who decides the plays they show at the NT, but perhaps they should get out to the Barbican more?

Glasgow - the city

Sir Walter Scott in George Square

After spending an amazing day in the highlands of Scotland (I am starting to understand why Queen Victoria loved the place so much) we had a day in the city of Glasgow.  I had been worried that there would be gangs of drunken youths rampaging through the streets, and whilst we did see some young folk the worse for drink at about 5pm, it was really good.  No knife crime that we saw anyway.  I think Edinburgh has done a good job of down talking poor Glasgow if this is the view tourists take of it.  And whilst I'm sure there are bad parts (like any city) as a tourist I'm not going to see those parts.

We spent the night eating at the Ubiquitous Chip, and if you have a chance to visit Glasgow I would highly recommend eating there.  It's in this little laneway out of the city, in the middle of what feels like suburbia, but then all along this little lane are all these pubs with people all over the place.  Then you walk inside and there is a bar, a brasserie and the restaurant.  If you want a fancy night definitely go the restaurant.  It's set over two levels around this courtyard garden, so there are vines hanging down from the balconies.  Very nice.  And the food was great, I had my first haggis there (you got to) and it was soo good.  It was all good, with a flight of rioja it was a really good night, to cap of the great day in the highlands.

The Duke of Wellington

There aren't a lot of museums in the city centre of Glasgow, there are some art galleries a little out of the city, which we didn't visit, not having mastered the public bus network.  But perhaps that's something to keep in mind when we return, because we will definitely be back, having decided to do the West Highland Way at some point this year.

It's a 150km walk from Glasgow to Fort William along Loch Lomond, but what's great (if you are soft like me) is that there are all these companies that will transport your bags along the way.  So each day you just carry your camera, some water and a bit of food, and you stay in guest houses, and can sleep in a bed each night.  Sure it's no wilds of Australia, but then we can experience the wilds of Scotland and sleep in our pyjamas every night.  And have a beer at the end of every day.  So I am definitely looking forward to that.  And long story short it will mean another trip to Glasgow sometime in the next summer.

A real tardis in Glasgow

One highlight of the day was a trip to the contemporary art museum. What made that such a highlight was not necessarily the art, but the tour we took whilst we were there.  It was given by a young art student who volunteers at the museum.  She was studying in one of the universities and in the museum they had a lot of works by ex-students who had gone on to win the Turner Prize.  Apparently almost 30% of Turner Prize nominees come from the Glasgow School of Art, which is not bad for what I thought was a nothing town.  Though the Glasgow University was founded in 1451 and was the fourth in the English speaking world, so it's not as if there hasn't been learning here for an awfully long time.

She ended up taking us round to what were really her favourite pieces, and knowing not much about art, particularly modern art, it was great to have someone put it all in context for us.  It really made the visit.  If you get a chance it's another thing high on the list of must-sees for Glasgow.  And of course out the front there is the Duke of Wellington with his traffic cone hat.

Glasgow Cathedral from the Necropolis

Dave with the monument to John Knox

Before Glasgow ended up with the reputation of a mysteriously high mortality rate it used to be quite rich.  The industrial revolution was kind to some people in the town.  It was a massive centre for ship building, which is where I think the bad reputation started to appear.  It grew so fast over this period that the infrastructure didn't really have time to catch up, so you ended up with all these poor people jammed into tenements.  Then with the end of the World Wars there was a period of fast de-industrialisation and so all these people then had no jobs and were jammed into slums.

But whilst the good times were on, they were certainly some good times, the population was larger than Edinburgh and there were a lot of very rich merchants.  So to commemorate their wealth they started to build massive monuments to themselves when they died, and these were all placed in the Necropolis which is this big hill near the Glasgow Cathedral.  This cathedral is famous because it's the only one in the Scottish mainland to have survived the Reformation undamaged.  Technically not a cathedral anymore since there's no bishop here.  But still a fine looking building.  Too bad it was a Sunday and so in heavy use.

Just some of the tombs in the Necropolis

Glasgow - better than expected

Dave on the shores of Loch Lomond with the fog lifting

 I was slightly apprehensive visiting Glasgow, only because it doesn't compare favourably to Edinburgh.  I was reading an article the other week about how Glasgow has an unexplained higher mortality rate than other cities of the same socio-economic makeup and position.  It's almost as if there are dangerous mists rising up out of the River Clyde or something.  The epidemiologists have no idea what else it could be.  To my mind Edinburgh always seemed the much more high-brow town, it had the castle, the comedy festival, the Royal Mile, Arthur's Seat, whereas Glasgow just seemed to have high mortality and deep-fried mars bars.

Loch Lomond in the still morning

Houses on the shore of the Loch with the autumn colours on the mountain

Our original plan on visiting Glasgow was to hire a car and head up to the Trossachs National Park, just north of Glasgow, and try and fit in a hike or two.  But we hadn't factored into our plans the weird bureaucracy of the British.  We had been in London for just over a year when we were planning the trip, and it turns out once you have been here for more than a year, you have to switch your drivers license over to a British one.  It probably wouldn't have mattered, but if you are in a hire care, and something goes wrong, I'm imagining if there's anything not completely legit with your drivers license then you are kind of screwed.  I guess at least we didn't have to sit another test.

Looking towards the village of Luss with the heather beyond

So I took a lot of photos of Loch Lomond

When you get your license switched over you have to give up your Australian license and they destroy it or send it back of something.  What I found most strange about the whole process though is just how hard it was.  You have to provide identification to get your license, and about the only thing they accept is your passport.

The amazing colours of autumn

Brilliant tree in the castle grounds

So you have two options post your passport off to the motor department along with your application form, or pay 9 pounds more and go into one of the only two offices in the UK that can verify your passport in person.  Luckily one of those two offices happened to be in London.  Though by paying the extra money and going in, that only saves you having to give up your passport, they still post off the forms to Swansea and then you have to wait 3 weeks to get your license.  There are so many things wrong with that system I don't even know where to start. Can you even imagine posting your PASSPORT off to the Australian motor vehicle department?  And then 3 WEEKS to be issued a license.

What is even better is that along with the (incredibly ugly) license you also have to carry around this piece of paper.  On the paper the cops will write down any traffic infringements and the such that you might accrue, because apparently it is completely inconceivable that those infringements might be stored on some central database.  I'm not sure what happens when that scrap of paper is eventually worn to shreds from living in your wallet, can you apply for a new piece, or is a whole new license required?

At the "Rest and Be Thankful" Pass

A boat in Loch Lomond

So needless to say there was going to be no driving in Glasgow.  So that put paid to the idea of getting some hiking in.  Instead we decided to just have a look around and joined a Rabbie's tour, it was of the highlands, lochs, glens and castles.  It was pretty good, just 12 people in a small van (which if I'm going to do a tour is the size that I like).  Our first stop was the small village of Luss on the western shores of Loch Lomond.  It was about this point in the tour that I started thinking we have to come back here and explore further.  Loch Lomond is the largest Loch in Scotland, and gets it's name from Ben Lomond.  There are a lot of islands in the Loch, which adds to its charm, apparently on one of the islands there is a colony of wallabies, which seems slightly odd.  Not sure how they survive the Scottish winters.

Inveraray Castle

The ruin of Kilchurn Castle

After admiring the beauty of the Loch (not lake in these parts) it was further north up to the "Rest and Be Thankful" pass in the mountains.  The name was given by English soldiers forced to build a road into the highlands in 1753.  You can see the road in the photo above, it is lying parallel to the main highway and you can sure see the incline all the way up.  This was back when there weren't any bulldozers or the like.  They knew though that once they got to the pass it would be a bit easier for awhile.

Very strange church

Rabbits with very big teeth

There was then a bit of a stop in the village of Inveraray, which was built in the 18th century because the Duke of Argyll wanted to build a castle on the spot where the old village of Inveraray used to stand.  The Duke of Argyll is also the head of the Campbell Clan, and he still spends some time in the castle with his family.  It was another of those Arundel Castle jobs, but much newer, and less imposing.  I think I actually saw the Duke in the gardens whilst we were wandering around.

Since this was a tour of the highlands, lochs and castles we had a few more castles to visit that afternoon.  We had a brief look at Kilchurn Castle, which was built on an almost island in Loch Awe (great name).  It was an almost island because there is actually a narrow strip of land out to the castle, but when it was build the loch was higher than what it was now, so at that time it was technically on an island.  Though if you knew where to walk you could still walk out there, you would just get wet legs.  It was built in 1450 by another Campbell, and was then destroyed by lightning in 1760 and completely abandoned.  It does certainly make for an atmospheric addition to the loch.

The mountains around Glencoe

Waterfall near Glasgow

We then had one of the stranger interludes of the day, visiting a church.  It was built by one of the rich folk around these parts who didn't want his elderly mother to travel so far to church.  Since he was financing the project I guess he decided that he would design it as well, and he couldn't really decide on which style he likes best.  So there are pointless buttresses, square towers, stone and brick all jumbled together.  It does have a great view though, standing on the shores of one of the lochs.  I especially liked the gargoyles, the scariest rabbits I've ever seen.

One of the final stops was Glencoe, famous for a massacre by the Campbells against the MacDonalds, but also stunningly beautiful.  It was about this point in the day that I knew I had to come back here.  For those who have watched Skyfall, the scene where they go up to Bond's house in Scotland was filmed around here.  We actually stopped at the same spot Bond does on his trip.

Skyfall scene

So all in all a surprising day in the highlands, and I felt very sorry for poor old Glasgow.  The tour guide had done a good job of rehabilitating Glasgow in everyone's eyes, so I was looking forward to spending the next day exploring a bit of the town.

It's not the highlands without a cow