Well done Bob

 I just heard this morning, after many months of wondering, that our friend Bob AKA “Bobby Bathtime” has successfully cycled from Scotland to China.

As the crow flies that’s almost 5000 miles so I dread to think of the actual distance his legs have covered.

Bob is one of a rare breed who does not bother with social media. For this, I am very impressed, but it has made the wait for news all the more worrying.

I heard from Tim this morning that Bob is alive, well and “going to live with monks and learn kung fu for a bit!!”.

I’m blown away by his adventurous spirit and determination. I can’t wait to hear about his travels. Well done Bob! Legend.

The photo credit clearly goes to Bob. I’ll negotiate usage rates when he returns to the land of communication.

Bodie Ghost Town

On a recent road trip through California and Nevada, we took an unplanned diversion to a ghost town called Bodie.

Earlier on the trip I’d been tempted by, but not had the chance to visit, a couple of other ghost towns. This turns out to be a good thing, as I doubt any of the others could have provided an experience quite as thrilling as Bodie.

It was established after the discovery of gold in 1859 and boomed in the late 1870s with a population rumoured to be between 7 and 10,000. This huge, remote settlement had 60 bars and saloons, a red light district, a Chinatown and even its own newspaper.

Having been labelled as a ghost town as early as 1915, its final residents abandoned the town around 1942. The 100 or so building that remain give a tiny but highly evocative glimpse of what it must’ve been like to live here. By all accounts it was a wild place to live with frequent post-saloon shoot-outs.

The eerie ghost town feel is preserved by a lack of fencing. There’s no garish visitors’ centre or gift shop, you simply leave some money in an envelope and wander freely.

As we approached the first buildings, we peered into the windows and were blown away to discover copious remnants of the citizens of Bodie, from a Singer sewing machine and kids toys, to clothing, coffins and vintage produce in the general store. You can see more of my Bodie pics on Flickr.

Bunny rabbits, prairie dogs, gorgeous blue birds and other little animals have taken over where the settlers left off (spot the rabbit below). You could easily spend hours peering into windows of homes, the hotel, the school room, Bodie gym and the bars. I highly recommend a visit if you’re passing Highway 395.

The Bodie Foundation
Bodie online brochure

St Peter’s Seminary

Over the years I have heard about the tantalisingly stunning ruins of St Peter’s Seminary near Cardross. Having poured over some gorgeous images on Flickr and built a huge desire to visit, it baffles me that it took until Boxing Day 2013 for me to finally make the trip.

On what was a disappointingly dull and drizzly day, we ventured past Dumbarton to the beautiful wooded approach to the ex-training ground for priests.

My dream visit would be on one of the sunny days I’ve witnessed online with light streaming through the brutalist structure. As it was, fulfilling this long-held ambition was enough, for now – although I’ve vowed to return on a bright day.

The building designed by Gillespie, Kidd and Coia was completed in 1966. It is Category A listed by Historic Scotland and has been described by the international architecture conservation organisation as a modern “building of world significance”.

The building was riddled with issues from the start including water ingress and never reached its full capacity of 100 students. It closed as a seminary in 1980 and over the years has moved through quite dramatic stages of dereliction to become the graffiti riddled shell it is today.

Frank Arneil Walker said of it “nothing prepares one for the sight of the new grown prematurely old”.

See some more of my pics on Flickr (N.B. I was too excited to hold my camera still).

On 5 December this year NVA announced:

“NVA’s ambitious campaign to resuscitate St Peter’s Seminary has been given a substantial boost, with a first-round pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The award will release £565k development funding leading to a second stage submission for £3 million in 2015.” Read more

Here are a few films showing the college in its former glory:

Concrete Britain
Luke Alexander’s 7 min compare and contrast of old and new seminary shots inc. some of Murray Grigor’s Space and Light

What Mankind Does Best
A 9min collage of moving images of the seminary in use and some photos of the ruins.

St Peter’s College, Cardross
Watch 20 min film on the National Library of Scotland’s, Scottish Screen Archive.

If you fancy visiting, be warned, This is a closed site. It is dangerous – with asbestos, rotten floorboards, loose masonry and often neds. Visit entirely at your own risk.

Scrabble Stools

I seem to have a habit of giving myself random creative projects. There’s very little rhyme or reason to where these projects come from or for what purpose I undertake them.

Following the chance discovery of a little unloved stool (not that kind of stool) at a dump (not that kind of dump); Alan and I took our new find away to France in one of our van trips.  Whilst using it as a table on which to play Scrabble, I realised the top was exactly the same size as our board – so why bring both?

With a prototype created in nice retro Scrabble colours and tested on a subsequent trip, I was encouraged by a friend to make some more. I finally found the time  and have completed six. Two of these have already sold, but if you’d like one, send me an email or give me a buzz – if you have my number.

I guess it’s that time of year when folk buy stuff for each other, so maybe this will fill a rather odd-shaped hole in your present list.

I spent a foolishly long time on them, so feel I need to charge £45 each. They are all hand-painted and the tops have been matt varnished 3 times each for durability. They are decorative, practical and totally playable with normal scrabble tiles.

So there.

Projecting ahead

I’ve been climbing for about 7 or 8 years. I’ve been pretty sporadic until recent years when my interest has grown. Despite the fact that I’m berating myself for not trying harder soon, I’m psyched that today I climbed Persistence of Vision at Dumbarton Rock.

Caught on camera by Dumby.info as the evening sun makes working the route pretty tough.

This is a 7a+ (it used to get 7b…I had to mention that!) and turns out to be my first 7 outdoors. I’d never quite found the right 7a before in the right place on the right day when it’s either dry enough or cool enough to climb.

Actually until this week, my attitude has almost entirely been that if I can’t do it in 1 or 2 go’s, let’s move on.

So having tried it on Monday evening for the first time on top rope, I moved to being able to complete the climb in 2 sections on lead. Unfortunately Saturday morning was plagued by me not feeling on form and fairly warm conditions. Repeated falls before the last supposedly easier move, left me disappointed.

This morning I was convinced I’d get it first go but much to my chagrin fell twice on the last move before the jug having nailed the go-again that plagued me the day before.

Alan maintained his cool in the face of my constant complaints of how “BORING” it was to do the same thing over and over again. He’s been coaching me to turn this negativity into psych.

Anyway, 3rd time, I got it.

The joy of my first proper redpoint flooded in. This is definitely the first time I’ve ever had to link so many utterly precise moves together. Previous routes had mainly featured just one crux; but for me – unable to just reach a couple of the key holds – Persistence of Vision had at least 3 cruxes…all strung together in one short but sustained challenge.

I love climbing for its physical challenge. I know it provides a mental challenge in keeping calm, but not until this week had I realised how cerebral the test was of having to remember and accurately deploy such a series of exacting moves.

Having persisted to complete my first aptly named “project”. I now hear the call of future projects…that is if Alan can handle my unbelievably irritating commentary.

A fond farewell from the Citz

I recently left my job at the Citizens Theatre, having worked for the organisation in a number of guises over an incredible 11 years, since first starting with TAG.

As a fitting farewell to their outgoing Digital Marketing Manager, my amazing colleagues (with the expertise of Martyn from Urbancroft), made this utterly fantastic video.

I can’t thank you all enough.

Push It

On the subject of strong women, Push It is now available as an HD download, rental or DVD. The film features some inspiring female-climbers and most significantly an account of Jen and Jackie’s ascent of El Capitan, which I mentioned in The Big Things.

A gift from a stranger

I recently received a somewhat cryptic email from a lady I’d not met:

“I am sending this message on behalf of Rhona Weir (Tom Weirs Wife ), she would like to give you some information on climbing , please phone her on…”

For those of you who don’t know, Tom Weir is a Scottish legend, a national treasure. In the 70s his TV programme Weir’s Way took audiences across the country, delving into “social history, physical geography and the life and times of people” in each area he visited.

From the mid-1990’s-early 2000s the shows were repeated late at night on STV, introducing him to a new generation, so that he became the staple of many a young reveller collapsing on the sofa after a night out.

I had seen some of these and was then re-introduced to him through Petesy, a modern-day Tom with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Scottish hills, with whom I’ve spent many enjoyable days up mountains.

Being somewhat confused, I Googled Tom to confirm his wife was called Rhona. I know spam writers are sophisticated but this surely would win the most creatively and best targeted spam campaign of 2013.

She was reported as 86 in 2006, when Tom passed away, so I became even more intrigued that a 92 or 93 year old lady wanted to give me information about climbing.

With much curiosity I phoned her at lunchtime, an elderly and very polite lady answered and confirmed she was Rhona Weir. Last year I was on a mission to try to find a copy of this photo as a present for my friend Sam who taught me to climb.

Rock climbing on Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh, June 1908

I had emailed The Scottish Mountaineer magazine to ask if they knew anything about it – as I’d spotted it in their publication.

They had, in their wisdom, published this query along with my email address for all to see. I received a few helpful responses confirming the existence of postcards but no high res jpegs. I’d also emailed a few relevant groups.

Turns out, at her regular meetings with the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club, Rhona had come across my enquiry and wanted to help. She told me about a book (which I had already bought) and the postcards. She wanted to send me some. I said that was extremely kind and asked how I could transfer money to her, but she was quite insistent that it was a gift.

Somewhat blown away by this thoughtful gesture from a complete stranger, I thanked her and told her it was a honour to speak to her. The following week in the post came an even bigger surprise, along with a personal note and 3 cards, Rhona sent me an original 1952 copy of the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club journal.

This simple and much appreciated gesture meant a lot to me coming from a complete stranger, but even more coming from Tom’s widow – clearly a strong and incredibly kind woman.

I love that she’s still hooked into the climbing world whilst in her 90s. Definitely a role model to aspire to.

Gifted

Last year, you may have heard about an incredible series of paper sculptures anonymously gifted to various literary institutions around Edinburgh. The pieces which were one-by-one placed on random shelves or tables each bore a gift tag with a personal message enthusing about the power of the written word. The artist made note:

“… a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.…in support of libraries, books, words, ideas…”

The 10 sculptures are currently on tour around Scotland. I was lucky enough to see them at the Mitchell Library. You still have time to catch the tour in Dunfermline or Edinburgh (until 8 Dec). I can’t recommend this exhibition highly enough. It was moving not only for the intricacy and beauty of each sculpture, but also for the manner and spirit in which each was donated.

Here are some of my phone snaps:

Find out more about the Gifted exhibition from the Scottish Poetry Library.

P.S. If you go in person, look out for Ian Rankin’s tiny wee face amongst the crowd in the Filmhouse sculpture.

The big things

Recently two friends ticked a decidedly awesome feat – they scaled the mighty El Capitan in Yosemite.

Having set their minds on this goal, they trained like mad and steadied themselves for a trip of a lifetime. Both have blogged eloquently about their experience, so I’ll just point you to their sites for the lowdown.

I recommend reading both for a lesson in determination.

Read Big Wallowing on Jackie’s Favourite Things
Read Hell of an Elevator on Jen’s All Our Eggs

Not sure who to credit for this as I clearly borrowed it from Jen and Jackie (Please forgive me!!)

It’d be worth following their blogs for further updates.

If you’re in Edinburgh this weekend for the EMFF, you can catch the premiere of Push It, a film by Jen Randall about female climbers pushing their limits – including some of the big wall adventure.