Orkney Blues

Now that I’ve almost recovered from Orkney’s Blues Festival I thought I’d share some of the highlights of the weekend.

Stromness, with its picturesque harbour and twisty streets was the base for the festival and buzzed with activity from locals and tourists all seeking out the music and squeezing into the venues.

I was also lucky enough to get a chance to play in the Gable End Theatre on the Island of Hoy. This converted former School in Lyness had been lovingly transformed into a community theatre.

As the day went on the wind picked up and at Rackwick, near The Old Man of Hoy, it was hard to stand up straight. When mentioning this to a local this was merely described as a breath of fresh air and that the wind speed was recently recorded at 120mph during a slightly breezy day before the device used for measuring it blew away.

Needless to say I performed When The Wind Blows that night.

Back in Stromness, there were some great performances over the weekend and I witnessed some fine acoustic work and stomp box action from Naomi Mather, some local stars Fastliners, a blast of blues from Perth’s Wang Dang Delta, & The Roy Mette Band who’s high voltage blues was surely enough to power up those northern lights.

A trip to Orkney is not complete without seeing those famous Neolithic Archaeological sites. So it was great to finally get the opportunity to see places like Maeshowe & Skara Brae (in glorious sunshine!) which I had studied at University but never got the chance to see.

Unfortunately my weekend ended with a visit to Kirkwall police to report a car park hit and run on my hire car which has (hopefully) prompted an inter-island search for the culprit. Still, this did not dent my enjoyment too much, there can’t be many places to hide...

Thanks to Walter & all at the Orkney Blues Festival, Catherine & Michael for their tour guiding, Max & Jill for their hospitality & homebrew and everyone else who helped make the weekend an extremely enjoyable & memorable one.

I thoroughly recommend a trip to experience these northerly islands.

Into the Wild

I made it back intact from the wilds of the northwest on Sunday.

The weather was fierce, but the hospitality and whisky as always - more than made up for that. 

I drove home from Ullapool via Torridon, which is one of my favourite areas, spectacular mountain scenery and strange rock formations are quite different to the landscapes around the central highlands. This area always inspires me and local mountain An Teallach had a big part in my song Bridge of Kings. Unfortunately the shear volume of rain and the lack of TVs meant that both the mountains and the lesser spotted Scotland goal remained hidden from view. Shame that wasn’t the case for Wednesday’s game.

I stopped for lunch in the village of Kinlochewe which was hosting a gruelling 90 mile cycling competition through hell & high water. The only cafe was therefore bustling with activity as half drowned tourists and frozen cyclists in need of a heart massage took refuge. As I ordered soup & a coffee the wee wifey in charge made an announcement to everyone that the village had ran out of water (what on a day like this??) and if we must use the toilet only no.1s were acceptable. Highland hospitality at its best.

Not far from Kinlochewe I came across a car stuck in a ditch. Offering my assistance I decided to inspect just how ‘stuck’ the tyre was and bent down for a closer look at the exact same time as the driver decided to give it one last go with spinning the wheel, which gunned me down in a hail of mud. Not funny. After confirming the car was well and truly stuck I decided the best place for the driver was Kinlochewe.

The weather was so bad that even the sheep were looking for a lift.