Scotland 2022 - Conclusions

Having just got home after a slowish run back from Dunblane I thought I’d post the usual conclusions from the trip. 

First the good bits! The electrics behaved impeccably, I checked this morning and, having not driven since Thursday afternoon, the leisure battery was still about fully charged so the solar panel kept up with the coolbox despite some typically Scottish weather. The recent additional storage was beneficial, the overhead net carried my suit for a posh dinner and the IKEA hanging pockets were also well used - the one I’ve hung inside the rear passenger door means I can now open that door without loads of stuff falling out! 

Nog so good, I still haven’t managed to fully reseal the roof vents, although the leakage is a lot less they still weren’t proof to heavy rain. My site planning was awry in hindsight; I should have just spent the one night at Whitley Bay, then moved to a site in Northumberland after visiting Cragside. From there I could have done Morpeth and either returned to that site or gone a bit further North rather than heading straight to Edinburgh. 

Part of the reason is that it turned out that getting in and out of the Edinburgh Club site isn’t all that easy, if I’d stopped another night in Northumberland I could have visited the Museum of Flight, spent a night in Edinburgh, visited the Bo’ness Railway then stopped a bit further North. It would have saved a lot of driving! 

I’d pondered over whether to take a bike. Security issues at the Edinburgh site were part of the reason I didn’t but I regretted it afterwards. There were at least two occasions when I could have explored further, at Whitley Bay and Bo’ness, if I’d had even the folding bike. One job over the winter therefore is to work out the best way of carrying the folder, ideally without using the big bike rack. We’ll work on that. 

Beasties and Battles

After the last night in the campervan for this trip I made my way to the Dunblane Hydro for the event that prompted  the whole trip. I did pay a couple of visits on the way though. 

When I was out earlier in the week I’d found a viewpoint for the Forth Bridges, unfortunately they’ve let the hedges grow so high it’s difficult to get a good picture which rather defeats the object. It was only as I was driving out that I realised I only had to walk a few yards down the road for an interrupted view. As I was driving past the same point I stopped again and spent a few minutes capturing some shots. I’ll only know when I get them on the computer how well the worked but here’s one to be going on with. 

I last visited the Kelpies on a freezing cold December day so was pleased to go back in somewhat warmer conditions. For anyone who doesn’t know, Kelpies are mythical horse like creatures that inhabit streams and rivers. The statues were erected as part of the Helix Park development, the initial concept had been that they’d actually move as part of pumping water for the canals but that proved impractical - they weigh over 300 tonnes each! They are a tribute to the heavy horses that worked in Scotland on the land and hauling boats. 

The mottoes alongside are Bow down your strong heads to taste the water,  Stretch up your long necks to face the sun and Echo the great beasts that work among us. I’ll be entering the best of the pics in a calendar competition and I’m hoping I can incorporate the mottoes in the image. 

The final visit was to the Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre. I accepted the option of the guided tour, at a bargain price! It should have been £7.50 however she put it though as a senior without checking (if I’m asked I’m always honest, if not it’s their look out) and then discounted it to £3 due to problems with the large screen displays. The guide was American, which seemed slightly odd but she was good and I guess neutral in describing a battle between the Scots and English! The engineer was working on the display technology and wondrously it started working just at the right moment. The presentations were a bit cartoon like in places but you did get a clear sense of his things were and it’s quite spectacular having a volley of crossbow bolts start on your right on one huge screen, shoot across in front of you then hit the Scots on the screen to the left - graphic but it got the point across. 

The guide did talk a little about the difference between longbows and crossbows but omitted a crucial point, even though the presentation illustrated it. The crossbow may be more powerful and need less expertise to fire but the longbow has a much higher rate of fire. In any case the English bowmen were at the wrong end of the battlefield when the Scots attacked and when they tried to gain the higher ground on the flank they were turned off by the enemy cavalry. Had it not been for that they would have been able to fire on the Scots and the result, and history, may well have been very different. One oddity about this battle is there are virtually no relics of any kind, the victorious Scots stripped the field bare afterwards. 

With the weather being very variable, sunshine and drizzle with intermittent heavy rain, I decided to head straight on to the hotel at that point. Thoughts of a peaceful afternoon were somewhat destroyed by a large and boisterous wedding party but gradually the friends assembled ready for a couple of days of fun and frolics. 

Planes and Flags

I did warn that today would be about aeroplanes and it is, amongst other things! Apologies for a lack of photos, they’re refusing to publish but I’ll try and rectify this. 

The National Museum of Flight’s iconic image is Concorde as it’s the home of one of the few remaining examples, it would have been natural for me to include a picture but it’s nigh on impossible to photograph it due to how it’s displayed and the fact it almost fills the hanger so I photographed a Vulcan instead. 

The only problem with Vulcans is they’re fairly common, that’s the third one I’ve photographed in the last few years. I think that’s partly their status but also by the time they were taken out of service the museums were established and able to take them on. 

The museum does a good job of displaying, and telling the stories of, both civil and military aviation. It’s not all planes, either, there’s a section of interactive exhibits for children to learn about engineering and the theory of flight. 

During World War One East Fortune Airfield was home to both planes and airships, used to try and spot enemy shipping and submarines and as part of the defence of Edinburgh. Unfortunately they weren’t successful in the latter role and the city was bombed by Zeppelins L14 and L32 in the night of 2nd/3rd April 1916, leaving 13 dead. One of the bombs failed to go off and is now in the museum. 

This has personal significance because the night before  L11 had dropped bombs on Sunderland killing at least 22 but potentially saving my grandmother’s life. The family story is that the raid brought on premature labour and had the pregnancy gone to full term Nan would have been still-born. The dates fit so it’s quite probably true that without a bomb like the one displayed I wouldn’t be writing this now. 

The weather was very variable, bright sunshine one minute, miserable drizzle the next with the occasional downpour so having seen everything and just about stayed dry I had a very nice toasted ciabatta in the cafe before departing to play Brown Sign Bingo. 

On the way to the museum I’d noticed a brown sign for the Flag Heritage Centre which intrigued me so I went there after leaving the museum. The story is that the Scottish Saltire, a white cross on a blue background, was created after a battle between the Picts, led by Angus mac Fergus, and Scots against the Angles and Saxons under Athelstan. The area was under Northumbrian rule and the former had been on a raid when they were caught and made a stand near what is now the village of Athelstaneford. 

King Angus feared the outcome and led prayers for deliverance, being rewarded with a cloud formation of a white St Andrew’s cross against the blue sky. The Scots won the day, the saltire became the flag of Scotland and St Andrew became their patron saint. 

The Heritage Centre is housed in a 16th Century doocot (pigeon loft to the English) at the back of the church where there’s also a memorial. These buildings were fairly common and have been described as the “medieval deep freeze” since the pigeons provided meat when nothing else was available. At the time only breeding livestock were generally fed through the winter as there wasn’t enough food available, the meat animals were slaughtered in autumn contributing to what’s known as the Hungry Gap. Pigeons took minimal looking after and were self feeding so filled in the lack of meat but the advent of turnips and other root crops for animal feed largely solved the problem and they became less popular.

Railways at Borrowstounness

Yes, Borrowstounness is the full name of Bo’ness, you can see why it’s generally shortened! 😊

The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, and adjacent Museum, have been high on the visits list for ages - that’s the theme of this trip, crossing off some of the bucket list! Like many places they’re struggling a bit to merge old and new technologies; you’re asked to book online and either print out the email or have it on your mobile so they can scan the barcode, total waste of time as the barcode scanner won’t work at all with phones and struggles with any printed version that’s been folded (the barcode is right in the middle of the page!) So as the queue built up, the one prebooking is supposed to prevent, they resorted to finding people on their printout and crossing them off when issuing tickets. 

Motive power for the day was an ex-NCB Hunslet tank engine:

Post-COVID you’re allocated to a coach, which was no problem except it was full of railway photographers -see the anoraks! 😀 I had a bit chat with some of them, all friendly, and got a few photos of the journey. It’s quite a scenic line in some respects as you’ve got the sea one side and woodland the other, but then you also go past Grangemouth oil refinery, albeit at a distance. The line runs up to a terminus at Manuel (Que?) which also has their link to the mainline, quite important as they’ve been working with companies developing battery and even hydrogen powered units, although typically these arrive by road! 

The museum was interesting enough, a few locos, wagons and coaches but very little memorabilia, this probably reflects the fact it’s all part of the SRPS - Scottish Railway Preservation Society. Being able to get very close to some wagons gave me more idea of brake mechanisms and a wooden hopper wagon also helped - several planks were missing so I could see the inside hopper arrangements. I rounded off the visit with a decent lunch in the buffet. 

I’d have liked to visit the Bo’ness Motor Museum but it’s only open on weekends so instead I called in at a farm shop I’d spotted for supplies - Ayrshire Bacon and Lorne Sausage will sort the next couple of breakfasts nicely. 

Small Pipes and Not So Small Pipes

I didn’t rush away this morning as the first target was the Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Morpeth. In hindsight with the way the trip worked out the site I was on wasn’t ideal as I first drove much of the same way as I did yesterday but that was partly down to a change of plans, I’d have been better stopping at a site a bit further north. It didn’t really matter, it’s nice countryside anyway! 

Problem one in Morpeth, how to pay for the car park. There seemed a dearth of ticket machines, so I assumed it must be free, on the way out I found the one single machine and yes, the sign said 24 hours free parking so that was a bonus. I was ready for a coffee so stopped off at the bus station cafe/deli (yes, it really is a bus station deli). I realised I’d been oop North long enough when I said, “Thanks, pet!” to the waitress. 😊

The Chantry Museum has been on the visit list for a few years now, ever since I went to Woodhorn Colliery Museum. I do have a liking for the Northumbrian Small Pipes, which are very different to the Scottish Highland Bagpipes in several respects, the main one being that you can listen to them close up (the latter are best heard from an adjacent mountain top to the piper 😀 ). The small pipes are the last surviving English pipes but it’s likely they owe more to the French Musette than the other British varieties, although they do have similarities to the Irish uilleann pipes. The museum does cover other pipes, including the Scottish Half Long Pipes, which I’ll confess I’d never heard of. 

The museum is combined with the tourist information, gift shop and poetry library. You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t buy a set of pipes (they don’t have any and I know my limitations) but I did add two books to my North East Steam collection, both of which may help with the current model build, especially as unusually  one of them includes colour plates - it’s difficult discerning liveries in black and white!

After a quick stock up in Morrisons I took the coastal route North with the intention of stopping off somewhere, unfortunately given that it’s August and the time of day I couldn’t get parked in either Seahouses or Bamburgh (or at least not near enough for it to be worthwhile) so I continued on. I’m not sure why but the SatNav brought me in to the Edinburgh  site, which is West of the city, along the waterfront instead of around the bypass. We last went that way about 45 years ago when a truck driver led Dad, towing the caravan, to the Forth Bridge. It was Festival time and they’d had a conversation in a lay-by short of the city, apparently everywhere else was gridlocked. I did get a glimpse of Britannia in passing but with road works and bizarre lane markings* I was having to concentrate. 

Checking in at the site was as smooth as usual, it’s not somewhere I’d choose normally but it’s in the right place! I’ve found a pitch at one end so at least I’m largely undisturbed by the traffic, with 148 pitches that can be a problem. Although it’s a city centre site it is well surrounded by trees but security is an issue, they provide secure bike lockers for example. 

 

*At one point there were bus stops on the left, the lane had a straight on arrow then suddenly became a right turn lane and you had to make the vehicle jump 10’ to the left! That caught three of us out.