Ailish Sinclair's Blog, page 49

A Map of Witches and some Autumn Beauty

The Map of Witches is a brand new resource from the University of Edinburgh, utilising the extensive data collected in their Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database. See it here. It’s a visual and clickable map of over 3000 people accused of witchcraft in Scotland, and is both fascinating and terrible, as this subject always is. My three quines from THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR are included (see Isobell’s entry above) as is a disturbing Witch Pricker’s Journey and various other stories. You can choose to view a modern map or a historical one, the latter suiting it better, I think.

After peering back into the dark like that, I like to look at beauty, so here’s some from recent days:

The wonderful blue and gold of Autumn.

Pink shimmering rockpools at New Aberdour beach.

A dark cave, blue reflected within.

And the path up to St Drostan’s well, shining in the sunlight:

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Out October 18th 2019

Set in a fictional castle in Aberdeenshire, Ailish Sinclair’s debut novel, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR, blends an often overlooked period of history, the Scottish witchcraft accusations, in particular the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, with a love story.

Amazon

Waterstones

GoodReads

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Turn Left for Tyrebagger Stone Circle

Tyrebagger Recumbent Stone Circle is near Aberdeen, situated on the hill behind the airport and overlooking the Kirkhill Industrial Estate. So, when my family and I went seeking this circle we thought it would be easy to find. Yes. Well. Google maps took us close. Very close in fact. But there’s nowhere to stop a car and get out on the dual carriageway, so no possibility of taking the app’s advice to ‘walk the rest of the way to your destination’.

We turned to directions found on the internet which took us up the side of the industrial estate and into the woods. But the last instruction, to turn right along the line of trees… there was no right there. We ended up lost and peering over gates and up tracks and across fields. But then, Google maps pinpointed the exact location of the stones and we retraced our steps.

‘”It’s somewhere in that direction…”

“Just the other side of those trees…”

“But how can we get through there?”

Until:

A pathway was spotted – it had been there after all, but on the LEFT – and it had a certain look and feel about it. It reminded me of the path into the often elusive Louden Wood circle. Sure enough, moments later the stones came into view over a gate and field, silhouetted against a misty looking forest.

Tyrebagger Stone Circle proved well worth the search.

It’s a beautiful circle, with unusually tall stones.

Sometimes when I post stone circle photos on social media, people ask if they are the stones from Outlander, and I explain that those are fictional stones. But these do look a little like the ones used in the TV show. (Inverness Outlanders found another site that may be even more like it and have photographed it in all seasons here.)

I had heard that, due to its close proximity to Aberdeen, Tyrebagger sometimes has a graffiti problem. This was not the case on the day we visited. The stones stood tall and unblemished against the blue sky.

I liked the trees too, grey and tall like the stones.

Back in my own bookish territory, there are a couple of things to mention. The Fraserburgh Herald reported on THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR here, and the book has had its first ever review here on the Lost in a Good Book blog.

The Kindle is on pre-order from Amazon and the paperback from Waterstones.

Though it’s not out until October 18th, you can add the book to your Goodreads to-read list now, should you wish:

Let’s finish with one last look at Tyrebagger…

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A Fairy Scene, an Opening, and an Article

I came across this rather lovely little scene in the woods on a rainy day last week. It made me think of fairies…

Yesterday Paragraph Planet revealed the opening of The Mermaid and the Bear on their site. It’s gone now, but I took a screenshot, below. It was while walking in the same woods pictured above that the first line of the book came to me.

Women Writers, Women[‘s] Books have published my article Researching Historical Fiction: Immersing Oneself in the Past in which you can read about me setting off smoke alarms and eating primroses (yes, really) in the name of research.

Kindle Pre-order from Amazon

Waterstones Paperback Pre-order

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Staring Out to Sea from Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar Castle sits high on the cliffs near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. It’s scenic and sprawling and, though peaceful now, it boasts a turbulent history.

Dunnottar was attacked by Vikings in the ninth century and captured by William Wallace in 1297. Kings and queens loved to visit: Mary Queen of Scots, James VI, and at one point during my own visit I was standing in the bedroom of Charles II.

There’s beautiful architecture everywhere, such as the old Smithy above. And ghosts! Though I didn’t meet them, there’s a lassie in a green plaid searching for her lost Pictish children, a young deer hound and a Scandinavian military gentleman who likes to stare out to sea.

I’m with him there. The views are astonishing. My eyes were constantly drawn away from the castle ruins to look out over the ocean.

The elevated position of the castle means you can see across miles and miles of silvery sea. The window below is located in the Whigs’ Vault that held imprisoned Covenanters in 1685.

I really loved those views!

But it’s time to go. It’s time to walk back up the many, many steps that seemed so inconsequential on the way down…

For more information on the wonderfully atmospheric Dunnottar Castle visit the official site. There will be some more sea staring pictures in the next email to my mailing list

Easter Aquorthies Recumbent Stone Circle

Easter Aquorthies, also known as East Aquorthies, is sometimes described as a ‘show circle’ and recommended as a good first circle to visit. This is due to its near perfect condition and position: all stones are present and upright; the grass always seem to have been manicured to a close shave, and the views of the surrounding countryside are magnificent. It’s also very clearly signposted from the nearby town of Inverurie, making it easy to find and then park in its small car park.

The Mither Tap of Bennachie is apparent wherever you walk in and around the circle, looming majestic and large over your shoulder.

The recumbent stone is unusual in that it has extra supporting stones on the inner side. I wonder what led to this arrangement. Did it fall and crush someone in Neolithic or Bronze Age times, causing new health and safety measures to be put in place? It is on a slope, so maybe it was just hard to make secure. I hope no one got crushed!

The name is thought to derive from Gaelic and means either ‘field of prayer’ or ‘field of the stone pillar’. Most of the stones are granite but one, below, is red jasper.

There are numerous tales of people finding it hard to exit Easter Aquorthies stone circle. Some describe walking away as being like trying to wade through treacle and report feeling as if the circle wants to keep them there. On the day I visited, I really didn’t want to leave. I would rather have stayed sitting in the sun with my back up against one of the recumbent flankers, staring out over Bennachie. I knew the next circle on my list to visit was going to be contrastingly tricky to find… and it was… but that’s a post for another day.

A stone circle quote from The Mermaid and the Bear, though the pictured stones are those of Aikey Brae:

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Clouds and Reindeer in the Cairngorms

There were dramatic skies the last time I went ventured into the Cairngorms. Beautiful though. These were skies to stand and stare at.

And mountains to walk around in. The funicular railway is out of service just now, due to cracks having been discovered in the cement, so if you want to go up high, it’s on with those walking boots!

I didn’t go very high. It was more of a restful day than an energetic one. A ‘lentil soup in the cavernous restaurant at the base station’ type of day (you will get lentil soup everywhere you go in Scotland).

The free-ranging reindeer herd remained elusive this time, but here’s an older photo of them. Much better pictures on their own website!

Back down at sea level now, and The Mermaid and the Bear has a release date! It’s out in both paperback and kindle on October 18th. Kindle pre-order will be available on Amazon from September 9th. Waterstones has the paperback available for pre-order now.

And there’s a blurb:

Isobell needs to escape. She has to. Her life depends on it.

She has a plan and it’s a well thought-out, well observed plan, to flee her privileged life in London and the cruel man who would marry her, and ruin her, and make a fresh start in Scotland.

She dreams of faery castles, surrounded by ancient woodlands and misty lochs… and maybe even romance, in the dark and haunted eyes of a mysterious Laird.

Despite the superstitious nature of the time and place, her dreams seem to be coming true, as she finds friendship and warmth, love and safety. And the chance for a new beginning…

Until the past catches up with her.

Set in the late sixteenth century, at the height of the Scottish witchcraft accusations, The Mermaid and the Bear is a story of triumph over evil, hope through adversity, faith in humankind and – above all – love.

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Aviemore Stone Circle in the Highlands

Aviemore stone circle is unusual, though not unique, in that it is situated in the middle of a housing estate. On the day I visited, the summer solstice, roses were blooming at the edge of the circle, adding to the magical atmosphere of the place. The houses don’t detract from that, bushes and trees lending some privacy to the ancient stones.

The sun was newly risen and bright; patches of ground seemed almost luminescent. There’s often a special light quality at stone circles, whether they’re in an open urban setting like this, or tucked away within dark forests. Maybe the mind just tends toward mysticism among these mysterious old standing stones.

People had left mementos or offerings in the Rowan tree, perhaps treating the site like a clootie well?

Clouds gathered overhead as I left, on my way to an utterly amazing breakfast just round the corner at the Mountain Cafe (highly recommended).

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Out Autumn 2019

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Down the Rabbit Hole… to a Book Cover!

At first it doesn’t feel quite real… where is the white rabbit leading?

Down, or as is more accurate, through, a giant rabbit hole!

To a place of unicorns…

And a miniature castle. You can go inside, and peer out like a giant:

This is where the rabbit has been leading… to the book cover!

Set in a castle in Aberdeenshire and out in the Autumn, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR features a fictional account of three real women who were accused of witchcraft in 1597. It’s also a love story. And the cover makes it all very real now to Ailish (the Gaelic form of Alice)…

She needs to have a nice lie down like the huge white rabbit in the Playful Garden at Brodie Castle.

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Loch Morlich, big blog, little blog

The tiny blog is this one, sent from holiday. The big blog is my guest post on the official tourism site for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 10 Mystical and Magical Places in Aberdeenshire.

And Loch Morlich is in the pictures. I was there before the ducks were up today!

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A Tentative Tiptoe Round Duffus Castle

Duffus Castle looms, majestic and huge against the skyline as you approach. It’s imposing and impressive… dramatic too…

On the day I visited – Easter Sunday – it was busy, really busy, and the air contained a mysterious hint of sulphur. This medieval fortress of the Moray family, one of Scotland’s most beautiful motte and bailey castles, had become a giant playground for the seasonal pastime of ‘egg rolling’.

You see those white bits in the grass in the photo above that look like daisies? Not daisies. Everywhere, the ground was strewn with smashed boiled eggs, as people, both old and young, hurled them with great gusto from the top of the ramparts.

I recall rolling eggs sedately down a gentle slope on Easter Sunday when I was a child. Then, once your egg was cracked, you peeled and ate it, despite the fact that the colour from your decorating efforts had soaked through the porous shell and onto the egg white.

No one was eating their eggs at Duffus Castle. The goal was definitely to throw them as far as possible. A bit like shot put. Or tossing the caber. And you know what? It wasn’t entirely unfitting. There was something medieval and combative about it. Risk was in the air and on the ground; you could be hit by, or step on, an eggy missile at any moment.

It was quieter on the moat-side walk, though one or two eggs had somehow found their way down there too. The path offered some of the prettiest views of the castle and its walls.

I tiptoed round shells, yolks and egg whites inside the old keep too.

As I look at the photo of the fallen privy chamber below, I am actually still thinking about the eggs. Who cleans them all up? There were large mounds of them, warming in the sun, at the foot of the ramparts. I imagine the circling seagulls swoop down and help themselves once the crowds have gone. But some poor person, presumably a member of Historic Scotland‘s staff, must be stuck with the task of clearing it all away properly? I hope they get given a large chocolate egg to make up for it!

I’m off on holiday in a few days, so lots of new, probably less eggy, places should be appearing on my Twitter and Instagram feeds daily, mountainous mobile phone coverage allowing!

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