2011 holiday pt.1 Glasgow and Aberdeen

Greetings from Aberdeen (typing this at sea)!

Well it wasn't exactly the best preparation for an early start. I have been trying for the past few months to see Adam Buxton at a BUG music video event and each time I visit the booking page I find it already sold out. So when a comedy night turned up on the night before my departure I jumped at the chance. And it was great, but it went on quite a bit longer than I had imagined. I didn't get home till 1 am and I had to do the dishes, complete my packing check-list (I did the checklist to avoid my calamity last year where I absent-mindedly forgot my wash bag) and take a shower (to avoid a rush in the morning). I finished at 3 am. I woke up at 5 and left at 05:30. I didn't feel too bad though and the the journey went to clockwork. I got on the train at Euston and sat in a unreserved first class seat. The conductor came and collected £15 for a Weekend First upgrade (meaning the total cost to me was £13 cheaper than buying an advance first class ticket). Then there was a line fatality...

The conductor was very sorry but we all had to get off at Preston. Well that ruined my half-sleep. I had sufficient wits though to get off and got to the alternate train as directed. I looked for found the first class section. Given that when I found it it wasn't packed, I guess that most first class passengers went to the nearest standard seat. So I got a nice wide seat on this new Class 185 Trans-Pennine Express and that took us, gradually, to Carlisle. There, we were told, we would have to de-train and get a bus to Glasgow. Thankfully this was erroneous. Some people looked and jumped in the first Glasgow bound train. Bad mistake as that was a slow stopper going via Dumfries. There another direct train a few minutes later, well really just a minute or two so I hot footed it, but when I got on the platform there was no train. And the estimate time boards started shifting about, was it coming or not? Well it came a few minutes later and lo, it was another Virgin Pendolino. Perhaps the same one we got off before? No idea but I guess not, because they said the crew was in different locations so there would be no shop and no tea or coffee for first class. Drat.

Despite the hullabaloo we got in to Glasgow only 30 minutes late. I looked at the sky - not too bad, and made my way to...Leeds Building Society. I had looked at my current account and decided I needed to top up from my savings for peace of mind. That done it was time for lunch. I was going to get some sort of bake from Greggs, but out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked Scottish. Potato Scones for £1. Well why not. There were 6 in the pack. I put one in my mouth and... yuk. It didn't taste bad, but it was horribly bland. I did a Google to find what it was and it's called "tattie", which is potato and butter and flour I think. Never again.

It was starting to rain so I hot-footed it over to an underground station. Glasgow has a small circle line and it runs trains that look like sleeker versions of those that run on the Bakerloo line in London. Plenty of spare seats on this shopping Saturday so I guess it's not popular. I got off at the station for the science centre, my intention was to ascend the Glasgow Tower to get a birds eye vista of the city. I could see it from afar when I got out but I couldn't see any people through the glass windows. Hmm. I decided to check online. The last time I had checked this thing was going to be open. But the website now said "closed for essential maintenance". What a waste of a journey, and I wasn't interested in the science museum. I was flummoxed what to do. I had heard on a Guardian travel podcast that the Transport Museum was a good visit, but that was closed too. I went back to Central Station and there didn't seem to be many actual attractions for adults in Glasgow apart from Art Galleries. Eventually I saw a leaflet for the Mackintosh house at the Glasgow University. The university does itself no favours having different leaflets for their different attractions. I was rather confused, but pleased to see that the university was just across the park from my hostel. So off I went and the house is great. The art gallery attached was, well I find them all sort of dull, and the university tour was at 2 pm so in the faff of leaflets I had missed it. I would have liked to go on the tour because the architecture at the university is rather nice.

This left me in a slight grump to a went straight so the hostel to get some sleep. The park, it turned out was on a steep hill and the hostel was at the top of it, so that was a bit of a work out to end the day. I was helped up the hill by the bangra beats behind me from a mela being held in the park. It didn't look too busy to me, perhaps understandable given the drizzle.

I woke up two hours later and went walking for some dinner from the local Co-op, read a little (I was surprised to see two others in the common room with iPads) and ended the evening watching tv. The SYHA hostel was in ahuge and marvellous old town house in perhaps the poshest part of Glasgow, Park Circle, high above both the city centre and the West End. Despite the hint of a student vibe from the nearby university, the West End seemed unnaturally quiet given the proximity to the centre. Apparently this is due to the effect of the M8 motorway cutting the city in two.

The next morning and I found a leaflet for a Mackintosh and Glasgow self-led walking tour. This was great, as I was going to spend the morning walking around town clueless. the tour started at the Central Station and ended near the hostel so I did it in reverse, which was a bit confusing (e.g turn left when it says turn right). The most interesting buildings I saw were Mackintosh's Art School and Daily Record building and a red office block that at ground level is conservative and at the top is wildly imaginative. Because I was stopping and reading, I used up all my time and got to Queen Street Station for my train out of town with 15 mins to spare.

A nasty problem had become apparent on my walkabout. I bought an 8GB sd card for the trip and although it was really fast in operation, the start up time of the camera with it in was really slow. I mean REALLY slow, 20 seconds before I could take a picture. This meant taking a pic, turning it off to save battery and then turning it on again to take a pic was a interminable wait. I'm going to take the photos off and format the card tonight to see if that fixes it. If not I need to get to a camera shop. From a train, for example in 20 seconds, the moment is gone. Drat. At least I have a spare 2gb card that works fine so I don't need to hurry. [update - I did a full format of the card and that fixed it! Phew, but I would have thought I wouldn't need to do that with a Fujifilm branded card and a Fujifilm camera...]

The scenery on the train to Aberdeen was stunning. Perhaps this is a good point to set out my itinery:

London-Glasgow
Glasgow-Aberdeen
Aberdeen-Shetland (1day)
Shetland-Orkney (1day)
Orkney-Edinburgh (where I stay 3 day)
3 day guided tour to the Isle of Skye
Edinburgh to Bergen (flight to Norway)
Bergen to Flåm, heart of the Fjjords (4 days)
Flåm to Oslo (1 day)
Oslo to Gothenburg
Gothenburg to Berlin (3 days)
Berlin to Paris
Paris to London.

In summary, I'm going to Norway via Scotland and coming back via land.

So the lowlands of Scotland was all rolling hills and valleys and rivers and coast. I didn't have a window seat and the camera situation made it hard to take pics, but I got a couple. At Aberdeen it was spitting train but I bet and won that it wouldn't last. I had a self-led walking tour for Aberdeen too and set to it. This time I unintentionally went the wrong way and started at the end point of the tour again. This tour was was much harder to read in reverse because the directions were written in paragraphs with a series of turns in each. But I did it, and although the "granite city" was small in area, it was pretty spectacular, in particular the Marischal College was stunning. With time to spare I went to M&S to buy dinner for the boat and suddenly it was nearly 4pm, check-in time. I made my way down to the harbour but the pedestrian signs ended some way before it. In sight, but not at the terminal. A slightly drunk man outside a nearby man set me the right way and I eventually followed a family dragging suitcases. Inside the harbour gates it started to rain so I decided to hot foot it, and here I am at sea. The boat arrives at 07:30 so I'll be having an early night tonight I think. Just need to figure out how to upload this...