Hogmanay in Edinburgh

We had gone to Canada for Christmas and decided to go to Scotland on the way

back to Australia. For no other reason than to experience Hogmanay in the land

of my distant ancestors

We arrived in Edinburgh on the first day of Hogmanay.
It was to be a three-day party.

The weather was cold and night came very early. Our hotel, The Scotsman,
was a fabulous old building that had been the headquarters of The Scotsman,
a major daily newspaper. It still had all the stained glass and wooden panels

of its original manifestation.

We looked down on Princes Street with its festival feeling of rides and lights.

The Scots are a hardy bunch to venture out in the cold.

The main event of the first night of Hogmanay was a torch parade through

the main street up to Calton Hill lead by a band of Scottish soldiers and a

band of Vikings. The Vikings hauled a longship behind them. At the top of the

hill there was a mock battle to the sounds of bagpipes and was it was meant to

end with the longship being thrown on a bonfire. The longship got bogged and

the cart broke an axle so the bonfire proceeded without it.

The snow was flurrying and there was something really primitive about the fire,

the torchbearers and the pipes in the night.

There were the inevitable street mimes trying to look scary in the dark.

And during the day there were plenty of Bravehearts to be photograph with

For a fee of course.

The next day we just meandered around the central shopping area and went into

Jenners, one of the oldest department stores in the United Kingdom.

We walked the Royal Mile, taking in Edinburgh castle and visited a weaving museum.

We arrived at St Giles Cathedral just as a wedding party was coming out.

Everyone looked so cold.

St Giles Cathedral dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. There has been

a church on this site since the 9th century. It was here that John Knox struggled

to establish Presbyterianism.

 At the bottom of the Royal Mile we found a shop selling wonderful clothes from

young designers from all over Scotland. Omar encouraged me to over spend.

And how could I resist a label called ‘Angels Don’t Trudge’.

 

The bars were welcoming havens of warmth with Omar delighted to find that

fresh salmon and vegetables were a fixture of all bar menus. I tried all sorts of

Haggis. The wine was mainly Australian and the beer came by the pint.

The second night of Hogmanay involved a giant street party in George Street.

They were trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records with the most

people performing a Scottish reel at the same time. There were a couple of

training runs and I even got Omar dancing.

As part of the celebrations we came upon a Belgium street performance group

who were just setting out. The troupe consisted of a ringmaster, a diva, a clown

and a herd of three-story high red giraffes. The music was ethereal and the entire
effect was spectacular although a little odd.

To get down town we passed through the wonderful Waverley Station and wistfully watched all the trains leaving on other adventures.

The next day we walked through the New Town mainly looking at the architecture.

The area comprises a great example of Georgian Town Planning. In 1767 James Craig

won a competition to design a New Town. Robert Adam was responsible for many of  

the wonderful facades. The area was remained residential and has been lovingly

cared for. A wonderful place for meandering.

 We also visited the gallery at Holyrood Palace where there was a fabulous exhibition

of the Queen Elizabeth collection of Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings, mainly characters

and caricatures. We took a tour of the Palace and were surprised at the thickness of the walls and the smallness of the rooms in the original section of the Palace. We visited

the room that Mary Queen of Scots slept in and where her Italian lover was executed.

The third night of Hogmanay was New Years Eve. We over-indulged in the hotel

and didn’t go out until quite late to catch the fire-works that exploded from the

hills of Edinburgh.

The next day was another long walk to Stockbridge. We had been told that there

were a lot of antique shops and cosy little eateries there. It is not a tourist location.

 Because of the time of year there weren’t many tourists in Scotland anyway.

We found a great shop that was run by a flamboyant gay couple who were
shutting their shop down and we bought a couple of 1950’s broaches designed
by Jacque Cocteau in Bakelite.

We also walked down to the docks to see the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Unfortunately because it was the off-season it was closed.

This was a pattern that we would find all across Scotland. We need to come back
when the weather is warmer.

Kilmartin...a place of mystery

We were part way through a driving trip of Scotland and we had booked into the

Caledonia Hotel at Gourock, a small town off the beaten track on the banks of 

Loch Awe. The room was pure trailer trash but the local bar was warm and inviting. 

The next morning we awoke to wonderful views across the Loch. 

 

We were staying here as it was close to Kilmartin and that was our next destination.

On the way to Kilmartin we passed the ruins of Carnassarie Castle. I found out 

that there is a tenuous but weird family connection. My great-great grandmother 
was a Campbell  who emigrated from Scotland in 1853 and there is a family 
connection to the McLean clan.

 Now back to the Castle. It was built in 1565 by Bishop John Carswell who was 
the rector for Kilmartin. It was sold on until it was bought by Sir Dugald Campbell, 
the 3rd Duke of Argyll, in 1643.  It stayed  in the family and finally became the home
 of Archibald Campbell, the 9^th Duke of Argyll. In 1650 he married Lady Mary Stewart 
and became  entwined with the Scottish nationalist movements. He joined in the 
Monmouth Rebellion; the West Country rebellion was an attempt to over-throw 
the new King of Britain, James II, who was Roman Catholic.  The rebellion failed and 
in 1685 the Duke was captured and executed in Edinburgh. The McLean’s, who were
royalists blew up the castle and engaged  in quite a lot of murder, mayhem, rape and
pillage. The castle is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

We drove in to Kilmartin. We were there to see the prehistoric ruins and megaliths.

Kilmartin is located in the Kilmartin Glen and is the richest prehistoric landscape in 

Scotland. Within a six mile radius there are more than 350 ancient monuments and 

megaliths. 150 of them are classified as prehistoric. They consist of stone circles, 

standing stones, carved rocks and burial cairns. No-one has yet come up with a

plausible reason for such a concentration of ancient monuments.

The first thing you see when you drive in is the Crinan Moss, in front of the only rise in 
the peat bogs, The Dunadd Fort. This is one of Scotland’s most important hill forts. 
Dunadd was the capital of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada in 500AD. The fort was 
situated on top of a high outcrop of rock with a complete 360 degree view. It became 
the  place for crowning the Kings of Scotland.

We first went to the Kilmartin House Museum of Ancient Culture. The people were 

very friendly and allowed us to use their office to get our email and to deal with some
business back in Melbourne. Omar was very impressed with the library and meeting 
room in the office building. The chairs and table in the library were very Celtic. The
museum is a great starting point for exploring the area.





Around the museum local animals have been carved from dead trees.

We drove around Kilmartin Glen stopping at all the sites. The first walk was
easily accessible from the car park where you can wander with the sheep around
the Nether Largie Stones in the fields. Unfortunately, over the years, many of the 

stones have removed to make way for farming.  

There are walking paths through the farmland connecting the 
cairns and megaliths. All very ancient and pagan.

It is only a short walk from here to the Temple Stone Circles, these date from around

3500 BC. The three circles were being built and used up until 1400BC. The trees were planted in Victorian times to give the place more atmosphere. It doesn’t really need them.

The third circle is concentric and surrounds a stone slab-sided cairn.

Going back to the car you pass the Nether Largie South Cairn. This is a chambered 
cairn and has an opening into the central chamber. During the excavation of this 
cairn they recovered Neolithic pottery and arrowheads.



The walks are all really well signposted and are well detailed.

A short driving distance from Kilmartin is Achnabreck which has the largest collection

of cup and ring carvings. Many people have tried to read a symbolism into these cup
 and ring marks, but it is only speculation. Such rock art is difficult to date, but it is also 
found in archaeological contexts such as tombs. The rock art at Achnabreck is likely to 
be around 5,000 years old. It comprises several decorated outcrops. Many of the cups 
are surrounded by one or more rings.

 It is an incredibly spiritual and moving place to visit. The day we were here it was 
in the middle of winter and freezing. We had the area to ourselves.

Then we were off on the next adventure