Scottish smiles

Fife holiday 2026 #16

There were many times on our holiday when I had to stop and smile. We were just passing a rather grimy window when this cat popped his head through the blinds - boo! Judging by the rather mangled blinds, it seems it's a regular trick of his. 

Meanwhile in Kirkcaldy we spotted a Wemyss Ware cat. Wemyss Ware was a famous Kirkcaldy pottery, opened in 1882, that made (among other things) decorative cats. They are being celebrated by a sculpture trial around the town. 

For some reason the sign below amused me. I never think of harbours as having gates - and it also reminded me of that famous 'Sun' headline from the 1992 General Election: 'Will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights'.

The 'Beach Library' was, I thought, a genius idea: lots of sand toys to borrow. We have little free book libraries round here but I'd never seen a beach library before. 

I noticed quite a few food-related things. There's an ongoing joke that haggis are small, elusive animals that live in the Highlands. Because of the steep terrain, they supposedly have two shorter legs on one side so they can only run around the mountains in one direction. If a hunter wants to catch one, they simply wait for it to stop and try to turn around. Because it can only run in one direction, it gets confused and tumbles right down the mountain.

Scotland's pride in having a team in the football World Cup was plain for all to see. 'No Scotland, no party'! 

And tattie soup (sometimes with neeps) - potatoes and turnips. 

St Andrews' hotels have long welcomed golfers and this well-polished brass sign assures them they don't even have to take off their shoes. 

We first met Oor Wullie, a famous Scottish cartoon character, in Edinburgh last year, if you remember. In St Andrews, in a sculpture by Matt Low, he wears the red undergraduate gown and a crown... perhaps representing a famous former student of the university called William... 

And finally, a stone on a building called a Mort-house in Crail churchyard: 'Erected for Securing the Dead', with a date of 1826. These buildings were necessary because of the widespread practice of grave-robbing, where newly-deceased bodies were dug up and sold to anatomists for study. The bodies were stored securely until they had decomposed enough to be of no use for research. 

Dreamy mornings

During the heatwave, more often than not, I've been going out for a walk before breakfast, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures. The mornings have that kind of shimmery light that I've hitherto associated with Mediterranean countries. It is rather beautiful, a dreamy effect. Or maybe it's just that I haven't properly woken up!

(And no, we don't have a headless swan on the canal. 😂 It's just that the wayward creatures have no idea of how to pose for the camera!) 

Tinder

As the hot, dry spell of weather continues, everywhere is becoming tinder-dry and the risk of fire increases. There have been some bad moorland fires, which are a real challenge. Added to the difficulty of getting firefighters, equipment and water onto the moors, when the heat gets down into the peat the fires can smoulder for weeks and keep reappearing.

There have been a couple of days recently when I've had to close my windows because of a smell of smoke. I'm assuming no-one is daft enough to have garden bonfires in this weather (though you never know!) so I guessed there were actual fires somewhere in the vicinity. Then one morning I was walking towards Salts Mill along the side of the railway line and I noticed the fire brigade were trying to extinguish a small fire. It was in a yard adjacent to the railway and seemed to be brush or woodchips smouldering. They had a hose and a small digger (presumably belonging to the relevant business in the yard) was shifting the piles of brush. It all looked to be under control by that stage, which is good because just over the wall is a school building and they wouldn't want the fire spreading to the trees or the school. 

You do wonder what sets these blazes going... It's unlikely to have been a portable BBQ in this case (often the cause of moorland and woodland fires) so maybe it was the sun's rays acting on a piece of glass or similar. We can't blame steam trains and their sparks any more! 

I could only see the action because all the trees and shrubs alongside the railway line have recently been felled. It makes this area look totally different and it's very bare, ugly and messy with brush and tree stumps now. I suppose they are trying to avoid leaves on the line or fallen trees blocking the route, but it seems sad to me to lose all the trees. 

The picture below is what the same road looked like a couple of years ago.

Rae Gala 2026

The first Sunday of July is always the annual Rae Gala, commemorating the gift of Northcliffe Park from the philanthropist Sir Norman Rae to the people of Shipley in 1920. It's quite a small event but a wholesome and community-focused celebration. This year it suffered by being on the same weekend as the Dragon Boat Racing, so there seemed to be fewer attendees. Those there had an enjoyable time and were entertained by our local Morris dance team, Rainbow Morris, and by the Shipley Hallroyd Brass Band. 

There was food and an ice cream van, plenty of stalls to browse, some children's races and a display of dancing by children from Stars Stage School. The most popular attraction seemed to be the miniature railway, based in the park, with members of Bradford Model Engineering Society providing rides on the two different circuits. As always, it was a good afternoon out - and, though it was a heavily overcast day, it stayed dry, which always helps. 

Tributes to Hockney

I popped into Salts Mill the other day, just for a browse around. There were a number of lovely photos of the artist David Hockney, who died recently. As you'll know (at least if you've been paying attention!), he was a personal friend of the late Jonathan Silver.

When Jonathan bought Salts Mill in 1987, after it had closed as a textile mill and was in danger of dereliction, it was quite a gamble. It's easy to look at it now and accept as a matter of fact its artistic and commercial success, but that was by no means guaranteed. It was a stroke of genius to persuade Hockney, a Bradford-born lad, to lend some of his paintings to create the 1853 Gallery, and then to start buying some of his work. The mill now holds the biggest single collection of Hockney's art anywhere in the world.   

Hockney's death, though not unexpected I suppose at age 88, has been greeted with profound sadness locally. The tribute (below) from the owners and staff of Salts Mill conveys most eloquently what he means to us all. 

It is always wonderful to walk through the mill among all the vibrant and varied artworks that Hockney created, and was still creating more or less up to his death.

Every time I visit I see pictures that I don't remember seeing before, though the large painting that was David's homage to Salts Mill and Saltaire still takes pride of place in the mill's main entrance. 

Be astonished

'Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.'

Mary Oliver

Living here in my west-facing flat, I do pay attention to the evening skies and sunsets, which are always unique, sometimes unremarkable and occasionally stunning. I am often astonished, often exhilarated. I do like to tell about them - I think we all enjoy a good sky. So here's another, taken at 9.30pm one warm summer evening. 

Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. 

Job 35:5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Psalm 19:1-2

Here be dragons - again

It's that time of year again, when there is a full weekend of dragon boat racing on the River Aire in Roberts Park. This is its 11th year and it seems to be even bigger and better, over three full days. The event raises thousands of pounds for charity as well as providing the participants with some adrenaline-fuelled fun. To be honest though, I don't think it's really a spectator sport. It's all rather slow, since it takes the three teams in each race quite a while to manoeuvre the long boats upriver to the start, and turn them round. Each race takes only a few minutes and then there's a long pause whilst they assemble for the next one. It's all very well organised, with six boats and long pontoons for the competitors to embark and disembark, plus a fast safety craft and marshals. If you have a family member in the races, all well and good, but just for general watching it's a bit unexciting, I find. They do have a lot of land-side attractions: street food, a funfair, charity stalls, a market and the emergency services and forces cadets showing their stuff. This year there was some live music too. 

My first photo is at the start. Teams can have a maximum of 16 rowers plus a drummer and a steerer (yes, that's what they're called). One of the crews in my photo looks a bit understaffed but maybe that makes the boat lighter and quicker? The river is quite low in flow and volume at the moment too, so I suppose that might affect the speed. 

The picture below is of (different) crews arriving at the finish - quite a close race, that one. 

The only day I had free was the first day, Friday, so I wandered down to the park to watch a few of the school and college races. The park was much quieter than it would have been over the following two days of the weekend, I'm sure, but it was a good atmosphere with the young people clearly enjoying themselves.  

The dragons don't look all that fearsome... and neither did the police dog! 😂

Another day, another canal

I went to visit a friend who lives near the Calder and Hebble Navigation. It's a unique waterway, quite different from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal (LLC) that I'm more familiar with. The Navigation is based around the Rivers Calder and Hebble. By the year 1700, they had created 'canal cuts' in places where the rivers are winding or have weirs. These canal cuts allow boats to bypass those tricky sections. It means sometimes you find yourself walking along the river and other times on a stretch of canal. This makes the waterway quite complex, with floodgates to protect the canal sections and locks to adjust the heights between the rivers and canals.

It's more urban than many parts of the LLC too, though still quite attractive in some areas. It has a few marinas, with the usual mix of hire boats, well-kept narrowboats that are used by their owners for leisure and adventures, and quite a lot of smaller, scruffier craft. Those often belong to people who've fallen on hard times and find a boat a more affordable living solution than bricks and mortar. 

Unfortunately, our planned walk was interrupted by the closure of the waterside path, due to the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU). This is a major project to upgrade the railway across the north of England between Manchester and York. The TRU aims to increase capacity by adding extra track, electrifying the entire route, introducing digital signalling, and upgrading stations. It's a huge and costly project. We came up against a large working area, where they are moving and rebuilding Ravensthorpe Station. 

It meant we had to abandon the waterway and strike off along the busy main road, though thankfully after a while we did manage to find a route that led us through quieter woodland and eventually back to the canal towpath. 

It was a good walk, adding another 6 miles on my 'steps app'. My phone must wonder what's going on, since this month I've done many miles more walking than I usually average! 

Mad dogs and Englishmen...

I often struggle to adjust to 'normality' again when I return from holiday but that has been even harder to achieve since I got back from Scotland, given the record and sustained high temperatures we've been having. Hardly 'normal'! I've taken to having a walk before breakfast on the warmer days, as it is only then that the temperatures are bearable. 

On Saturday (27 June, I'm lagging well behind in posting) I was out by 7.30 am, and decided to do the longer route out along the canal and back along the river. I'd forgotten there was a regatta at the rowing club. As I walked downstream, marshals were setting up at various points along the river bank. As I neared the rowing club, it was all hands on deck prepping the boats, with more teams arriving by the minute from as far away as Durham and Hull. This was shortly after 8 am and the first race was due to start at 8.30 am. It was already pretty warm! 

The local clubs included Bradford Grammar School's enthusiastic rowers whom I've seen practising here a few times. 

The races were due to start some 600m upstream and finish in front of the clubhouse. The line of flags marks the boundary beyond which the boats must not go, as they'd risk being swept down the weir, currently not full and a very rocky incline indeed. 

These regattas must take a huge amount of organising; the Risk Assessments alone must be colossal. It was lovely to see the anticipatory buzz around the clubhouse. I hope it all passed off smoothly. 

Walking further on, to Roberts Park, there was a buzz around there too, as volunteers were getting ready for the weekly Saturday morning 5km park run (or walk or jog). It was a very hot morning for running but on my way home I passed lots of people making their way down to the park to join in. Often there are over 500 runners taking part! This is another event that needs masses of volunteers to organise and manage safely. They run throughout the year, winter and summer, never mind the weather (unless the course is flooded.) Hats off to them. 

It's the first time I've seen it since I'm not usually up and out before they've finished and had their coffee! 

Our last evening

Fife holiday 2026 #15

So we came to our last evening on the Fife coast - fitter, perhaps fatter (good food and plenty of coffee and cake!) and I think all of us very happy with our holiday and the lovely group we were privileged to share it with. We enjoyed dinner together in the Golf Hotel in Crail and then most of us went for a final walk around the village.

We were intrigued by the beam of sunshine finding its way through a hole in the cloud. It neatly illuminated some of the wind turbines out in the Firth of Forth. As we watched, we were suddenly treated to a fleeting burst of rainbow colours - though you couldn't really call it a rainbow and it didn't seem to have the full spectrum of colours. I've never seen this phenomenon before and I'm not sure if it has a proper title. It was really beautiful and exciting to see. 

It was a final, ephemeral gift from the Scottish coast that had provided us with a wonderful and memorable holiday - and perhaps a blessing for us too. 

Many, many thanks to all my fellow travellers, who were truly wonderful, each in their own way. Together we made a community and to be part of it was a joy.   

(Readers, if you're thinking that's the last of my holiday photos - maybe thinking 'hurrah' or maybe even thinking that's sad - be assured there are some more to come, as I extended my time away with a short trip to Dundee. I'll post those images in a while. I've a few more thematic photos to share too... so you're not yet off the hook! I'll spread them out.)