That time before email

We recently visited Robert Smail's Printing Works.  It was a Victorian era letter printing press that has been preserved and is still in operation today (by the National Trust). 

The firm was established in 1866, carrying out print jobs for the local community as well as operating a stationer's shop, and between 1893 and 1916 published a weekly newspaper.   The Smail’s were not big on throwing anything away, so they still have a print or two of nearly everything they printed – wedding announcements, market flyers, newspapers, even and advertisement to buy a telephone for your own home (what a luxury!).

The press and shop remained in the ownership of the Smail family, who made little effort to keep up with twentieth-century advances in technology, but was faithfully run by the third-generation owner Cowan Smail until he retired in1986.  It was sold to the National Trust on the condition that it remains a working press.  The Trust opened it to the public in 1990 and does tours between printing brochures, flyers, and posters for National Trust functions (and the gift shop).

We were allowed as part of our tour to set a line of text and run a printer to make a bookmark.  The guide asked us to fill the composing stick with our name, backwards & upside down so it would print properly.  You would think that two reasonably well educated people could do this in a flash, but man did we struggle!   I would not have made it in the 1900’s.  Movable type is hard.

Yes the 10 year old on the tour finished before we did – in fairness he had been there before…we’ll get him next time!  After we got that sorted, the guide inked up our text and pulled the lever to apply the pressure and print up our bookmarks.

Once we had mastered typesetting, we move to the machine room with the presses.  The presses still in operation include a hand-fed pedal-operated platen press, a large belt-driven Wharfedale Reliance print machine bought in the 1870s which was originally powered by belt drive from the water wheel to the side of the plant, and an automated Heidelberg Platen bought in 1952.

A printer demonstrated the operation of the machines.  I decided I wouldn’t have any fingers left if I worked there.  Just about everything takes split second timing to feed the paper properly and get you back out of the way before the machine closes up again.

We thought a lot about Grandpa Powell while we were touring the factory – being near newspapers always makes us think of you!

Hadrian’s little fence

You know when you were younger and you wanted to make a statement about what was your property, you built a wall around it.  Mine were usually made out of sofa cushions and Jonathan usually got through them in about 10 minutes, which led to me getting mad and pouting.  I’m a really good pouter.

Hadrian had a different tact to sofa cushions.  Stones.  And lots of them.

Hadrian's Wall stretches 73 miles across a narrow bit of England near the border with Scotland. It was once a towering 20-foot-tall fortification, but because of decay (and likely some stone thievery) is now only about three feet wide and three to six feet high.

Hadrian's Wall was built for the Roman Emperor Hadrian around 122AD.  He apparently wanted to keep the barbaric Gaelic people away from his civilized Roman people.  Several of the books we read in preparation for this visit talked about the wall being primarily an expression of Roman power and Hadrian having a strict policy of defense before expansion. Scholars also seem to disagree over how much of a threat Scotland actually presented, and whether there was any more economic advantage in defending and garrisoning a fixed line of defenses like the Wall over simply conquering and annexing the Scottish Lowlands and manning the territory with forts strung out at will.

Another possible explanation for the erection of the great wall is the degree of control it would have provided over immigration, smuggling, and customs. As there were turrets every mile or so through the entire structure, it acted as an organized check-point border crossing and offered Hadrian an opportunity for taxation.

It, much like Stonehenge, will probably never be fully understood, but it is really neat to think that so much of it is still standing 1900 years later.

We were impressed by how exactly the stones were laid, from the front all the mortar lines are in a straight pattern (or at least a lot straighter than the tiles in my bathroom at home).  It was also quite sturdy still (or at least the part that I leaned against was before the nice security guard with a stick came over and told me to stop).  Touching is a warning, climbing on the wall gets you kicked out of the park.  Just in case you’re curious.

Submission story time

After nearly two months of his home office looking like the command center for a major military operation...

Adam finished his dissertation!!

So Sunday morning he took a fieldtrip to Staples.

He explained all the binding and printing he needed...

Then watched as everything was put together...

Got annoyed at his wife who insisted on documenting the entire event...

And finally smiled as he carried the completed project home...

Later, he took the dissertation to the University to turn it in...

And he smiled even more.

Oh, honey

On the list of things we wanted to do while in the UK, bee keeping didn't make the cut.  Apparently the honey bees had another idea.

Not to worry anyone visiting us in the near future, the bee relocation company has been called (because apparently its inhumane to just call an exterminator).

A wee bit of the highlands

This is going to be a long post.  I can tell you that now.  I could have told you that before we even went on the trip – I had alot of things planned for Scotland.  So that you don’t just stop reading half way through, we’re breaking the trip up into two posts: much in the way that Scotland is broken up, the Highlands (this post) and Lowlands (to come).

But, first, some background.  Adam is fully involved in his dissertation process (which is different than the fully involved sandwich at Firehouse Subs, mmm).  He completed his discussions, observations, and reviews of the business he was working with about three weeks ago and has been in full out writing mode ever since.  The main paper (it’s holding steady at 42 pages as I type this) is due next week.  After that he’ll still have to present his findings to the Company in a 30-45 minute Powerpoint presentation all while the dissertation board watches on.  Then if the board has any questions about the paper or the presentation, they can call him in for a panel to defend his conclusions. 

We had long ago planned our trip to Scotland with the thought that he could finish his paper before we went and then he could relax and eat haggis.  Well, both those things did happen, but in true Adam fashion he had to make it a bit more dramatic than that.  Wednesday before we were to leave on Saturday morning he declared that he was nowhere near far enough with his writing and he would need to take his computer and all his textbooks and would need to continue working in the car (for Adam to give up driving privileges, I knew this was serious – he never wants me to drive on a trip!) and in the hotel every night.  Thursday he met with his advisor and I have no idea what the guy said, but Adam was a whole lot calmer by that evening and had knocked out about 80% of the outstanding pieces.  Friday, as if by magic, he had finished it all up.  I swear he just likes to make me panic.  He emailed the draft to his advisor at 8:40pm on Friday.  The advisor read it over the week while we were in Scotland and gave him some comments.  Adam is now doing some last minute revisions and tweaks to get it ready to submit in on Monday.

Friday night also happened to be the Olympics Opening Ceremony.  There is a whole discussion on the Olympics to come – it’s kinda a big deal over here!  But the Ceremony didn’t start until 9pm – they say it was so they would have a dark backdrop for the entire spectacle, but I think it was to get the Friday night primetime audience on the US east coast and the Saturday morning television time in Australia.  The downside to starting at 9pm was that it was nearly 1am before it finished.  And guess who still hadn’t packed to go on vacation the next morning...

So, our vacation started bright & early at 6am to pull the suitcases out of the closet and throwing in anything we thought we might want to wear.  Luckily we were driving, so we were slightly less constrained on space and I didn’t need to be as awake to make decisions.  Adam, however, was all over the bringing of the golf clubs.  The golf clubs that don’t fit in the tiny truck that we have.  The golf clubs that rode, and rattled, in the back seat all the way to and from Scotland.  Yeah, those.  It was okay though because both the folder of fun and the tub of chocolate road trip snacks were full.

By 8:30 we were all packed up and ready to go, we dropped the dogs off at the kennel & headed north.  Eventually we made it to the Scottish boarder – UK roads are a bit slower than US highways, so everywhere takes longer than we think it will!

We made it to Stirling by mid afternoon.  Once the Scottish capital, Stirling is now best known for its connection to Mel Gibson...I mean Braveheart...I mean William Wallace.  We started our tour at Stirling Castle.  The Castle was built on a volcanic crag overlooking a bridge over the River Forth.  The Stuart linage (the Scottish Royal family who united the English & Scottish crowns with the ascension of James VI of Scotland / I of England after the death of Elizabeth I) ruled from Stirling as it was the boarder of the Highlands & Lowlands.  It is, as I’ve resigned all things worth seeing will be, on top of gargantuan hill with several switch backs and narrow roads.

Stirling was the sight of the battle between William Wallace and his rebel army and the English in 1297.  As the English army crossed the bridge into Stirling, Wallace’s men attacked.  In the chaos, the bridge collapsed, splitting the English ranks in two, and the ragtag Scots drove the confused English into the river (at least according to the movie...I didn’t do a check a history book to check the accuracy of Hollywood, but I’m sure they wouldn’t take any liberties with the truth).

As we approached the William Wallace monument, built to commemorate this victory, the rain slowed giving us some of the most amazing rainbows and we got to take off our jackets for a few minutes.  It made someone smile...

When we were done standing on the hills shouting ‘they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!’, we got back in the Ford Fiesta and drove to dinner then on into Glencoe to our Bed & Breakfast for the evening.  Yes, it was pretty anticlimactic.

We opted to stay in Bed & Breakfasts our whole trip.  Best decision we made.  We stayed in three separate places.  Each one had unique, charming hosts who loved their area and were proud of their country and sometimes a little too proud of their tchotchkes.  All three could have used an extra layer of padding on the beds, but we’ve yet to stay in a European bed that didn’t.  We also had some amazingly hearty breakfasts – bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, tea, cereal, hash browns, mushrooms (yes, Mother, I did eat a few when they were served to me), and even some haggis one time (no, Mother, I didn’t eat that, but Adam did so it still counts) – and that was the standard every single morning!  Needless to say, we didn’t eat much lunch on this trip.

After breakfast the following morning we drove out of town on the scenic path to Mallaig so we could take a ferry to the Isle of Skye.  We kept trying to come up with comparisons for the environment and scenery we were driving through.  The weather was similar to the American northwest and there were some trees and mountains reminded us of the area near Glacier National Park in Montana but other areas were much less dense and made us think of the South Carolina coastal lands.  Take a look at a few of the pictures and help us decide.

The Scottish Highlands have an odd weather pattern.  It will be 75* and sunny one minute, you’ll drive over a ridge and within two minutes it will be 60* and pouring rain then another five minutes later you have a misty fog.  This weather was determined to be absolutely perfect for the Harry Potter films, especially anytime they are in the misty looking Hogwarts.  And you know the Hogwarts Express?  Yeah, we saw that.  And we climbed up a long ways in the mud to get a good view.  Adam, however didn’t tell me this is what we were doing, so I was wearing ballet flats & not so much sturdy walking shoes.  Seems like someone’s buying me some new shoes...

We also came across a tower to climb.  I don’t remember the name of it.  It really wasn’t that spectacular.  I’m sure it was a tribute to a Scottish hero.  What I do remember is there were tiny spiral stairs and to get to the top you had to climb straight up.  And my husband decided that would be a good time to take photos.

We got to Mallaig at about 2pm for the 2:45 ferry.  I wouldn’t have thought this would be all that busy (and I didn’t prebook the trip, which you know is very unlike {the type-A} me).  When we got there, the dock man said that the 2:45 was sold out and we could either wait for the 4pm or try to go standby.  We ended up second in line of 6 for the standby queue.  All the people with appropriate tickets loaded up then Adam & I nervously watched as the man with the walkie-talkie planned his dinner for the evening, then his tee time for the next day, then played a little tetris on his phone.  Finally, he got the radio call that there was room for a few more on the boat.  Three to be exact.  And even though we were parked on an area that said ‘Restricted – Do not park’, I like to think that it was perfectly safe. 

It rained for all but the last 2-3 minutes of the ferry ride over, but it was still a beautiful day.  Once we offloaded, we started driving up to our B&B for the night.  How long do you think driving the 40 miles from the ferry port to the B&B took?  If you said less than 90 minutes, you would be wrong.  Completely wrong.  By only having one road on the entire 640 square mile island, it takes some time to get anywhere.  But, such is life out there in the highlands.  In our two days there, we started to enjoy that pace of life.

I have to brag about this B&B in particular.  It was absolutely amazing.  The views out of our window were amazing.  It was a bit secluded and right on the water.  When the owners were showing us our room and the breakfast area, I asked about how to get in & out of the house (the previous place we stayed gave us a key to our room & a key to the house).  The guy chuckled a bit & said that they hadn’t ever locked their house.  He said he hadn’t even originally installed locks on the house when he built it, but the insurance company told them they had to.  The couple running it were so kind and easy to talk with.  They even offered to make us a sandwich for our trip on our last morning.  I decided you just can’t have a bad day when you wake up to these views every morning.

On our first full day on the Isle of Skye, Adam played golf.  He claimed he needed a warm up round prior to the planned round at St. Andrews.  When the day came, he had the look of determination.

Because the course is so far north, they can’t maintain the tee boxes through the winter, so they’ve built in raised Astroturf boxes for all the tees.  They also didn’t have enough room for 18 greens and 18 tee boxes on the 18 hole course, so they put in 8 greens and 11 tee boxes and you just play them from different angles to get all 18 holes.  So you play the 1^st hole from the 1^st/10^th tee box to the 1^st/16^th green.  Adam said the hardest part of the round was just trying to figure out which way he was playing.

After golf, we drove to the whisky distillery (can you tell who planned this day?).  The Talisker Distillery was opened in 1830 and has become a Skye institution.  It remains the only distillery on the island.  It’s known (according to the tour we took) for it’s strong smoky flavor due to the amount of peat smoke used during the roasting of the barley.  I was amazed that very little of the flavor seems to be dictated by the ingredients.  They buy their barley from four different fields, the peat can come from anywhere, it can be roasted onsite or in another town, and the barrels are taken from sherry manufactures after they’re finished using them.  The only thing that seemed to truly matter to the taste was the water source for the original distilling process.  At the end of the tour, we were given a sample of some of their 10 year whisky.  This was my first tasting.  And my last.

On our way back to the B&B we encountered more traffic than we’d ever seen on the island.  It must have been rush hour.

After sitting for hours…okay, it was only about 5 minutes then Adam got out of the car and shooed them on their way…we made it back.

The following morning we had to unfortunately leave the Isle of Skye.  We drove back over the Skye Bridge rather than taking the ferry.  It’s much faster, but you lose some of the mystique of taking a boat through the fog and rain.  Just on the other side of the bridge, the Eilean Donan Castle looks 13^th century, but was really built from 1911 to 1932.  The original castle was destroyed in the Jacobite rebellion in 1719 when 50 or so Spanish soldiers supporting the Scottish side of the fight with England turned the castle into a magazine of gunpowder.  The only problem was they had no weapons.  The English government found out they were trying to take down the English Crown and sent a couple of their heavily armed frigates to take care of things.  Even though the walls were 14 feet thick in places, after three days all that was left was rubble.  Nearly 200 years later, some developers decided that it would be a beautiful tourist trap reconstruction of history and built what we see today.

Now, if you look at a map, you might not think that Loch Ness is on the way from Skye to Edinburgh (where our hotel reservations were for the evening).  Adam, however, is getting used to the phrase ‘if we just go an inch out of the way, we can see…’.  So an inch (or 80 miles) detour we took.  We scouted the Nessie Exploration site and checked out the original submarine from the 1969 exploration (that thing was tiny!) then we drove out to the lake and waited.  And, you’d never believe – after only two minutes we found her!

From that excitement we hopped back in the car and headed down into the low country to Edinburgh.  More on our time there to come.