New Lanark
Date: 20 May 2012
New Lanark, just about 40 minutes southeast of Glasgow (by car) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site commemorating Robert Owen, who provided hundreds of his cotton mill workers with decent living accommodations, free health care, free education and night classes, affordable food, no child labor or corporal punishment, and this was all in 1825 when he took over ownership of the mill from his father-in-law! (To put that in perspective, the United States didn't pass its first child-labor laws until 1916, has some of the highest education costs, no universal health care, and the cheap food is always the worst quality.)
It was Sunday morning and my friend Euan texted me to see if I wanted to take the drive out there. It was sunny, and I figured it was better than reading for Uni at home. You park up above the River Clyde valley and walk down a path into the mill and village below. The buildings are beautifully built, carved out of the ever noticeable sandstone that pervades Glasgow architecture, and many of the buildings are still lived in! Part of the mill burned down, but blueprints were found and it was reconstructed and now houses a fancy hotel in one of the most picturesque bits of Scotland I've seen (I mean, it's no highlands, but still beautiful). It actually reminded me a lot of Vermont and parts of the Winooski River valley.
We weren't planning on spending too much time at the site. Euan had been a few times before since he grew up nearby, and since it cost £8.50 to get into the Visitor Center and museum, I thought I'd wait until next time when the weather would likely not be as nice. So we walked around the grounds and the mills, past the gigantic waterwheel which ran the mill, the mill race that turned the wheel, the mill dam which fed the mill race with water, and then took a wee hike upstream along the river.
The land surrounding New Lanark is densely wooded, but there are plenty of trails for visitors to explore including one that goes up to a hydroelectric dam that Scottish Power uses for clean, green energy. Along the way, though, we passed Cora Linn, a beautiful cascade of waterfalls, as well as a second series of falls a little farther upstream. In recent geological history (we're talking 10,000 years ago!) this part of Scotland was covered by an ice sheet, or glaciers coming down off the highlands. The massive amounts of ice acted as a dam in the river valley, causing a glacial meltwater lake to form. Eventually, this dam burst, as so many of them do (thank you Vermont Geology!), sending water down the river valley and over cliffs. Since then, the falls have eroded back up the valley a bit such that the water flows over a series of smaller knickpoints rather than over one giant cliff.
Overall, we probably spent a little over two hours at the site, but since we didn't pay for anything, I didn't mind not being there longer, but I will go back at some point to learn more of the Mill's history.
The Tenement House
Date: 26 May 2012
Saturday was yet another beautiful day in Glasgow and as the afternoon wore on, I decided to head to a tiny museum in town that I've heard so much about called the Tenement House (part of the National Trust for Scotland). They don't allow the taking of photographs, so I'll do my best to describe bits of the house. Its premise is pretty simple: a woman by the name of Mrs. Toward, owned the property from the 1890s through at least 1960 (sorry, I didn't catch exact dates!). Mrs. Toward was a seamstress who disliked change and lived by herself, so after her death the flat was considered to be in spectacular period condition, much as it was in the 1890s, apart from the new-fangled electric lights which Mrs. Toward had installed in 1960!
The development of housing in Glasgow's history really shaped it into its present state, and many museums around the city spend some amount of time on the subject (like at the Peoples' Palace on Glasgow Green). Tenement housing was Glasgow's response to a quickly growing population in the 1800s as millions of people moved here to take on work in mills, factories, and other industries. With such a large population living in squalid conditions, public health took a turn for the worst. In the US, we tend to think of Tenements as slums and housing of poor conditions, which, frankly, they did here in Scotland as well. But in the later 1800s the city council of Glasgow decided to take charge of these terrible housing slums by demolishing them and then building new blocks of stone buildings in which an entry way (a close) leads to 3-5 floors of houses, each floor having three doors off of a landing. Essentially, Tenements in Glasgow are like Boston Brownstone houses; however, instead of individual, multi-level, houses being built next to each other, the houses are one level (which is why I live in a flat and not an apartment), and stacked on top of each other.
The newer tenements were a step above the older slums, but since there were public spaces, shared by all tenants - such as the close, the stairs, the back yard - strict rules were enforced regarding their cleanliness. If your close was not kept clean, everyone living off of it would be fined, for example.
Mrs. Toward's flat was simple, with four rooms: a bathroom, kitchen, dining/family room, and a bedroom, all leading off of the entry way. Everything in the flat is as much as it would have been when Mrs. Toward lived there and most of the belongings are hers. It's a very neat place to go to see an old, coal-fired range which was never updated, a deep laundry tub with a mangle attached to it, an old fireplace and wood-carved mantle with knick-knacks that reminded me of my grandparents' houses, and large closets in which a mattress was placed. The dining/living room was rarely used except on special occasions. When I asked why, I was told that the door usually remained shut otherwise soot from all of the coal burning, both inside the flat and literally all over Glasgow, would ruin the nice furnishings. But I imagine it must have been used somewhat as one of Mrs. Toward's sewing machines, a piano, and one of the bed-closests were in there.
Otherwise, everything else in the flat was fairly sparse and used-looking. But why shouldn't it be? People weren't able to go out and buy something new when theirs broke, so they had to fix it, or figure out a way to get the job done without it! Everything in the house had a purpose like kitchen utensils, or toiletries, or medicines, or cleaning agents. The only real personal effects I noticed were some paintings and the knick-knacks in the living room with a nice set of china, used only for special occasions, I presume. You just didn't have the money to be filling your house with useless clutter!
It's too bad they didn't allow photos inside, the Tenement House, because I know I didn't do it justice! I was able to snag some photos of plaques placed in the close leading up to the house, just to prove I was actually there!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Some Camping and a Music Festival
Trip Dates: 4-7 May 2012
I've put off writing this blog post for far too long! But I've honestly felt a little fatigued at writing every little detail that happens or every piece of information I pick up when I go somewhere. Luckily, this excursion out from Glasgow was not prompted by any want to see a historical landmark or any type of natural landscape or wildlife. The date was May 4, and that evening my friends and I found ourselves freezing outside of Inverness, Scotland, huddled around a small disposable BBQ grill in a wee snow storm while camping in a cow pasture.
A few weeks ago, my friend, Penne, turned 30 and wanted to do nothing more than celebrate it with friends from our office at a music festival in northern Scotland. There were eight of us who went to the inaugural Brew at the Bog music festival, sponsored by the Glasgow-based Brew Dog Brewery at Bogbain Farm outside of Inverness. The festival was only a one-day event, but anyone attending could go up the night before and camp out as well as the night after the festival.
Other than the Muskegon Summer Celebration, which I don't really think counts as a music festival, I'd never been to a festival before and was well excited! So after some cake and early-morning catch-up work in the office, we loaded our camping equipment, sleeping bags, backpacks, and my little suitcase (I was flying back to the US for my sister's wedding immediately afterward) into a taxi cab that took us down to the bus station where we quickly loaded our things on and sat down. Two buses were going the same direction, but they overpacked one of the buses leaving a very old man and his wife seatless, but the driver took off regardless. Penne's boyfriend Adam shouted down the driver while Penne and someone else gave up their seats so the old couple (who were protesting that they'd be fine standing for the hour-and-a-half-long bus ride!) could have a seat. Eventually the two buses pulled over and Adam switched to the other bus which was half-empty. CityLink Buses, you lose this round.
A few hours later, after driving through a beautiful glacially sculpted landscape of the Cairngorms National Park, we arrived in Inverness and headed to the grocery store to buy our supplies: hamburgers, sausages, buns, crisps, BBQs, peppers, and alcohol - lots and lots of cider and beer! Oh, and we bought a handful of child-sized camping chairs designed to look like animals, because...well, why not? Beats sitting on the ground! We hailed a cab out to the farm where maybe 10 other tents were set up. Our tents went up in a jiffy and soon were sharing food, keeping warm, and watching the beautiful sunset over the mountains to the north of Inverness.
But then the weather kicked in, and being on an unprotected hilltop right next to the ocean in early-May was apparently not the best place to be. The wind was frigid and the owner of the farm came out to let us know that she opened on of the rooms in the farmhouse so that we could stay warm for a while longer. Some campers went in immediately while many of us stayed out thinking we might eventually warm up. Eventually never came around and we soon found ourselves warming up with some beers inside with everyone else while some of the artists who were performing the next day put on a little preview for us. Everyone was in good spirits, but we were soon asked to leave so they could prepare the room for the next day and all of the campers were sent back to their tents. Determined to stay warm, a large bonfire was built and everyone all gathered around it to keep warm and talk to each other. The crowd dwindled as the night went on as people went back to their tents and fell asleep.
Early the next morning (Saturday) everyone was feeling well good and preparing for the festival which started at noon. The farm had a grassy yard out back where the Main Stage was set up and then inside a stone barn a smaller stage was set up under strings of colored lights, and a third performance space for the acoustic artists was in an adjacent room. Three stages, one small area, 12 hours of music, delicious craft beer. It really couldn't get any better. Two more friends of ours, Fiona and Carl, showed up and we all spent the rest of the day wandering between the different stages, talking to friendly people, dancing (well, I danced), eating, and imbibing Brew Dog. Of course, in true Scotland form, the weather also changed as quickly as the acts did. Bright and sunny one minute, snowing the next, sunny again, rainy, sunny. But the music was fantastic! Other than Brew Dog there were no other sponsors and since most of the acts were local (sans a fantastic Bluegrass band called, Woody Pines, out of North Carolina) the festival really had a Scottish feel to it. There was an eclectic mix of acoustic, rock, Scottish rap, and folk music, amongst others. I really wish I could recommend some artists for you, but to be honest...I was terrible at putting together the name of the band with what I heard in my memory. That will have to wait until later!
The night ended with a band called, Washington Irving, and the festival couldn't have ended on a higher note. No one was out of control, but everyone by that time was dancing and singing and just enjoying life! But the night wasn't over when the music stopped. Those of us camping that night, and there were many more who joined us, went back to the cow pasture, and someone lit a bonfire in a big metal rubbish bin and the night continued like the previous night with laughter, singing, more drinking, and general merriment until people slipped away to their tents.
Sunday morning was rough for everyone what with all the mixtures of beer, cider, and liquor people had the day before, but through the cold, people perked up once they got up and one of the vendors from the festival was nice enough to stick around one more day to make bacon, egg, and cheese rolls, coffee, oatmeal, and juice to anyone who wanted it. They were a God-send! So throughout the morning, we all sat around in what seats were left (turns out, we are all a little too big to be sitting in children's camping chairs) chatted some more, sang Penne "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed the morning.
Our friends Fiona and Carl drove in from Aberdeen, and since I was flying out from Aberdeen to London Heathrow that night, I packed all my things into their car and headed back to the city with them. We had the option of going the longer more scenic way or the faster more boring way. I didn't really feel I had a choice: the longer, more scenic way we went! The road took us through the small touristy town of Aviemore which is sort of like base camp for the few ski resorts out that way. But then our road left civilization all together as we drove past the town of Nethy Bridge where a local Highlands Games were going on and into Caringorms National Park.
The park is desolate with incredibly few roads going through it, and we took the one that goes right through the center winding our way around gently sloping granite domes, hairpinning down into creek valleys and back up out of them, in a land of no trees and patches of burned heather that create interesting geometric patterns, scrapes, and blotches on the hillsides. A photograph in the Aberdeen Airport says that farmers will burn the heather for agriculture and sport. What sport that is, I'm not sure!
As we came back into civilization, we stopped in the little town of Ballater for some ice cream and to stretch our legs. Cute little town, one that people from Aberdeen might retire to. It's also the next town down the road from Balmoral Castle, where the Royal Family retreats for a few weeks in the summer, so some of the shops and stores in Ballater are the official bakers or craftsmen for the Royal Family and honored so by a plaque/crest that hangs outside their shops saying how awesome they are!
Farther along the road, toward Aberdeen, we made one more stop at Crathes Castle, just outside of Banchory which isn't so much a castle as it is a beautiful estate house with an amazing garden. The property is owned by the National Trust for Scotland so parts of it you had to pay to get in to, such as the house. We weren't interested in paying to get in, and I wanted to do some laundry and eat before my plane departed, so we drove on to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen is a great little city, from what I could tell. It's built up nowadays around the oil and gas industry of the North Sea, but earlier had been an important part of the Slave Trade triangle and the tobacco industry of the US, so there are a lot of massive, impressive houses there. The city looks gray and angularly utilitarian, but it's only because the buildings are mostly made out of granite which is more difficult to shape than softer rocks like sandstone or limestone; therefore, it's more geometric. But the streets are lined with trees and it just feels more open. I'm looking forward to a time when I can go back and experience more of it, but this wasn't it. We got to Fiona and Carl's, I took a shower while they threw my dirty clothes into the laundry, and we had a pizza for dinner. But that was it as I immediately packed up again and Fiona took me to the Aberdeen (Dyce) Airport - which pretty much uses oil company billboard ads as wallpaper! - and I was soon on my way back to Michigan for my sister's wedding! But first, I had to get through Heathrow...
I've put off writing this blog post for far too long! But I've honestly felt a little fatigued at writing every little detail that happens or every piece of information I pick up when I go somewhere. Luckily, this excursion out from Glasgow was not prompted by any want to see a historical landmark or any type of natural landscape or wildlife. The date was May 4, and that evening my friends and I found ourselves freezing outside of Inverness, Scotland, huddled around a small disposable BBQ grill in a wee snow storm while camping in a cow pasture.
A few weeks ago, my friend, Penne, turned 30 and wanted to do nothing more than celebrate it with friends from our office at a music festival in northern Scotland. There were eight of us who went to the inaugural Brew at the Bog music festival, sponsored by the Glasgow-based Brew Dog Brewery at Bogbain Farm outside of Inverness. The festival was only a one-day event, but anyone attending could go up the night before and camp out as well as the night after the festival.
Other than the Muskegon Summer Celebration, which I don't really think counts as a music festival, I'd never been to a festival before and was well excited! So after some cake and early-morning catch-up work in the office, we loaded our camping equipment, sleeping bags, backpacks, and my little suitcase (I was flying back to the US for my sister's wedding immediately afterward) into a taxi cab that took us down to the bus station where we quickly loaded our things on and sat down. Two buses were going the same direction, but they overpacked one of the buses leaving a very old man and his wife seatless, but the driver took off regardless. Penne's boyfriend Adam shouted down the driver while Penne and someone else gave up their seats so the old couple (who were protesting that they'd be fine standing for the hour-and-a-half-long bus ride!) could have a seat. Eventually the two buses pulled over and Adam switched to the other bus which was half-empty. CityLink Buses, you lose this round.
A few hours later, after driving through a beautiful glacially sculpted landscape of the Cairngorms National Park, we arrived in Inverness and headed to the grocery store to buy our supplies: hamburgers, sausages, buns, crisps, BBQs, peppers, and alcohol - lots and lots of cider and beer! Oh, and we bought a handful of child-sized camping chairs designed to look like animals, because...well, why not? Beats sitting on the ground! We hailed a cab out to the farm where maybe 10 other tents were set up. Our tents went up in a jiffy and soon were sharing food, keeping warm, and watching the beautiful sunset over the mountains to the north of Inverness.
But then the weather kicked in, and being on an unprotected hilltop right next to the ocean in early-May was apparently not the best place to be. The wind was frigid and the owner of the farm came out to let us know that she opened on of the rooms in the farmhouse so that we could stay warm for a while longer. Some campers went in immediately while many of us stayed out thinking we might eventually warm up. Eventually never came around and we soon found ourselves warming up with some beers inside with everyone else while some of the artists who were performing the next day put on a little preview for us. Everyone was in good spirits, but we were soon asked to leave so they could prepare the room for the next day and all of the campers were sent back to their tents. Determined to stay warm, a large bonfire was built and everyone all gathered around it to keep warm and talk to each other. The crowd dwindled as the night went on as people went back to their tents and fell asleep.
Early the next morning (Saturday) everyone was feeling well good and preparing for the festival which started at noon. The farm had a grassy yard out back where the Main Stage was set up and then inside a stone barn a smaller stage was set up under strings of colored lights, and a third performance space for the acoustic artists was in an adjacent room. Three stages, one small area, 12 hours of music, delicious craft beer. It really couldn't get any better. Two more friends of ours, Fiona and Carl, showed up and we all spent the rest of the day wandering between the different stages, talking to friendly people, dancing (well, I danced), eating, and imbibing Brew Dog. Of course, in true Scotland form, the weather also changed as quickly as the acts did. Bright and sunny one minute, snowing the next, sunny again, rainy, sunny. But the music was fantastic! Other than Brew Dog there were no other sponsors and since most of the acts were local (sans a fantastic Bluegrass band called, Woody Pines, out of North Carolina) the festival really had a Scottish feel to it. There was an eclectic mix of acoustic, rock, Scottish rap, and folk music, amongst others. I really wish I could recommend some artists for you, but to be honest...I was terrible at putting together the name of the band with what I heard in my memory. That will have to wait until later!
The night ended with a band called, Washington Irving, and the festival couldn't have ended on a higher note. No one was out of control, but everyone by that time was dancing and singing and just enjoying life! But the night wasn't over when the music stopped. Those of us camping that night, and there were many more who joined us, went back to the cow pasture, and someone lit a bonfire in a big metal rubbish bin and the night continued like the previous night with laughter, singing, more drinking, and general merriment until people slipped away to their tents.
Sunday morning was rough for everyone what with all the mixtures of beer, cider, and liquor people had the day before, but through the cold, people perked up once they got up and one of the vendors from the festival was nice enough to stick around one more day to make bacon, egg, and cheese rolls, coffee, oatmeal, and juice to anyone who wanted it. They were a God-send! So throughout the morning, we all sat around in what seats were left (turns out, we are all a little too big to be sitting in children's camping chairs) chatted some more, sang Penne "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed the morning.
Our friends Fiona and Carl drove in from Aberdeen, and since I was flying out from Aberdeen to London Heathrow that night, I packed all my things into their car and headed back to the city with them. We had the option of going the longer more scenic way or the faster more boring way. I didn't really feel I had a choice: the longer, more scenic way we went! The road took us through the small touristy town of Aviemore which is sort of like base camp for the few ski resorts out that way. But then our road left civilization all together as we drove past the town of Nethy Bridge where a local Highlands Games were going on and into Caringorms National Park.
The park is desolate with incredibly few roads going through it, and we took the one that goes right through the center winding our way around gently sloping granite domes, hairpinning down into creek valleys and back up out of them, in a land of no trees and patches of burned heather that create interesting geometric patterns, scrapes, and blotches on the hillsides. A photograph in the Aberdeen Airport says that farmers will burn the heather for agriculture and sport. What sport that is, I'm not sure!
As we came back into civilization, we stopped in the little town of Ballater for some ice cream and to stretch our legs. Cute little town, one that people from Aberdeen might retire to. It's also the next town down the road from Balmoral Castle, where the Royal Family retreats for a few weeks in the summer, so some of the shops and stores in Ballater are the official bakers or craftsmen for the Royal Family and honored so by a plaque/crest that hangs outside their shops saying how awesome they are!
Farther along the road, toward Aberdeen, we made one more stop at Crathes Castle, just outside of Banchory which isn't so much a castle as it is a beautiful estate house with an amazing garden. The property is owned by the National Trust for Scotland so parts of it you had to pay to get in to, such as the house. We weren't interested in paying to get in, and I wanted to do some laundry and eat before my plane departed, so we drove on to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen is a great little city, from what I could tell. It's built up nowadays around the oil and gas industry of the North Sea, but earlier had been an important part of the Slave Trade triangle and the tobacco industry of the US, so there are a lot of massive, impressive houses there. The city looks gray and angularly utilitarian, but it's only because the buildings are mostly made out of granite which is more difficult to shape than softer rocks like sandstone or limestone; therefore, it's more geometric. But the streets are lined with trees and it just feels more open. I'm looking forward to a time when I can go back and experience more of it, but this wasn't it. We got to Fiona and Carl's, I took a shower while they threw my dirty clothes into the laundry, and we had a pizza for dinner. But that was it as I immediately packed up again and Fiona took me to the Aberdeen (Dyce) Airport - which pretty much uses oil company billboard ads as wallpaper! - and I was soon on my way back to Michigan for my sister's wedding! But first, I had to get through Heathrow...
BrewBog, a set on Flickr.
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