T&C

My attempts at exploring Scotland have been kept much closer to home for the last few weeks through a combination of laziness and pressing social engagements. We have manged a few ventures into a couple of nearby parts of Glasgow that we hadn’t visited previously, so my aim of seeing somewhere new each weekend has just been maintained.
Our first foray involved a day trip to the southside -subject to heated debate in the desirability stakes between locals and west-ender’s – in our office at least. We hopped on a train to a random destination heading south, alighted and wandered around with no particular direction. Our ramblings took us through Queens Park, down the much-vaunted Victoria Rd (pictured above), across to Pollockshields (not to be confused with Pollockshaws where we alighted), whiled away the afternoon in a delightful cafe before popping in to the interesting space of the Tramway for a spot of backgammon. We finished the day with the purpose for our venture south – a ‘pie party’ at a friend of Claire’s. While the southside of Glasgow is very pleasant I think the day cemented our flag in the West End camp!

Our exploration last weekend was somewhat more muted following a rather riotous night at Vegas, a monthly club on an old ferry parked on the Clyde in the dark recesses of the M8 expressway (Brisbanites think The Island and wince!) complete with Elvis money for the blackjack table and ol’ blue eyes and terrible show tunes at full volume.

Rising late we wandered east to Dennistoun – another area that we considered when looking for a place to live and much like the southside never got around to actually visiting. Food as usual was our top priority and our destination was Tapa a New Zealander run bakery/cafe with reputedly the best bread in Glasgow. Breakfast wasn’t fantastic although the bakery’s fit-out was quite cosy – and the appearance of a ‘flat white’ on the menu after many months brought some cheer. Chhay & I have resorted to quite a range of terms to attempt to obtain our caffeinated beverage of choice in the UK – a double shot latte, a cappuccino without the froth, a white coffee using espresso… generally without much success.
The call of the Glasgow Film Festival then lured us out of the East End to catch more of our overdose of Danish cinema courtesy of Claire’s volunteer involvement.

I may not have nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills or computer hacking skills but last weekend I headed up into the Central Highlands for a ‘Winter Skills’ course. There was plenty of snow about but also gale force winds, blizzards and a wind chill of -15°.

The train ride up on Friday was intriguing – watching Glasgow’s grim outer suburbs give way to pasture, first small drifts of snow appearing then whole hillsides followed by steep mountains appearing in the gloom. I stepped out into snowfall at Avimore – the Aspen of Scotland 😉 (almost).

Kitted up with multiple layers, waterproofs, gaters, scarf gloves & ski goggles and with a set of crampons in the pack, we climbed past closed ski fields, to fight winds and learn how to identify avalanche risk. It was very high apparently – not that that stopped us from pressing on up the mountain. The conditions worsened to such an extent after lunch that we headed back to the village where we were staying and studied navigation, earning some strange looks from the locals as we paced about the town.

On Sunday we managed to bag a Corbett (no Munros yet but they are coming) navigating our way to the summit in a complete white-out. Back at the bottom of the hill we stomped about in crampons and practiced how to stop oneself in the unlikely event that one is caught in an avalanche! This involved much random sliding down snowny hillsides which was great fun apart from the snow down my pants.

We finished the afternoon with a little bit of rock/ice/scree climbing which was enough for me to decide that it definitely wasn’t my scene. It was stunning countryside to wander about in especially with all the snow that was around the place, and I now feel a bit more comfirtable heading out into the hills in winter conditions.

In line with our policy on exploring Glasgow we set off for the walk along the river into town from our place, via Glasgow’s premier waterway. Much vaunted in the Lonely Planet, shunned by locals – the banks of the Clyde are a mix of industrial wasteland and new mid-nineties buildings lumped on its banks like the BBC headquaters shown below. There seems to be very little consideration for urban design in the area with limited pedestrian scale amenities.

We identified a few other areas worth future exploration, but it is no Southbank (Brisbane or Melbourne). Contrary to what we had been led to believe, neds (Scotland’s very own bogan/bevan/chav equivalent) were thin on the ground as were any other people at all for that matter (apart from a few disgruntled looking Lonely Planet holders 😉

We have been in Glasgow for 2 months now, but with the exceptions of the West End near our apartment, and the centre of the city near our office, we have seen very little of it. Having decided to rectify this oversight (and with a few visitors requiring guidance headed our way in the next few months) our aim is now to see somewhere new each weekend.

Last Sunday in our first attempt we visited the much vaunted Burrell Collection in Pollock Country Park on Glasgow’s south side (an area we have had limited occasion to visit).

A brief train ride from the city, we alighted with rolling pasture on one side (complete with befringed Highland Cows) and towering housing blocks on the other (looming housing blocks are a recurring riff in Glasgow settings). A 10 min walk through the park afforded a view of the Burrell Collection;

However we decided to press on while the light lasted through the gardens to Pollock House – the original country house of the park. With a pre-requisite skim through the fancy bits of the house – which include some impressive Spanish paintings (Goya et al) – we headed for the remarkably resplendent servants quarters and the restaurant tucked away in the former kitchen (it is always about the food for us). Lunch was pleasant though not particularly praiseworthy (Chhay’s haggis was apparently a little limp).

When we finally made it to the Burrell collection (via a couple of detours through damp muddy forest) it was a quite delightful mix of ancient knick knacks in a great setting. The building itself appears a little bit 80’s from the outside but was great once we got inside with lots of exposed timber laminated beams, over flying mezzanine spaces and a beautiful connection to the forest it backs on to. We discovered it had an Australian connection with Brit Andresson having been involved in the design, perhaps explaining the Scandinavian feel to the interior.

The rest of the park offers some intriguing looking wanders or bike rides – it is quite extensive with a few old buildings dotted around and a little stream to explore.
Furthering our cultural exposure of a different sort, on Monday we watched Dick Gaughan play at City Halls as part of the Celtic Connections music festival. Despite our limited understanding of the history of the region – in particular the clearances and Irish migration, his music – gritty folk was still quite powerful, although it got a little twee by the end of the set. We followed this up with a further tour of the south side – this time by night, with a stop to sample the fare at what is reputably Glasgow’s best kebab shop.