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On a lovely sunny morning in October 2015, a golden autumn which seems like a dream now after three months of almost continuous storms, flooding and rain, a group of us set off early to explore the east coast around Edinburgh and Lothian. This is a distant view of Arthur's Seat, the ancient volcano in the heart of Edinburgh seen from Falside Hill above Wallyford.
We were here to see this fortified house marked on the OS map as a castle. A private abode so no entry. The fertile lands around Edinburgh and Lothian are very rich in history, mainly because the land is excellent for farming and the Scottish east coast in general has been settled and used to create great wealth over centuries. The West Coast may have the spectacular mountains, jagged terrain and twisting sea lochs but the east has always been the dry and warm bread basket of the country and many grand houses and ancient estates dot the landscape. I enjoy both areas and never turn down any opportunity to head east. Usually the sun is here as well which is another big bonus.
A view of Edinburgh from the east looking over at Musselburgh, Joppa, and Portobello Beach.
Our first destination of the morning was Gifford and as we had left Glasgow very early we arrived just in time for the shops to open and get a quick breakfast on the move. Gifford is a pretty little village but the reason we were here was to visit Yester Castle and the infamous but little known Goblin Ha', a sizable cavern under the foundations. It was reputed that the castle was occupied by a wizard and necromancer as detailed in this link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yester_Castle
A nice church at Gifford.
The ruins of the castle are not far away, hidden deep in a wooded gorge and beneath them sits the Goblin Ha', reputed to have been clawed and chewed out by an army of hobgoblins, raised by the castle's owner to do his bidding. What's not to like?
The entrance to the cavern, now closed off with iron bars.... in case the creatures escape presumably? Fortunately Graeme knew another way in...
A head chopping entrance into the castle. A common feature in this type of fortification to force intruders to crawl through, thus setting them up for the defenders using sharp sword or axe.
The entrance leading under the castle.Another low stoop into darkness.
Inside the main chamber. Some natural light from two iron barred windows which was just as well as all we had was the glow from two phones to get around. Graeme informed me there was also a flight of narrow stairs leading from this hall down into an underground bolt hole and well. At one time it may have been an escape route leading out into the gorge but was now blocked off and a dead end. No well either as that was long gone, without any maintenance. I'd stupidly left my torch behind at the car by accident and the stairway down was pitch black, uneven underfoot and rather creepy.
" I can't see a scooby. Hold on a minute. Don't be hasty here. " I squeaked as Graeme insisted on pushing me towards the entrance to the tunnel to let me enjoy the darkness fully.
"Get down there ya big Jessie." He encouraged, forcing me on.
Eventually I made it to the bottom with the aid of his mobile phone giving off a spooky half light. We held hands together in the Stygian gloom as we crept further along... then I discovered it wasn't his hand....
A creepy place indeed and we didn't linger long.
Back up top in the sunshine once again we made our way across in the car to the nearby Garleton Hills to climb the Hopetoun Monument. I'd never visited Yester Castle before but Graeme and Bob R had not been up the monument, which is left open sometimes. We were in luck and the spiral staircase was soon ascended for terrific views over Lothian. Alex was also with us.
The volcanic plug of North Berwick Law, with its whale bone arch on the summit.
A view of the monument. What a cracking day out east. You can climb right to the top and a torch is handy here as well though not essential equipment.
We then visited the tiny village of Athelstaneford where the Flag of Scotland was first seen during a reputed battle between rival armies. A common sight with aircraft jet trails crossing overhead now but this was in 832AD. Known as St Andrew's Cross as this saint was crucified on an X shaped cross not the usual Latin ones we are familiar with today.
Nice stained glass windows in the local church.
The village of Ormiston came next on our enjoyable and varied day trip out east. It's surprising how you always find nuggets of history everywhere, even in isolated corners.Sleepy little villages like this one may surprise you with a gem or two. This is a tribute to Robert Moffat who was born here. Father in law to David Livingstone and a pioneering missionary in Africa in his own right he was instrumental in helping Livingstone thrive in Africa and must have considered the younger man a suitable match for his daughter's hand.
In the same village is this old cross on the main street. A 15th century survivor, historian's have found the remains of" Jougs" and "Branks" as it was a place of punishment. The first is an iron collar for chaining wrong doers onto so that all the community could witness their shame and the second was the infamous "witches or gossip's bridal." A lower iron cage meant to fully encase a female's head, with a metal plate (sometimes containing a spike) inserted into the mouth so that they could neither speak or throw curses at onlookers. Happily woman's lib has improved since then... which is very good news for Nicola Sturgeon,Ruth Davidson et al... in nearby Edinburgh.
And on that happy note we will end our tour of Lothian and return to civilized Glasgow.
An excellent video of a descent into Goblin Ha' made with a great deal of imagination and style. Worth a watch in full screen mode with the lights out. Spooky stuff and well conceived. Although a night time tour of the cavern it's actually much brighter and better illuminated than our daytime visit with two feeble glow worms as a guide. Nice to see the stonework details and the roof of the cavern properly.
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The Ardeer Peninsula, a large tract of sand dunes, desolate beach and bleak river estuaries sitting between Stevenston and Irvine in North Ayrshire has fascinated me for many years now. Once the site of one of the largest explosives factories in the world, manufacturing Dynamite and Gelignite for mining, construction, and both World Wars it had a maximum work force of 18,000 at its peak, its own train station (Ardeer) and dozens of explosives blending and mixing huts, a dining hall for meal times, boilers, cooling towers, engine and power sheds, underground bunkers, and warehouses. For many years, unless you worked there, it was a closed site and terra incognita on many maps. Even today it is a remote and little known destination with a very real atmosphere of end of the world desolation and decay.
On a raw, wild winter's day just before Christmas 2015 I thought it would be a good place to visit, given the wild conditions for any hill-walking, and Alan was up for it as well, bringing along his dog. We parked the car at Saltcoats with the intention of walking from there along the coastline, where possible, to reach the peninsula. The first photo was taken at Saltcoats the second at Stevenston Beach where a pedestrian bridge led us over a small river onto the sands. Both Alan and his dog enjoyed the coastal scenery here.
Once out on the sands we had a walk along the coast with a weak winter sun above, coastal Ayrshire being one of the few places that day with a sun symbol over it, hence our visit. Alfred Nobel, (the Swedish Peace Prize guy) invented Dynamite and Gelignite as well as taking out hundreds of other patents during his lifetime. He came from a long line of inventors and engineers as his father created Plywood and worked on the development of early floating mines and torpedoes. The Ardeer site was chosen for its remote setting and its plentiful sand dunes which could be arranged and shaped around the huts into handy blast chambers that would insure that any explosion would not spread to nearby huts. Chain reaction explosions had already happened at other earlier sites and had to be avoided at all costs.
One of the areas where you can still see the extensive sand dunes and the remains of old buildings. At its peak this site was a major employer in the area with Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Kilwinning and Irvine locals benefiting over decades. Like Bishopton Royal Ordnance in Renfrewshire (another large explosives site) it could be a dangerous place to work if you were unlucky or made a mistake but it also kept families in employment in an area with few other steady job opportunities. A fascinating link here to the history of Ardeer viewed first hand through the eyes of a young women working in the explosives sheds. See under War Years and Explosions. http://www.threetowners.com/Ardeer%20Factory/ardeer_factory.htm
I was initially surprised to see so many young girls had been recruited and killed but I suppose during the war years most of the able bodied men would have been already called up to fight. From my own point of view I was intrigued to see what it was like and if you could make an interesting walk out of it.
Although I'd visited the edges of Ardeer on a couple of occasions on my own I was not sure if it was still off limits or if you could cross the peninsula on foot then get over a bridge across the River Garnock estuary to reach Kilwinning. Despite searching for info online, facts about this area were few and far between and mostly outdated and none mentioned if this old bridge was still a viable crossing point. If it no longer existed or was closed off we would have a long walk back to Saltcoats, retracing our steps.On a previous trip I'd cycled along the beach at low tide from Saltcoats then halted at the River Irvine mouth as you can go no further. A bleak and desolate area I later found out was Scotland's only official nudist beach though you are more likely to find hairy Naked Rambler types there in summer than fashionable nubile young devotees. It is still a very wild area yet close to urban development and as far away from the South of France that you can possibly imagine.
On that first occasion The Big Idea ( a modern hands on visitors centre for inventions and innovators had just closed (I was there around 2004/5 at a guess) with massive debts. http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/~scotgaz//features/featurefirst2017.html
As it was nearby I left the bike and wandered over out of curiosity to see this empty building but an automatically triggered loud hailer soon informed me that it was out of bounds and that the police had been informed and were on their way. Considering it's remote position and the fact that the bridge across to Irvine had been removed I wasn't that bothered and had a quick look around anyway as they would have to reach me first and I wasn't doing anything untoward. As this message kept repeating loudly it did put me off exploring the rest of the peninsula however, (I assumed at that time it was all off limits) and I soon returned to my bike and cycled back along the sands.
What I did manage to see on that occasion were abandoned huts lying half buried in the sand dunes, miles of old barbed wire fences and a general air of decline. A few years later I returned on a summer bike trip along the cycle trail from Saltcoats to Eglinton Country Park and had a detour into Ardeer from that direction. It is a very large site and distinctly creepy as you never see anyone around except occasional gangs of local teenagers, random curious adults, or equally bold individuals. On that occasion I met a male adult stranger wandering around in a spacious underground bunker I was exploring on my lonesome, containing several rooms, and we both jumped involuntarily coming face to face around a dark corner then gave a nervous laugh. " It's a scary place." he admitted before continuing to look around. At that point, when his guard was down, I killed and ate him. Well, it's that sort of location and I pride myself on my ability to fit in with my surroundings.
He should have watched more old cowboy films as the bad guys in them always give a cheery grin before they shoot someone. That will teach him to relax near me. Classic beginner's mistake when meeting a psychopath in a deserted area. I didn't much care for the colour of socks he was wearing anyway and he seemed a right dodgy type to ever turn my back on. If you are not fast you're last in the quick draw game....And that is a true story. I haven't been back since. (the houses in the background seem empty but are guarded by cameras and patrolled)
Africa House. Once the South African Pavilion during the 1938 Glasgow Exhibition it was transported here afterwards to be used as a staff restaurant and conference centre. It is now abandoned and forlorn like most of this site. Nobel Explosives then ICI chemicals controlled this entire area but we wandered through here without seeing anyone although I did meet some members of a biker gang here on another occasion when I was exploring alone. Not a walk to everyone's tastes but certainly bold surprises exist round every corner... as I can testify.
Another side of Africa House.
An apt and accurate depiction, given the surroundings.
Inside an abandoned warehouse. Beauty can often be found in unusual settings and I liked the reflections on the flooded floor here.
A male goosander (Type of diving duck) in a marshy pond.
Tufted ducks nearby. Wildlife will always use abandoned habitats when humans have no further use for them.
The part of the site that is still being used and off limits. Despite three visits here in total I have yet to repeat myself and this trip with Alan opened up an entirely new set of buildings and dunes not visited on previous trips. We both enjoyed it and it was reasonably sheltered from a constant icy wind.
The old bridge and railway or tram line running across it. As the River Garnock is wide and deep here I was very glad to see it still intact and we were able to cross to the far side where the remains of the old Bogside Race Course once stood with cheering crowds in the stands. This entire journey is a walk though the ghosts of the past and a day trip into a wild and empty location that feels as isolated and remote at times as any highland fastness. In fact you will probably see far less people here and might actually want to avoid any you do come across :o) I found it exciting however and a very interesting day out. The walk into Kilwinning was a bit of a slog along roads and back streets, filled with abandoned factories and semi derelict industrial estates, many with for sale signs outside and once again I was reminded of just how prosperous and independent a lot of small towns in Scotland once were. On my travels around I've encountered hundreds of mysterious large squares of empty concrete in urban areas where some kind of factory or building must have stood. Many towns are still in free-fall and have been since the 1980s. Reminds me of the Shelley poem about the vast ruined city buried by the desert sands and the famous lines in it.... "Look on my works ye mighty... and despair."
We managed to get a bus back in Kilwinning and arrived in Saltcoats just after nightfall. 12 to 14 km one way depending on curiosity and mostly flat. Around 4 to 6 hours at an easy pace, exploring on the way. Interesting sculpture.
As a more scenic alternative here's a stunning route in Wales (Tremadog) that Alex and I have actually done years ago. One from Classic Rock and a great video. It's a deceptive climb put up by two Scottish intruders into the Welsh heartland so we were keen to tick it off. Starts easily enough in the security of the trees but soon becomes very exposed and elevated on a toenail traverse with no handholds for a few moves then weaves a devious snaking line up a near vertical cliff face to the top. http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3014 Photos of Tremadog climbing in here.
A brilliant open route we both enjoyed, along with a few other fine routes nearby before a well earned snack in Eric Jones' climbers' cafe below. Wouldn't fancy doing this climb now as I've lost my bottle for serious verticality these days. Worth viewing full screen. Great rock architecture throughout. Wish head cams and Go Pros had been around when we were climbing as we were fairly prolific around the UK in those far off days.
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Had a couple of short trips to see friends in Glasgow and Greenock recently and as I am rarely without my camera these days here's a gallery of snaps. Stan Laurel and one of the Cluthas, (small passenger ferries that used to run across the River Clyde from bank to bank taking workers across to the numerous factories and ship yards that lined the Clyde in those busy days.) They were phased out when the Glasgow Underground was built running under the fast growing city, making them increasingly redundant, though a number of them held on until the Clyde Tunnel was built and cars took over instead of foot passengers. Heavy horses and ordinary nags were a common sight on Glasgow's streets as well until around the 1940s/50s and my grandfather was a carter in the city which might explain my father's love of horses as he probably grew up around them as a boy himself. Stan Laurel's father managed the nearby Metropole Theatre and Stan himself appeared at the Britannia as a young entertainer, still the World's oldest surviving Music Hall. Yet even today many Glaswegian's are unaware it exists in Argyle Street. I only found out about it myself when the Doors Open Days started. http://www.britanniapanopticon.org/
The other front panel mural decorating the reopened Clutha Bar. From left to right. Mary Barbour, champion of the rent strikes in Govan after the Second World War when money was tight and folk were squeezed too hard and rebelled. Benny Lynch, World Champion Boxer during the 1930s. Johnny Ramensky, master safe breaker and escape artist who walked out of many a Scottish jail and was known as "Gentle Johnny" as when caught he always went quietly, only to skip out of prison some time later and go on the run again with a smile. He was so good he was recruited for his talents then placed behind enemy lines to break open the safes of the German High Command. Woody Guthrie- who reputedly played in this popular folk pub during the war. A triangle of three well known pubs dot this corner of Stockwell Street and Bridgegate. The Victoria Bar, The Clutha and the Scotia Bar. All are known for informal live music being played over decades. http://scotiabar.net/music.html
The nearby spire above the old Fish Market. This is one of the oldest corners of Glasgow with many fine period buildings still remaining. The steeple was erected around the 1660s.
The ship on top of this spire.
The Salt Market. Now just a city centre street catching the winter sun but once the pavements in this vicinity would have been covered in used salt to preserve the stacked boxes of fresh fish presumably. It was also known for the wool and cloth trade. The Tolbooth steeple is slightly older at 1620s and was part of a larger building that included a prison and early city council offices. A great link to the
Glasgow of old as the Saltmarket used to be a notorious warren of close entries and drinking dens in the 1800s. http://www.oldglasgowpubs.co.uk/saltmarket.html Well worth a read. Colourful description and period photos of this maze of lanes and alleyways running off a comparatively short street.
An old crest above the Fish Market in the Bridgegate which includes Glasgow's famous coat of arms and it's motto beneath. "There's the tree that never grew... there's the bird that never flew... there's the fish that never swam... there's the bell that never rang. All symbols relating to the life of St Mungo, Glasgow's founder and patron saint.
An old entrance gate to the market. Metalwork detail.
A spire on a nearby steeple catching the setting sun.
The new City of Glasgow College in the nearby Gorbals district.A nautical college has always been here of course, this is just the latest look to bring it up to date. Instead of individual buildings and college/universities as separate independent working units they have recently been grouped together into bigger collectives. A recent money saving trend in many organizations, including Scotland's police force... with mixed results.
Glasgow Central Mosque enjoying the late evening sunshine.
Mclennan Arch. A massive structure and one of the entrance points into Glasgow Green. Scotland's oldest park and grazing common for livestock, dating back to medieval times. Unruly folk used to be hanged here along with washing lines and salmon fishing nets. Large events and fairground rides drew the crowds in along with families keen to have a picnic after viewing a public execution. The reality TV of its day.
Amazingly this arch used to stand one floor up in a much larger building erected in the late 1700s called the Glasgow Assembly Rooms. It was not even an entrance gateway into that building which was demolished in the late 1800s and was never designed to be walked through in its original setting. That shows you the scale and grandeur of old Glasgow in the past. This arch was just a window frame.
Some ships still travel the River Clyde however. This is the Princesse Oui, a bulk carrier and a large ship at 180 metres length. According to Ship Finder it has also been to Belfast and Bangor recently, presumably to pick up bulk broken rubble from demolished tower blocks or scrap metal. Glasgow's main exports these days along with university students. Not for the first time I found myself thinking that the money in the UK used to be distributed more evenly in terms of exports with the big industrial cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and the rest able to compete with London better and punch with equal power. Now only one British mega city seems to dominate international business, trade and commerce while the rest play around with the scraps that are left. In a recession however it is the entire country that is always expected to take one for the team, whether they have experienced any good times or not. A situation not unlike the myth of the "Swinging Sixties" when the UK only swung for a select handful in a few areas while the rest got on with the usual daily grind as ever. But maybe I'm wrong?
This is the same ship at Glasgow's King George V dock and it seems to be metal of some sort going in or out of the hold. It was taken with a zoom from South Street and it was only when I downloaded it I spotted this occurring. A new ship only built in 2015 sailing under a Panama flag. It took three tugs to escort it safety up the river to here. Two ahead leading the way and one behind.
The research ship Endeavour, also berthed at King George V dock recently before a trip.
A colourful and beautiful if somewhat scary video of some of the world's best climbers visiting China and the Li Valley to climb the massive towers and vertical walls of Karst limestone there. This is mind blowing stuff in full screen HD. Not for the faint hearted but well worth watching.
